Degraded 5.25 inch floppys. 3M particularly bad?
Posted: Tue May 31, 2011 1:10 pm
Hi,
The latest project involves archiving 1986-1992 PC software on 400-500 donated 5.25 inch disks. I don't have a big pre-1990 PC library and it's a chance to get software for Virtual PC 2007 and also have some local stock for my machines. I'm using Winimage to create the disk images.
These disk have all been keep in a dry, cool(ish) place, and are a mixture of Wang, Verbatim, 3M, Dysan and a few others. However, as I've processed each one I've noticed a distinct difference in brands. The disks seem to have aged well with the exception of one brand. 3M DS/DD disks. Many of these have degraded and you can see white, discoloured flakes of residue (or maybe fungi) on the media. There are a few that seem ok, but 75% of the 3M DS/DD disks are like this. They go straight in the bin, as they can gum up drives. 3M DS/HD 1.2MB disks seem ok.
I'm curious to know if this phemonema is confined to this lot of disks or is wider. Anyone else had the same experience or notice differences in brands names as far as the lifetime of 5.25 inch floppies are concerned?
The latest project involves archiving 1986-1992 PC software on 400-500 donated 5.25 inch disks. I don't have a big pre-1990 PC library and it's a chance to get software for Virtual PC 2007 and also have some local stock for my machines. I'm using Winimage to create the disk images.
These disk have all been keep in a dry, cool(ish) place, and are a mixture of Wang, Verbatim, 3M, Dysan and a few others. However, as I've processed each one I've noticed a distinct difference in brands. The disks seem to have aged well with the exception of one brand. 3M DS/DD disks. Many of these have degraded and you can see white, discoloured flakes of residue (or maybe fungi) on the media. There are a few that seem ok, but 75% of the 3M DS/DD disks are like this. They go straight in the bin, as they can gum up drives. 3M DS/HD 1.2MB disks seem ok.
I'm curious to know if this phemonema is confined to this lot of disks or is wider. Anyone else had the same experience or notice differences in brands names as far as the lifetime of 5.25 inch floppies are concerned?