Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!samsung!uunet!coplex!disk!sparks From: sparks@disk.uucp (John Sparks) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc Subject: Re: Avg lifetime for a 3.5" floppy? Message-ID: <1991Feb08.044012.7972@disk.uucp> Date: 8 Feb 91 04:40:12 GMT References: Organization: Digital Information Systems of KY Lines: 37 cpc@czaeap.UUCP (Chris Cebelenski) writes: > I have been experiencing some strange problems with some older > 3.5" floppies. I have noticed that for some reason my Amiga floppies > (Ie: 3.5") go bad faster than my old 5.25" C-64 floppies did. The > average lifetime I have noticed for Amiga formatted 3.5" disks seem > to be under 2 years! I would have to say that it all depends on the quality of your 3.5" disks. Other factors that can affect the life of a floppy can be storage conditions, how much writing you do to the disk. I have had my Amiga 1000 since 1985 and I still have some floppies from when I first bought it, and they still work fine. That's over 5 years now. But then I have had some floppies fail on me within a month of their first format. On the whole I find that the 3.5" disks are much sturdier and longer lasting than 5.25" disks. The 5.25" disks are more likely to fail do to mishandling long before a 3.5" one will. It's easy to spill things on the 5.25" disks, or to crease them, etc. Oh, and before someone comes out and says that the bad floppies are the bulk buys and that you should stick with brand names, let me say this: My best disks have been the bulk disks from MEI (39 cents) and the worst have been Sony brand, with Maxell almost as bad. The Maxells seem to start getting hard format errors after a moderate ammount of rewriting, and the Sony's seem to have more trouble with the mechanics of the disks (sticking shutters, warped cases, cases coming apart.) -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- John Sparks |"Help Fight Continental Drift!"| (502)968-DISK 2400 BPS D.I.S.K. Management| Email: sparks@disk.UUCP | 7 lines, public access unix *Online Games*Usenet*Email*Chatting*Downloads*Supporting all computers*