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Twiggy archiving---how to deal with disk media oxidation?
stepleton:
Hi all,
I've received some Twiggy disks to back up: the Office System 1.1 tools in French, which I don't think we have archived anywhere.
Unfortunately the disk media exhibits a considerable degree of oxidisation. This doesn't rule out recovery altogether, but at best it makes it more difficult. Here's a photo that shows what's typical for this set of floppies.
The BLU manual has a whole section on "Twiggy Problems", including strategies for degraded media. In particular:
"Original/vintage Twiggy media ca. 1983 tend to have a coating of oxide dust, which quickly builds-up on the drive heads and impedes correct operation. It is important to frequently inspect (and clean when appropriate) both heads of a Twiggy drive when using old media. Cleaning the oxide dust off a disk before inserting it can help reduce head cleaning."
I've wondered about the ways to clean oxide dust off of a disk. Are we talking about compressed air, or wiping with a delicate paper or fabric (e.g. lens paper)? What do people usually do?
Thanks for any advice!
snuci:
Good question. I have an original FileWare floppy that has severe oxidation only at the access holes.
I was thinking of creating a 3d floppy disk cleaner similar to this for 5.25" disks but my 3d object creation skills are limited: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2715428 You would be able to wipe the disk with alcohol as the disk spins which is cleaner than trying to clean via the hole, moving the biscuit, then cleaning, etc.
Is there such a thing for 5.25" disks already?
stepleton:
As much as I love the 'propes, and I love isopropanol enough to call it "the 'propes", I'm not confident of using that on a disk! Pages 78-79 of the Twiggy specifications document give a few details of the properties of Twiggy media, but the composition of the magnetic coating isn't described.
If anyone has a copy of the Media Specification document #062-1012, we would probably find the information we need. As it is, if the coating is anything like some acrylic paints, then isopropanol will soften and eventually dissolve it.
rayarachelian:
So I've been wondering about something, are the twiggy heads single sided, with a R/W head on one side, and felt pad on the other like on the Sony 400k? Is that why there's two of them rather than single arm with two heads?
If so does that felt cause wear and tear on the media over time?
stepleton:
Yes, that's exactly how it's set up.
I'm curious about that felt, too. The BLU docs talk about cleaning the heads, but surely the oxide material must collect around the felt as well. Do you have to clean those pads, too?
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