Floppy disks falling apart

[SS]

Well, that's it. After 33 years of service my original Datalife 5 1/4" floppy disks are finally starting to fall apart. The hub rings have detached from two of my disks recently. Luckily I have been able to get both to read in my 1050 in order to make backups onto some "new" old-stock disks but I can read the writing on the wall here. It feels like the end of an era.

Edited November 25, 2017 by SS

[Rybags]

Hub rings weren't standard on all floppies anyway. The time to worry is if the oxide is flaking off or bits of tissue dust starts appearing.

[_The Doctor__]

gently remove the rings taking care that no glue gets in the disk jacket, they will be fine...

if the coating starts to go use a double headed drive to copy them, not the 1050 as is will clog and ruin the antistatic felt pressure pad...

Edited November 25, 2017 by _The Doctor__

[+Nezgar]

I've got some Tandy disks that were initially completely unreadable and unformattable. visible mould patches, too much for Q-Tip IPA cleaning... removed the cookie and washed with soap restored readability and formatability, continues to shed material on the read head. even after cleaning, some spots on the disk become unreadable again after 10 or 15 minutes. Most of my disks though fare much better though! Especially 3M, they seem to have a very nice shiny lubricated surface that has stood the test of time and work good as new.

[Tempest]

All of my original disks are fine, but many of the ones I've inherited are junk. I think a lot of it depends on the brand and how they were stored. Mine were mostly Wang 0080 diskettes and were stored in a dry environment under constant temperature. I have had a few of those funny colored disks that Egghead put out that have had the disk jacket crack. Maybe the dye in them did something?

[Bryan]

The problem is the lubricating/sealant coating on the oxide. Once it goes, you have limited time to back up the disk, and you'll be cleaning the head several times during the process.

 

There are different coating formulations out there and some are still like new. Some brands vary depending on when/where the disk was made. Storage greatly affects it as well.

[SS]

Part of the blame is unfortunately my own. There were a few years in the late 1990s through about 2005ish when my living situation was always in transition and my A8 stuff was stored in large plastic bins in my father's garage. Luckily moisture wasn't really a problem but the heating conditions were not optimal. They've been nicely cared for since that time but I'm sure that it contributed to their deterioration a bit.

[_The Doctor__]

SS, if the disks are precious, I can bring an XF and pull the data for you.... or you can toss me the disks and I'll do it for you, making atr atx or vapi for you

[SS]

Thanks for the kind offer but I think that I have managed to save everything of personal importance and have found ATRs or XEXs of the rest.