5.25 floppy drives... open or closed?

[bluejay]

I've seen people keep their drive doors open when they aren't using it, some people with their door closed. Which is the right way to keep your drive?

[+OLD CS1]

It does not matter.  The only thing I ever figured important was not leaving the door closed with a disk in it for long periods of inactivity (days, weeks, &c.)  I have had heads stick to floppies when left like this for months or more.

 

Without a disk, I asked Carl about that.

 

 

[bluejay]

But if I have a head vibration protector it's best to insert it and keep the door closed, right?

 

I was just curious because the 1571's drive head is only lifted from one side, and if it's held up for extended periods of time I though the entire head might get bent sideways. Yet, I saw plenty of people leave their 1571 drive doors open. 

[+OLD CS1]

8 minutes ago, bluejay said:

But if I have a head vibration protector it's best to insert it and keep the door closed, right?

Doing so will likely not hurt, but why would it be better than not?

9 minutes ago, bluejay said:

I was just curious because the 1571's drive head is only lifted from one side, and if it's held up for extended periods of time I though the entire head might get bent sideways. Yet, I saw plenty of people leave their 1571 drive doors open. 

25 years of doing so and having a fully operable 1571 says this is not a significant concern.

[bluejay]

Just now, OLD CS1 said:

Doing so will likely not hurt, but why would it be better than not?

25 years of doing so and having a fully operable 1571 says this is not a significant concern.

My first 1571 broke from a bad head and I heard they were particularly fragile. Thought the drive might last longer than no vibration protector if I kept it inside.

[Keatah]

This really doesn't matter if it's a single-head drive. If it's open, nothing touches the head. If it's closed then the puffy pressure pad rests on the head - which is not a problem whatsoever. I've had a Disk II drive closed for 10+ years and it was just fine. Just say'n.

 

You don't ever want to leave a real disk in there. Both the disk and the head are polished and could potentially stick together after some time.

 

Now with a double-head drive, you shouldn't close the door without something to separate the porcelain/glass heads. Eventually they develop scratches unless you use a plastic or cardboard protector in place. It's what it's made for.

 

For shipping it MUST be soft thick plastic or light density cardboard. A diskette will not suffice. Why? Well think about it. The heads are spring-loaded, and if the package is dropped, well the head will bounce and rebound back, crashing into the other head and crack it. If it doesn't crack it, then it'll mar that glassine finish - which then abrades the diskettes. Eventually one roughens up the other and it goes back'n'forth, then disks start wearing out and fail.

 

I couldn't really tell you about heads getting bent sideways or out of alignment because of being lifted by the tab on the side when opened. The Disk II has a pressure pad that's lifted. So no issues there. I suspect the strength of the spring in conjunction with weak plastic in some mechanisms could potentially be a problem, but I hadn't heard of any issues or had to do that type of repair specifically.

 

I could guess that if a head is tilted to one side a tad, it wouldn't matter too much. The amount of tilt might even become visual before failure to read happens. In which case it could be twisted back in proper level position carefully.

 

Edited August 31, 2021 by Keatah

[Papalapa]

On my Apple IIe I always leave the drive doors opened. Even in mi Atari 1040STF I release the disk in the drive when is turned OFF (if there's a disk inside the Atari starts up quickly, otherwise it takes more time).

 

The reason of this behaviour is that I think that in this position the internal springs and plates of the drive are "not tighted". Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know...

 

[Keatah]

On the Apple II, IIRC, the DOS Manual suggests inserting a disk after the power has been turned on. And avoiding turning the system on/off with a disk already in-place. The reasoning being potential possible power spikes. These natural spikes happen as the TTL chips settle down into the on/off states, and could, potentially flip a bit where the head rests.

 

I don't believe I ever had a problem here. But it could explain why a few disks failed back in the day. Possible.

 

So my recommendation here is to abide by the documentation. Insert disk after the drive has power going to it. Makes sense!

[mr_me]

When I read the question I thought this was about when the drive is empty.  I remember floppy drives where you couldn't even close the latch without a floppy in the drive.  The original IBM PC documentation does say to shut the door after removing a diskette.  I never had a computer where it booted the OS from a floppy.  I imagine people that did left the OS floppy in all the time.  I always removed floppies after I was done.

[bluejay]

Yeah, I definitely remove any floppies after I use the computer, with the only exception being my original Mac. I would remove the floppy, but the eject mechanism is busted, so I'd have to use a bent paper clip to remove the disk that I have to have inside the computer every time I use it anyways. I do power it up once about a week or so at the minimum though; but it did survive the 1/2 year period I did nothing with it just fine.

 

The only dual head drive I have is my 1571 and I have a protective cardboard sheet for it. Always insert it and close the door after using the drive. I've seen VCFED and AA posts about heads getting twisted sideways because of the one-sided head lifting mechanism. Maybe it isn't real, but I'd rather not risk it. It's the only Commodore drive I have. (well, apart from a broken 1541, but you get my point)

 

When using my Apple //e I always put the disk inside before powering it up. Perhaps that was how my ProDOS disk died, but I'm pretty sure it suffered from water damage sometime in the past, because of water stains on the sleeve. I don't know. I've had issues with no other disks though.

[CatPix]

On 8/31/2021 at 12:45 PM, mr_me said:

When I read the question I thought this was about when the drive is empty.  I remember floppy drives where you couldn't even close the latch without a floppy in the drive.  The original IBM PC documentation does say to shut the door after removing a diskette.  I never had a computer where it booted the OS from a floppy.  I imagine people that did left the OS floppy in all the time.

Yes and no, because usually you would just power your system off after playing/saving your work, so the last floppy in the drive would be a software one. So people either removed all floppies, or left the OS floppy in so the computer boot on it at next power-up.

Strangely, I always leave 5"1/4 floppies drives "open" (even if I left the OS floppy partially inside to remember to use it and not chase it around) but I never had any though about leaving a 3"1/2 in the drive. I guess because you remove the "locking" action.