Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!watmath!att!mtuxo!mtgzz!drutx!druhi!terrell From: terrell@druhi.ATT.COM (TerrellE) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc Subject: Re: 5.25" Diskettes for Storage Message-ID: <4520@druhi.ATT.COM> Date: 17 Aug 89 19:46:46 GMT References: <2515@lll-lcc.UUCP> Organization: AT&T, Denver, CO Lines: 31 In article <2515@lll-lcc.UUCP>, rzh@lll-lcc.UUCP (Roger Hanscom) writes: > > Just recently, I discovered that about twenty 5.25" floppies > written some 6-7 years ago are completely munged. The content > of the diskettes was no *major* loss, but it is particularly > distressing to me to find that the life span of magnetic media > is so short. What are folks doing to preserve electronically > readable data? Is there a more permanent solution? Do WORM > compact disks offer more permanence?? Speaking as one who has his "collected works" on 3.5" disks in a safe- deposit box, I too am very interested on the "lifespan" of magnetic media. I'm curious how you know that the 5.25" disks are really munged... Are you trying to read them with the same drive that wrote them??? If not, could it be that the drive that wrote the disks or the drive that reads them is out of alignment??? I assume that there are no big O.S. version differences between the system that wrote the disks and the one that tried to read them? What was the degree of mungedness? Could you read some files/no files??? Could you list the disk's directory??? Inquiring Minds Want to Know! Terrell (att!druhi!terrell)