Disc Drives

[ComSoft6128]

Another general query.


Back in the nineties the 3.5" B drive attached to my Plus was used as source drive for copying programs to the A drive. As a consequence the disc was rarely removed, sometimes being in the drive for weeks - in the long term (years) would this damage the 3.5" drive?
And would this also apply to a 3" drive used the same way?


Cheers,


Peter

[Bryce]

If the disk was old and starting to loose its magnetic surface it would muck up the drives head. The other problem is that the head can produce a small magnetic field when the drive is powered up which could corrupt the disk in the drive. It also means that the door on the disk is permanently open and exposed to dust and dirt in the air.

Bryce.

[rpalmer]

There is also the issue of the plastic hub in 3 inch discs which may become brittle due to exposure since the hub is "locked" in position and may break (this is highly unlikely to occur but is a possibility).

While I agree with bryce regarding the magnetic medium, there is also the possibility of "particulates" on the medium which may cause damage to a double sided 3.5 inch floppy where the stuff may rub on the heads as well as the head movement mechanism where the stuff might "jam" it up (highly unlikely, but possible) or be misaligned to the disc format (again highly unlikely, but possible).

rpalmer

[khaz]

isn't there a spring that get tensed up when a disk is inserted? If so, it will lose its strength if stretched for a long period of time, weakening the eject mechanism and ultimately break it.