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From: ESR@SLACVM.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU (Ed Russell)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
Subject: Re: MEI/Micro Center floppy disks
Message-ID: <90305.102017ESR@SLACVM.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU>
Date: 1 Nov 90 18:20:17 GMT
References: <6834@hub.ucsb.edu> <90300.195308DSB100@psuvm.psu.edu>
 <90300.224007F0O@psuvm.psu.edu> <1990Oct30.191312.10002@meadow.uucp>
Distribution: comp
Organization: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
Lines: 23

In reply to:

> From: py@meadow.uucp (Peter Yeung)
> Subject: Re: MEI/Micro Center floppy disks
> Date: 30 Oct 90 19:13:12 GMT
>
> In article <90300.224007F0O@psuvm.psu.edu> F0O@psuvm.psu.edu writes:
> >
> >data.  Once a disk is formatted without any errors, has anyone had problems
> >with the disks later developing problems?  Can I rely on these disks for
> >long-term storage?
>
> It depends on what do you mean by "long-term". I have a whole bunch of 5.25"
> floppies went bad on me. They were at least 6 years old. Once a floppy went
> bad, it went downhill pretty quick (i.e. once bad sectors started appearing,
> it got worse and worse in subsequent usage). However, today's floppies may
> be better. BTW, all those bad floppies were brand name like Dysan and CDC,
> there were no "no-brand name" floppies back then.

My experience has also been that data on many floppies may deteriorate with
time.  For critical data, I find that an occasional pass through PCTOOLS 6.0
DiskFix "Revitialize floppy" function is helpful.  I think the Norton Disk
Doctor has a similar function although I haven't used it.