Weirdity with my 8" drive

I've noticed something odd with my 8" disk drive. It seems to produce a lot of errors on the last tracks on side 1 when using Anadisk. Anadisk will report "Gap in sector" and "Data error" errors, usually on tracks higher than 70, and always on side 1. The errors are also inconsistent. I use Anadisk to do a disk dump and note down the errors on one pass, then do it again and compare the errors on the second pass to the first and they are invariably different. I used the sector editor to read one track over and over several times. On most tries it gets errors. The errors are inconsistent from read to read. Sometimes some sectors will have "Gaps", other times data errors, and occasionally the entire track reads just fine. I have dumped some disks that are otherwise error free and the dumps have been consistent. What does "Gap in sectors" under Anadisk mean anyway? Is this just a case of disks that are just old and wearing out or something weird with my drive? Yes, I've cleaned the drive head, thoroughly. But that wouldn't explain why this is only happening on the higher tracks now, would it? Thanks! -- Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org [ Old computing resources for business || Buy/Sell/Trade Vintage Computers ] [ and academia at www.VintageTech.com || at http://marketplace.vintage.org ]