Addendum to Diskette Experiments, Phase III

Hi,

Paul posted this a day or so after the other 
post and it seems the Hot & Cold Affair disk 
did work again after leaving it overnight (see 
below).


Regards,
Andrew B
aliensrcoolukyahoo.co.uk



 --- Paul Panks <lumberjacks76lycos.com> wrote: 


There is an addendum added to yesterday's 
posting of Phase III of the Diskette Experiments.
Here is the addendum:

A new conclusion has been reached regarding 
the second disk experiment. Additionally, the
final Phase III conclusion has been modified 
somewhat to showcase this change:

"The Hot and Cold Affair
-----------------------

This test called for putting ice cubes on the 
front side of the disk, while simultaneously 
holding the back side of the disk over a 
stovetop range at Medium heat (held 
approximately 3/4th of a foot from the 
surface of the stovetop due to overwhelming 
heat and potential hand burn considerations).

The disk was held over the surface for a 
period of ten (10) minutes, while carefully 
juggling the ice cubes on the 1st surface 
simultaneously.

The disk was allowed to cool for a period of 
20 minutes, then read. The result was a disk 
that did not read, as the internal mylar floppy
could barely be moved by force from side to 
side by this person.

Conclusion: The disk was unreadable due to a 
physical (non-bit) failure of the disk jacket 
and internal disk mylar semi-sticking to the 
jacket itself. However, after waiting overnight
and trying the disk again, it read without 
error. Performing a simple read/write on the 
disk -- writing (then reading back) a 2 block 
sequential file -- worked flawlessly. Although 
heating the disk and placing icecubes atop it 
is not recommended, the disk nonetheless did 
recover once it was allowed to cool overnight."

The conclusion has also been modified 
somewhat. Here is the change:

"Experiment Phase III Conclusions
--------------------------------
Two of the disks were a total loss, as the 
experiment never progressed beyond the first 
question asked ("Could a disk still be read by 
the disk drive?"). The disk in the "Hot/Cold 
Affair" experiment failed at first, but then 
worked upon waiting 24 hours for the internal 
disk mylar to cool overnight.

Disks are not impervious to permanent and 
irreversible physical damage from oatmeal, 
milk, water, heat ( >= 250 degrees F ), ice 
cubes, shoes and golf spikes. Heating a disk 
and placing ice cubes atop it will cause it to 
temporarily become unreadable, although the 
disk should return to working order within 24 
hours. It is nonetheless strongly recommended 
by this person that end users strictly avoid 
such implements (as described above) when at,
near or around a floppy disk or drive."

The entirety of the Diskette Experiments can 
be viewed online here:

http://ww
w.geocities.com/dunric/diskfun.txt

Paul