Headbanging kit.
Disk cleaning fluid and disk. Just pop drops
They make cleaning disks in all the formats.
They even advise on how to clean your floppy drive.
If you are serious about your Amiga you will
If you are questioning whether its a disk problem
A second drive can also be used a sacrificial drive
Always keep your disks stored upright in a disk box.
Never leave disks in games boxes or laying with
Start and collect as many tools and utilities disks
The Amiga uses Double Density disks and time was we
Most disks I see for sale are old stock that have
Nine times out of ten these disks will not only fail
It's one thing to say a disk is faulty and another
OK things to check........
Does the metal slide move with ease, or is it stuck.
These things can be very abused, and be bent, twisted
The plastic over the years can become very brittle.
The metal slide and spring should move with ease.
So what is the 'whoosh'. It is the disk abrading on the
A gentle flex of the disk, 'gentle' can free the liner.
Dust can get into the disk if not stored in a disk box.
The toilet seat cover does degrade particularly around
Two kinds of damage and that is computer storage related
With careful storage and avoidance of magnetic devices
The two hole brigade. Be aware of the HD disks that were
Note the extra hole in the PC disk.
And so 2HD for PC machines and the DSDD for the Amiga.
Be afraid, very afraid. Or not !
I have rebuilt problem disks... and this is how.
I use DOpus and a second floppy drive.
I first copy as much of the disk to RAM.
I make note of the problem files.
I gently flex the disk case and tap it on the desk.
I then check again with DOpus and try to copy the
I keep repeating the process and unless there is
I then copy the contents to a clean disk and ADF to
You will need your head banging kit though. A clean
With older important disks you should always keep
Avoid the perils of forum guidance telling you
GET SOME OLD MAGAZINES ... and learn the truth about
Nick suggested RELOKICK and so that is what I did.
On a high density disk.. What am I like ?
ScuzzBlog: Diaries March 2023
Entry 1st March 2023: Post 1: Amiga Headbanging - Floppy Drive'ing.
Amiga Headbanging - Floppy Drive'ing.
One of the most common queries found on forums these days appear to
relate to failures of floppy drives, or should I say their apparent
failure. Sadly too many responses jump straight into the opening of
the Amiga for unnecessary surgery. Seriously, if you have an old bit
of kit, the thing you should least ever do when it works is open
her up endlessly. This stuff is like over thirty years old and has
been subject to relentless fatigue over its life. Components do not
last for ever so why take the risk. Especially as most floppy based
issues can be traced to the disks themselves.
Consider this. A guy finds an old tatty disk and throws it into
the drive. It immediately starts 'wheeshing' and 'whooshing' in a
merry dance layering all kinds of debris to the floppy drive head.
Sadly this can render the drive useless. It can result in no end of
problems for any further disks inserted. The concluding view could
be that the drive is damaged and so open the computer.
Nine times out of ten when you experience a fault with reading a
disk , a quick clean with an external disk cleaner inserted into
the floppy drive will cure the problem. And problem disks should be
labelled as faulty and binned.
Below I talk you through the issues with floppy disks.
Just a quick comment about current forums. Sadly they are littered
with loads of comments from guys that may or may not know what they
are talking about. I sense any number of computers are being hacked
about on the basis of poor guidance from a forum poster. Time was
when our only source of guidance was the help pages in our favourite
computer magazine. Thing is many of the magazines are online and
still available through Ebay. It really does pay to get hold of
older publications cus the information inside is gold.
What you rarely get from an old Amiga help page is advice to open
up your Amiga just cus you have a software or data issue. Today we
seem to have tripped into electrical meddling as first suggested
rout for most issues, when in truth fiddling with the electronics
is probably the last thing you want to be considering, especially
with kit so old as it is.
So do yourself a favour and get a head cleaning kit and try very
hard to keep your Amiga connected, static, protected and loved.
Stop unplugging the connectors all the time... She's fine.
Amiga Headbanging - Floppy Drive'ing.
onto the linen sheet and insert for a few seconds.
purchase an external floppy drive. Get two.
or drive problem, the easiest way to sort it is
to check on another drive.
for dodgy disks that you suspect.
Being dust free and standing is so important.
other items on top of the disk.
as you can afford. You really will never know when
you are going to need them.
could buy these with ease. Not so today.
seen much better/worse days. There is no telling
the condition of these disks. Most important when
testing is using an external drive.
but also muck up your floppy drive.
to understand if it is broken. Or 'Very Broken'.
Maybe it moves and doesn't spring back.
and stick out so much they get stuck in your drive.
Also dust and hair can build up around the inner hub.
paper liner. Usually caused by folk leaving heavy
objects on the disks or simply stacking them on top
of each other.
the centre hub.
or actual physical damage to the surface.
a good quality disk can last a very long time. My
originals are well over thirty years old and trust
me they all work.
not designed for the DD format of the Amiga. It is
possible to use them, of a fashion, but unless you want
problems I would avoid them. Unless you have an XL drive
or Amiga 4000 computer with the HD drive.
problem files. More are successfully copied to RAM.
actual software / data damage to the disk I am able
to make a duplicate in RAM.
my library. If you are patient you can generally
recover the data off the disk.
drive makes all the difference.
an ADF backup of the data.
to dismantle your drives. Sadly you will probably
finish up with a pile of busted drives, that have
been broken unnecessarily at your own hands.
how to maintain your Amiga. The words are golden.
If you can only see this CONTENT window
then click the image above for the full site
Last updated 1st March 2023
Chandraise Kingdom
Keep the Faith
scuzzscink 2023