Beware never-used disks?

[+DamonicFury]

I've picked up a number of used ST disks on Ebay and they've worked well for the most part. But recently I picked up two games that were sealed in their original box, and neither one worked at all. What's worse, after trying to load them, the drive stopped reading other disks! Even cleaning the heads afterward didn't bring it back to life.

 

Anyone ever have an experience anything like this? I'm mystified as to what happened here, and I can't imagine attempting to use those disks again.

[Fletch]

I've picked up a number of used ST disks on Ebay and they've worked well for the most part. But recently I picked up two games that were sealed in their original box, and neither one worked at all. What's worse, after trying to load them, the drive stopped reading other disks! Even cleaning the heads afterward didn't bring it back to life.

 

Anyone ever have an experience anything like this? I'm mystified as to what happened here, and I can't imagine attempting to use those disks again.

 

 

I find more often than not that the drive heads were already dirty and those 25 year old disks are starting to have surface decay. Couple those two things together and you end up not being able to read the disks and then you won't be able to read anything.

 

Do a full head cleaning and then try to read a disk that you know works. Assuming that works out, then try to read one of the game disks in question.

 

I have had luck getting pesky disks to read this way. Not all work, but a good percentage have read.

[GadgetUK]

I've picked up a number of used ST disks on Ebay and they've worked well for the most part. But recently I picked up two games that were sealed in their original box, and neither one worked at all. What's worse, after trying to load them, the drive stopped reading other disks! Even cleaning the heads afterward didn't bring it back to life.

 

Anyone ever have an experience anything like this? I'm mystified as to what happened here, and I can't imagine attempting to use those disks again.

You might want to watch my recent 1541 disk drive repair - I found that old disks that hadn't been used in a while dirtied the heads, and IPA wouldnt clean them up. I ended up using PlastX (like Novus) to remove the residue off the head face. I also had to demagnetize the heads right at the start before it would read anything.

[+DamonicFury]

You might want to watch my recent 1541 disk drive repair - I found that old disks that hadn't been used in a while dirtied the heads, and IPA wouldnt clean them up. I ended up using PlastX (like Novus) to remove the residue off the head face. I also had to demagnetize the heads right at the start before it would read anything.

 

Thanks for confirming I'm not crazy... so long-unused disks CAN cause this kind of issue! I'll happily take a look at your video when I have a chance... I would love to get that drive back working!

[GadgetUK]

Don't forget there are 2 heads in the 720Kb drives on the ST. I think you just need to clean each of them and if IPA isn't removing the contamination use PlastX or something similar, then clean off with IPA. Some of these old disks can get mold and stuff on them depending on how they've been stored over the years. I got my 1541 working perfectly, then put in a dirty disk and it stopped reading disks again. Inspected it and could see loads of brown stuff on the head which wouldn't come off with IPA (hence the PlastX).

[leech]

Interesting. So I have this issue with my Falcon's floppy drive. I can put a disk in my TT and it works fine, but then when I put it in my falcon it may read it once, but won't read it afterward. I do have some Novus, if that'll work, that would be sweet. Though I should have a CosmoEx on the way.