8 Nov
2001
8 Nov
'01
2:54 a.m.
I have to
agree with Dick. Simple and clever, yes, but Disk ][ was
not all that bullet proof. The mechanism was reliable. I rarely
recall failure of the mechanism. But I certainly recall disks being
rendered unreadable by leaving a disk in the drive when powering down.
Lifetimes of frequently used disks were on order of months, even if
the disks were write protected.
What media were you using? Was it quality media or cheap crap you could
buy in bulk? What was your physical environment like? Clean and free of
dust and debris? How did you store your disks? In a temperature and
humidity that was amenable with diskettes, as suggested by the
manufacturer? Later Disk ][
drives didn't seem to have as many problems. I assume
Canwe have some dates here so we know what timeframes we are discussing?
(re: "later Disk ][ drives"). I don't
recall having as many problems with drives on other systems
with the exception of a Kaypro that would wipe most any disk over the
course of a couple hours. I only had access to the one Kaypro, so I
don't know if the problem was widespread.
I would ask the same questions of you as above. Quality of media?
Environment? Proper storage? And I would add: well-designed software?
Didn't seem much correlated with what software was running, other than
machines running CP/M on softcards were especially prone to rendering
CP/M boot disks unbootable. I assume it had something to do with where
the heads were generally resting.
Eric