Re: My old floppy disks are decaying! Help!

[rubywand@aol.com (RUBYWAND)]

In article <basil.820727122@rain.org>, basil@rain.org (Basil) wrote:

> I started into computers back in the early days of Apple ][+ and TI-99,
so
> I have several disks that go back as far as 1983. Only recently did I
take
> a look at some of my oldest Apple disks, mostly 3M and Maxell (back when
> they used to cost $30-$60 for a box of 10 5.25" DS/DD disks). On several
> of the older 3M disks, as well as a few Janus and a no-name brand, there
> are black-brown stains all over the disk surface when I spin the disk
> around. They are clearly from a chemical reaction with the inside paper
> lining because the only place where there are no stains/spots is in the
> opening where the head reads the disk. These stains do not come off with
> a Q-tip and on the worse cases, the disk has read errors. Disks with
mild
> stains are still readable .....

    After reading your post, I checked several of our old diskettes-- some
go back to the early 80's-- and did not find the stains. A guess would be
that the problem is going to turn up on just a few brands. It may be that
3M and some other high-priced brands used a liner lubricant which either
reacts with the diskette surface or provides a growth medium for some
plastic-eating fungus.