drives are shipped/moved without the proper head protecting cardboard inserts, the heads themselves tend to slam against each other every time the truck hits a bump. This causes the heads, which are made of glass, to chip, crack and break. In the most extreme cases, the broken head will actually cut a groove in the media. Look for holes or grooves in your floppies. Hi The other thing is, if this is a single sided disk, the pressure pad may have accumulation on it such that it causes the media to not set flat against the head. A little cleaning with a nail file work well on these pads. It removes deposits and flattens the surface. Just don't file it down to nothing. Dwight