Re: Recalibrate Disk Drives?

[mjmahon@aol.com (Michael J. Mahon)]

Simon Williams asked:

>And how does one clean ones heads? I assume that they are similar to a
>tape-deck head in composition so isopropyl and a q-tip should work,
>but do you have to dismantle the whole drive? And what about
>de-gaussing or de-magnetizing...  is there such a thing as a "floppy
>drive head-cleaner"?

Avoid sticking _anything_ into a disk drive except a diskette--in this
case a "cleaning diskette" made from a mildly abrasive absorbent
polyester material.  Radio Shack probably still has them.  You put
a few drops of solvent on the inner "disk" and then insert it into the
drive and run it for a few seconds.  (You can do this by trying to
"boot" from the cleaning disk.)

Be sure to only open the bottom "head access" hole, since the
presure pad doesn't like even mild abrasion, nor getting wet.  ;-)

-michael

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