24 Apr
2017
24 Apr
'17
3:53 p.m.
On 04/24/2017 02:40 PM, Terry Stewart wrote:
Guys, you were on the right track. I looked carefully
the disk
surface while rotating it. It's subtle but there is a radial
kink/distortion in the platter. You can only really see it if you
have strong light, like that from a bulb, reflecting off the media
surface. As you rotate the disk at one point this reflection
distorts and one can see a kink of sorts.
What would have caused this? Something hot resting against it?
Just old age or poor quality (disk is no that old...from 2003)?
Is there anyway to straighten out such distortions. It doesn't seem
to be a loose/flaky media issue so I'm thinking washing the platter
isn't likely to help. yes? Or would the warm water help?
If this were an 8" or 5.25" disk,I'd recommend that you try a few
different drive makes. There were substantial differences in
technology back then (often resulting in lawsuits for infringement).
For example, a Tandon 5.25" drive tends to use heavier loading and
"iron" the disk more than, say, a Mitsubishi one, which used a gimbaled
head and much lower loading. Basically the idea was a tradeoff between
"following" the disk waves or flattening them out.
But for 3.5" drives, I don't have a clue--perhaps coating with some
cyclomethicone might result in some surface-tension type adhesion and
make the floppy easier to read.
--Chuck