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Re: How about your 5.25" disks?

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On 2025-05-24 23:03:10 +0000, Michael J. Mahon said:

> D Finnigan <dog_cow@macgui.com> wrote:
>> I was driving on the highway last weekend, and as I turned one way, my
>> thoughts turned to my Apple II disks. I don't know why. But I was wondering
>> about how long my 5.25" disks will remain readable. It seems to me that if
>> they're stored in an agreeable environment, they ought to last another
>> generation. After all, magnetic tapes from NASA missions and The Beatles in
>> the 1960s can still be played back. But it probably depends on how well they
>> were manufactured to begin with.
>> 
>> The oldest 5.25" disks I have are from at least the year 1980 or 1981. So on
>> average, between 40 to 45 years old. I probably have a few late 70s disks in
>> 13-sector format too. Late 70s disks are not too far away from 50 years old.
>> (By the way, the FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY of the Apple II is coming in just 2
>> years! :-0 Yowza.)
>> 
>> Here's the point of this discussion: does anyone have any disks in his
>> collection that he knows were readable, say, 10 or more years ago; but today
>> are no longer readable? And I don't mean just completely unreadable, but
>> maybe with a few sector errors. And if so, how were these disks stored? Were
>> they in a bad environment like an attic or a garage, or were they always
>> kept within the conditioned living spaces of a home or office?
>> 
>> Speculation and anecdotes are of course welcome here. :-)
> 
> Your thoughts about the importance of the environment floppies are stored
> in are quite accurate. A well-made floppy should have a very long useful
> life if properly stored (cool, dry, preferably vertical).
> 
> Early in the game, say late 70s to early 80s, there were some sketchy
> manufacturers who sold less reliable diskettes—some simply wouldn’t format,
> some would only work on one side,

Disks were often manfactured as double-sided, but if they failed in 
testing on one side were sold as single-sided instead. Of course, many 
of us oldies simply punched an extra hole in the disk cover to make 
them into double-sided anyway, and I personally never had any problems 
with them.



> and some had defective binders, so that after a while the magnetic 
> coating would begin to flake off.
> 
> By the mid- to late-80s most floppies were quite reliable.
> 
> Of course, floppies are read by a head in contact with the magnetic media,
> so wear and dirty heads can shorten the useful life.  In cases of dirt
> pollution, I’ve often found that carefully slitting the jacket, removing
> the disk, and gently wiping the media with tissue dampened with isopropyl
> alcohol will allow the disk to be read after slipping it back into a clean
> jacket. (This read should preferably be to copy it to a good diskette!)
> 
> Diskettes are more reliable than many expect if treated and stored
> properly.

I've got old lots of Macintosh 3.5in disks that still work perfectly 
well, as well as old hard drives. I've also got a pile of old Amiga 
3.5in disks, but with no way to read them (at least not without 
spending realitively expensive amount of money for basically a one-off 
task), I have no idea if they are any good or not.

Same of course is true with the similarly made video tapes, which I 
also have quite a lot of.

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Thread

How about your 5.25" disks? D Finnigan <dog_cow@macgui.com> - 2025-05-15 21:07 +0000
  Re: How about your 5.25" disks? Michael J. Mahon <mjmahon@aol.com> - 2025-05-24 23:03 +0000
    Re: How about your 5.25" disks? Your Name <YourName@YourISP.com> - 2025-05-25 13:03 +1200
      Re: How about your 5.25" disks? phigan <phigan@bbs.penisys.online> - 2025-06-12 21:25 +0000
        Re: How about your 5.25" disks? Your Name <YourName@YourISP.com> - 2025-06-13 11:07 +1200
          Re: How about your 5.25" disks? scott@alfter.diespammersdie.us (Scott Alfter) - 2025-06-13 16:04 +0000
            Re: How about your 5.25" disks? Your Name <YourName@YourISP.com> - 2025-06-14 11:12 +1200

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