[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Working towards something good*



Tristan Mumford wrote:
Michael J. Mahon wrote:


Tristan Mumford wrote:

sicklittlemonkey wrote:



On Mar 1, 9:05 am, Tristan Mumford <xtristan.xmumf...@xgmail.xcom>
wrote:


Unfortunately during that timespan some of the
disks are very dead.

Make sure you search back and read Michaels lectures on how dead disks
can usually be revived. I wish I'd had that advice when I did all my
transfers (using a GS) 10 years ago, and threw the "dead" disks
away. :-(


I remember that. The problem with some of these are the disc is kind of
fused to the plastic sheath thing. Sorry i forget the name for the
outside of a floppy. I managed to liberate a few with mixed results.
I'm not entirely sure what happened to them, but I strongly suspect a
combination of water damage and heat damage.

Hmmm.  Adhesion of the media to anything but the disk can be a
very serious problem, since it's possible that the media can
separate from the disk entirely if the disk is manipulated while
it adheres to the liner.

Sometimes a disk won't turn, but it is not adhering, it's just
binding in the jacket.  The "edge-of-the-desk" maneuver will
fix that problem in seconds.

If they really are adhering, I'd recommend soaking one of the
diskettes in water for a while, then checking to see if the
adhesion is released.  If it is, then there is probably some
sticky water-soluble substance inside the jacket, and this is
a good opportunity to slit the top of the jacket and carefully
remove the disk.  (It can then be carefully cleaned--I do this
with a Windex-wetted tissue on a sheet of glass--dried, and
placed into a clean, slitted jacket kept for this purpose.)

If a disk is adhering and is not freed by soaking in water,
you have little to lose by escalating to ethyl alcohol (for
the disk ;-).  If that doesn't work, you are in virgin
territory--explore!  ;-)

Once the disk rotates freely, you can hold it carefully with
a couple of fingers through the center hole and then move the
jacket around it a full circle, looking at the disk surface
through the bottom head hole for any blemishes.  If it looks
OK, it probably is.  (And even if it doesn't look perfect, it's
worth a try reading it.)



Bottom posting. I didn't want to spoil the integrity of that post.
Unfortunately some disks were very much adhered. Any attempt to do anything
caused the media to separate. The less adhered ones I managed to free up
enough to read.

The stress-free soaking for a while sometimes frees up the disk by
dissolving whatever is causing the adhesion to the liner (before it
loosens the adhesion of media to the disk backing ;-).

As for ethyl alcohol. If you are talking about pure that's a no-go.
Apparently these days it requires a lot of paperwork to even get hold of
it.

Denatured or 100-proof vodka would be fine (though, perhaps a waste ;-).

Avoid "rubbing alcohol" which is usually isopropyl plus some oil.

The rest I will try though. I went through and ADT'd a lot of my disks.
However the archive is currently missing. So I'll have to redo them from
scratch.

Like putting all your eggs in one basket, then losing the basket.  ;-)

-michael

NadaNet networking for Apple II computers!
Home page:  http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/

"The wastebasket is our most important design
tool--and it's seriously underused."