10 Jul
2018
10 Jul
'18
9:14 p.m.
Chuck reckoned
No, no, no! Do not use isopropanol to clean
floppies--you'll wind up
with a soft oxide coating and a brown rag. Were these mine, I'd first
remove them from their jackets and then bake them and then clean them
with distilled water and perhaps a couple of drops of a wetting agent
(Kodak Photo-flo is a good) choice--a couple of drops goes a long way).
You should be good to go--at least my experience tells me that.
Well, I suggested IPA (to Chuck's horror) so decided to put my money where my mouth is
and try it myself.
Using a 38-year old 8" IBM Diskette 1 (128-bit sectors) that I had lying around
(it's physically damaged) I proceeded
to clean it with high-grade IPA and a cotton bud as I suggested.
After a good scrubbing, no detectable oxide came off at all. It even looked a tiny bit
cleaner on the area I tried.
Photos:
Diskette: http://www.surfacezero.com/g503/data/500/diskette_1.jpg
Before: http://www.surfacezero.com/g503/data/500/diskette_before.jpg
After: http://www.surfacezero.com/g503/data/500/diskette_after.jpg
So there you have it. I'm not asserting that all diskettes were manufactured as well
as this IBM one but I stand by
what I suggested, I would certainly try IPA again if I had to. By the 1970s I would think
a diskette surface had come a
long way from my dad's RAMAC days and even the 1/2" magnetic tape from the 50s
and 60s, where I would be considerably
more reticent trying this.
Steve.
