On 04/24/2017 02:40 PM, Terry Stewart wrote: > Guys, you were on the right track. I looked carefully the disk > surface while rotating it. It's subtle but there is a radial > kink/distortion in the platter. You can only really see it if you > have strong light, like that from a bulb, reflecting off the media > surface. As you rotate the disk at one point this reflection > distorts and one can see a kink of sorts. > > What would have caused this? Something hot resting against it? > Just old age or poor quality (disk is no that old...from 2003)? > > Is there anyway to straighten out such distortions. It doesn't seem > to be a loose/flaky media issue so I'm thinking washing the platter > isn't likely to help. yes? Or would the warm water help?
If this were an 8" or 5.25" disk,I'd recommend that you try a few different drive makes. There were substantial differences in technology back then (often resulting in lawsuits for infringement). For example, a Tandon 5.25" drive tends to use heavier loading and "iron" the disk more than, say, a Mitsubishi one, which used a gimbaled head and much lower loading. Basically the idea was a tradeoff between "following" the disk waves or flattening them out. But for 3.5" drives, I don't have a clue--perhaps coating with some cyclomethicone might result in some surface-tension type adhesion and make the floppy easier to read. --Chuck