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From: DevilsPGD on 6 May 2008 19:01 In message <51feacb9-8992-4678-ad17-5ca7f01a232a(a)k10g2000prm.googlegroups.com> FUBARinSFO <file1303(a)gmail.com> wrote: >I can't >imagine that most of it is not unrecoverable. You might want to add another negative just to clarify that sentence.
From: do_not_spam_me on 4 May 2008 11:20 FUBARinSFO wrote: > I'm looking for the most reliable floppy disc media. (1440KB) > > Does anybody know of a site that has actually tested various brands of > floppy media? Or a research report perhaps? I believe you have to go back to the 1980s to find reviews of floppy media, but generally the shiniest disks are the best ones. If you're using old stock, look for 3M, Verbatim, BASF, Kodak, Sony, Fuji, Maxell, which may still be warranted. Don't use 360K or 720K low density disks at 1.44M (3.5") or 1.2M (5.25"), despite some "experts" wrongly claiming the disks are identical and the formatting process weeds out marginal sectors. Disks used that way will not be reliable for long, and in reality the magnetic coatings for high and low density disks are very different in thickness and grain size. You can verify this by looking through the read/write window under strong light. 360K and 720K disks completely block the light, 1.44M and 1.2M disks are transparent brown or red. The best way to test MFM floppy disks (high or low density) is to fill them with either a b66d or 6db6 hexadecimal pattern. Unfortunately almost no formatting utilities write this 2-byte pattern but instead write a 1-byte pattern that will pass far more marginal sectors. I strongly recommend you test any unknown brands or old disks with b66d or 6db6. Don't rule out bad floppy disk drives since they can develop dirty head positioners (wash off dust or sticky grease and apply new grease to lead screws, except gold colored ones mean to run dry) or Track 0 sensors (also blow out dust), but track misalignment is also common, even on TEACs and hard to adjust.
From: do_not_spam_me on 4 May 2008 11:32 FUBARinSFO wrote: > P.S.: I have a couple of Shugart 5 1/4 inch 720KB quad density drive > still available, in the unlikely event anybody is anxious to offload > to another media their Fastback backups they made to this media. It's > one of the projects in my extensive (and growing) backlog. Will you offer to help buyers who encounter the pin34 Ready/ Disk_Changed signal problem? :) I had some 3" tall Shugart 5.25" 720K drives, and they didn't read disks nearly as well as my BASF 720K drives or any 1.2M drives could. This wasn't noticeable with IBM PCs, but the aftermarket floppy controller for my Radio Shack TRS-80 had a poor data recovery circuit design and didn't like the Shugart.
From: FUBARinSFO on 6 May 2008 15:08 Your comments must reflect some extensive experience with these media and drives. I've still got several hundred 5 1/4" media in storage -- I can't imagine that most of it is not unrecoverable. But we'll see. In the meantime, I've recertified my 3 1/2" media, tossed most of them, and went and bought a 50-pk of Verbatim. Surprisingly, some of the old media were still good after ten years. This should solve the problem for the moment. Thanks for all your comments. -- Roy Zider
From: FUBARinSFO on 6 May 2008 15:09
> Will you offer to help buyers who encounter the pin34 Ready/ > Disk_Changed signal problem? :) I do seem to remember something about that problem, now that you mention it. Impressive! |