1 May
1999
1 May
'99
4:22 p.m.
On Sat, 1 May 1999, Chuck McManis wrote:
So I came home again late. At home I took the worst
disk and used a
tape/video demagnetizer on it and then tried to reformat it. Half the bad
blocks went away! (now down to 12). A few more rounds of this and I finally
got the technique perfectly.
Disk Demagnetization:
Take a stack of 1 or more but not more than 5 disks and
place them on a flat surface.
Run a demagnetizer horizontally and vertically over the disks
starting beyond the edge of the disk, crossing the disk, and then
passing over the opposite edge.
Hold the Demagnetizer about 1/4" above the disks and move it
around clockwise and anti-clockwise several times, then while
moving it in circles, slowly lift it up until it is about 12"
above the disks and turn it off.
The whole operation should take about 20 - 30 seconds.
This sounds like voodoo to me. There must be some point when you are
lifting the demagnetizer away that the effects from the device are
beneficial. Are you sure you need to swipe it vertically, then
horizontally, then clockwise, then counterclockwise, then lift it away
while swirling? Are you sure its not just one of those, or a combination
of two that really make the disk better? Is this truly making the disk
better or did the disk drive become amused watching you do all this and
then just decide to work because you made it laugh?
Have you performed one thing and then tried to format the disk to see if
that one thing is what does it?
Sellam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com
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