28 May
2012
28 May
'12
9:59 a.m.
On 28 May 2012 at 15:23, Mike van Bokhoven wrote:
Interesting - now I'm mentally comparing the disk
to a violin string,
and the head to the bow/hair, though the roles are all swapped around;
grippiness perhaps provided more by the disk than the head, for
instance. I'm imagining the slightly sticky failing oxide causes the
gripping like rosin. Bit of a mad thought there...
Well, not exactly. Much of the property of violin bow hair has to do
with the structure of the hair itself. Try bowing your violin with a
piece of rosined monofilament fishing line and you'll see what I
mean. Horsehair is used for a reason...
Strangely enough, the first disk I ever bought
(I'd guess in 1980 or
so) was Control Data, and it spent years being squashed and bent in my
school bag, but it still works OK to this day. One sample doesn't mean
much though!
According to Herb Johnson (or one of his sources), a large quantity
of CDC disks were stored in an overheated warehouse, causing the
binder to fail. CDC never admitted it nor made good on the bad
floppies.
Anyone remember Kodak's venture into floppies offered with a lifetime
guarantee? Not only that, but they would recover the data for you?
It didn't last long.
Fortunately, in NZ we'd pretty much never see 40
degrees C, though in
roof spaces etc I'm sure it can reach and exceed that.
The flip side of the overheating thing is fungus and mold, which is
just as bad.
Good luck,
--Chuck