Date   : Sun, 11 Jul 2004 18:19:50 +0100 (BST)
From   : BBC Micro <b_b_c_m_i_c_r_o@...>
Subject: Re: More crash bang wallop (5.25 style)

--- Pete Turnbull <pete@...> wrote: >
On Jul 4, 20:13, BBC Micro wrote:
> > Take a look at this:
> >
> > http://whitebody.tripod.com/datalife/
> >
> > I know this is because of the media bonding
> problem
> > but all my disks that do go, go at this
> point/radius,
> > shortly after inserting them, but this isn't track
> 0
> > is it?
> 
> Doesn't look like it, but there's damage in other
> places on that disks,
> and it looks to me like you have a damaged or dirty
> head.
> 
> I use old disks frequently, and haven't run into
> that problem more than
> once or twice.  Whenever something like that
> happens, you should clean
> the head, because particles of oxide often adhere to
> it and then will
> destroy other disks you put in the drive.  The best
> way to clean the
> heads is to use a cotton bud soaked in a few drops
> of iso-propyl
> alcohol; you may need to partially dismantle the
> drive by removing a
> cover plate on the top in order to get access to the
> heads.  If you
> have something like a dentist's mirror, you can
> inspect the heads to
> make sure they're clean, shiny, and not chipped.
> 

Thanks for your reply.  I usually clean the drive with
a cleaning disk that has a cleaning pad in it (soaked
in cleaner). I've always been cautions about cleaning
the head directly but I have got one of those mirror
things so I'll take it apart and check the heads
condition.

Those other scratches you see are when I tried to read
the disk backwards from track 80 and it looks like I
didn't clean the heads thoroughly enough after the
first failure!

I've saved off a hundred or so disks already to PC.
I'm just going through the telesoftware collection at
the moment, although probably someone has already done
that!

I found this useful site as well:

http://www.swtpc.com/knowledgebase/kbpage1.htm


       
       
               
___________________________________________________________ALL-NEW Yahoo!
Messenger - sooooo many all-new ways to express yourself http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com