Date   : Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:03:45 +0100
From   : jumbos.bazzar@... (Mark Haysman)
Subject: Re-using floppies

> me@... wrote:
>
>> Are 20-25 year-old 5.25" floppies safe to use regularly?
>
> I think it depends on the floppy, how it has been stored...
>
>
>> My floppy drive still actually works and I don't want to risk damaging
>> it.
>

Absolutely, although it does depend somewhat also on the type of drive 
you're using, and they type of head it has.

Most drives (of the 80 track variety) have square-looking heads for the top 
and bottom, with a ridge in the middle. These are very easy to clog with bad 
disks, and sometimes can be near impossible to clean fully, as the amount of 
scrubbing and force needed to get the clog out often dislodges the head or 
moves it on it's suspension, causing interchangability errors.

There are a few types of drive that have a round type head, that are 
perfectly smooth at the top - most 40 track drives have this type of head, 
and also some models of Teac 55 80 track single sided. There are some Canon 
and Teac drives that have this type for both the lower and upper head - that 
is the type you want to look for, as if you use a dodgy disk with them, the 
surface still gets coated, but as they're a smooth head, they're very easy 
to clean off. I use one of these drives for reading data off dodgy disks so 
I know I may destroy the disk, but not risk my drive.

For old 5.25" it is all about storage as Rick has said - rotate the disk by 
hand and see if you can see any mould markings on the surface. Also, the 
matt-look disks are more prone to the oxide coating coming off than the 
shiny ones, I recall that most 3M disks are the shiny type, so as long as 
they have no mould marks, then they should be good.

Another quick test is noise. If you have a disk drive with a solenoid 
loading head (one that clicks when you read), put the disk in drive 0 and 
*CAT 1 (so the motor spins, but the head does not engage) - listen to the 
disk spining, if you hear loud regular noise from the drive, it's more than 
likely that the disk is knackered.

Mark.