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Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watnot!watmath!clyde!cbatt!ihnp4!ptsfa!lll-lcc!pyramid!cti!frazier
From: frazier@cti.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Monitor degaussers and Micro Floppies
Message-ID: <547@cti.cti.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 2-Mar-87 12:20:23 EST
Article-I.D.: cti.547
Posted: Mon Mar  2 12:20:23 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 3-Mar-87 23:18:40 EST
References: <853@crash.CTS.COM>
Organization: Cornerstone Technology, Inc.
Lines: 41
Summary: READ YOUR MANUAL??

In article <853@crash.CTS.COM>, billk@pnet01.CTS.COM (Bill Kelly) writes:
> 
> Hmmmmm... I wouldn't think that this would be the cause of the trouble that my
> friend encountered.  When the his Amiga CPU was tipped on edge, it
> systematically trashed any disk it wrote to with the internal drive!
> 
> billk

For all of you people that don't (aparrently) read the manual and are
guessing what might cause this problem of trashing discs: In the Amiga 
manual (Even the little one that is for the "first time computer user") 
there is a large bold printed announcement that you "SHOULD NOT STORE 
OR OTHERWISE HAVE A DISC WITHIN THREE FEET OF THE MONITOR WHEN THE 
SYSTEM IS TURNED ON", or words of similar impact.  (I don't have the 
manuals here at work).  Now, one may ask (and rightly so) just how
you can get away with booting the system normally (IE: in a hurry like
most of us do) without problems.  Well, the monitor MAY not automatically
degauss, and there is some shielding around the drive, and MANY of us have
probably been breaking the "3 foot rule" from day one with no adverse
effects (I know that I often do), but you never know if it's slowly wiping 
your discs until it's too late.  On the other hand, the warning may just be
something included to keep Commodore off the hook if you start losing
disc data due to degaussing problems.

No, it shouldn't make any difference whether the drive is on it's side or
not, I've had one of my external floppies "on edge" for over a year without
a problem, and have only trashed a few discs in that time (all have been in 
the internal drive, and a couple were the old "turn off power with the access
light on problem" (a definite no-no on ANY computer).  The only possible way
that turning the amiga on it's side (end) should make would be if the bottom
is closer to the monitor than the (normal) top, AND IF the shielding inside
the Amiga is less effective on the bottom than that on the top. (Really
grasping at straws now aren't we?)

--rick

-- 
DISCLAIMER: The foregoing is the result of a brain frazzled by the effects of
insufficient sleep and a noisy phone line, and in no way reflects the opinion
of my employer, friends, or enemies.  I'm not even sure I really wrote it. 
UUCP:  {decwrl,pyramid}!sun!cti!frazier  DDD: 408-734-8533