vodka7
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Running out of time, my floppies are in retirement and waiting to die... how do I rejuvenate them?
I want my floppies to outlive me. I want my grandkids to be able to play the games (using the ORIGINAL floppies) that I used. But the average life of a floppy properly stored and cared for is 10-30 years, most of my games are at the 20 year mark. I won't settle for backing up onto new floppies or CDs, I want to be able to enjoy the originals with their cute labels and the feeling of having an original disk. My questions are:
1. Can't I just format the disk and reimage it thus "creating" a new copy? I realize that this is restoring on the logical level and not actually restoring the physical condition level, but isn't data corruption on floppies a case of the magnetic particles becoming unaligned? So if I reformat and reimage, doesn't that extend the life?
2. Can I degauss the disk somehow (and how?) and induce a field onto it (how?) to restore it's original magnetic properties?
3. Is there a way I can permanently LOCK the particles in place so they will never shift again?
Please be prompt, looking at my huge collection of DOS games and realizing that every one of them is like a grandparent on life support and waiting for a cure for old age is heartbreaking, when some might only have days left....
1. Can't I just format the disk and reimage it thus "creating" a new copy? I realize that this is restoring on the logical level and not actually restoring the physical condition level, but isn't data corruption on floppies a case of the magnetic particles becoming unaligned? So if I reformat and reimage, doesn't that extend the life?
2. Can I degauss the disk somehow (and how?) and induce a field onto it (how?) to restore it's original magnetic properties?
3. Is there a way I can permanently LOCK the particles in place so they will never shift again?
Please be prompt, looking at my huge collection of DOS games and realizing that every one of them is like a grandparent on life support and waiting for a cure for old age is heartbreaking, when some might only have days left....
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For the age of the Floppy, I don't think it is a matter of corrupted data. It is the integrity of the media. The media itself will not last as long as you want. Just like tapes and records. They will wear and deteriorate in time.
just thought of someting; sealing them airtight will increase their lifespan...so I've you have a kitchenvacuüming machine (ok translation?; I mean a machine for sealing food in plastic, without air), you could try that too. I understand the sentiment of still having the old, original disks, but eventually they will die and be useless...I would back them up anyway. Btw, are these all 3.5" or do you have 5.25" as well? (just out of curiosity).
Blue Rishi
Blue Rishi
Just get over the fact that you want to play your games off a floppy in 50 years... The problem is that we take floppies for granted... but what about 10 years from now, will new computers ship with floppy drives? Probably not, why would they? By then (as if it isn't like this now) a floppy can't hold anything, I mean I can take a shot with my digital camera that a floppy can't even hold. Just image them, burn all of them to cd and you will be done, with one or two cds. As if cds will be around a whole lot longer... Things are changing too much to have that nostalgia about things, I mean if you really want your grandchildren to be able to play your old DOS games in 25 or 30 years, go ahead and try it... but I think that adapting is a better choice, because if you rely on floppies, they will drop you like a bad habit, and then your grandchildren can't even play them because you were too stubborn to image them and get rid of the old crappy floppies. I mean, just like 5 1/4 floppies, I haven't seen one of those in years (besides the one I have at home).
Just like humans, there is no cure for old age!
Drew
Just like humans, there is no cure for old age!
Drew
ASKER
Yes I am backing them up, but it would still be really nice to be able to preserve the originals somehow, could I hermetically seal the mylar disk somehow? or would that block the weak magnetic field of the drive? if not, what would be the best way since it seems pretty difficult to open the disk itself. In regards to just scanning the labels and simply placing it on an identical floppy, I tried that but the results have been less than spectacular due to the fact that I can't seem to find a proper floppy label maker software and have to rely on MS Word templates :(
Entropy sucks and yes I do know that they will all eventually die, but just like an old man, I wanna cheat death!
Entropy sucks and yes I do know that they will all eventually die, but just like an old man, I wanna cheat death!
ASKER
Blue Rishi, I have over 500 (Thank you ebay!) DOS games that are 5 1/4 and 3 1/2 in original boxes which I also wish to preserve, so I'm having the boxes shrinkwrapped and vacuum sealed when I'm done backing up the manuals and cards and disks. Yes yes I know I sound wierd, but some people collect and preserve stamps, I collect and preserve games :)
I understand from the collecting standpoint, but as far as playability, they will not be of much use in 10 or 20 years as they are (3 1/2 and 5 1/4 floppies)...
My view is that you need to throw nostalgia out the windows, seal up your games and put them on a shelf... then your grandkids can see the real game boxes and other stuff, and also play the games off a much more secure source.
Drew
My view is that you need to throw nostalgia out the windows, seal up your games and put them on a shelf... then your grandkids can see the real game boxes and other stuff, and also play the games off a much more secure source.
Drew
< could I hermetically seal the mylar disk somehow? or would that block the weak magnetic field of the drive? if not, what would be the best way since it seems pretty difficult to open the disk itself. > I'm not sure I understand (English is not my native language). I would try to just vacuum seal the entire disks (one by one, game by game or whole stacks at time). As I'm not sure how much vacuum the disks can take, or to be more precise; I'm not sure they could survive the proces of creating vacuumseals. Absolute vacuum would mean no air or other molecules at all; the suction that would take could damage the disks...So, if you have a vacuumsealer; try a few regular disks first (not from your collection), reopen them and try to read them...
As for the labeling software; I would recommend using graphical software like Paint Shop Pro 8 or the Gimp (freeware, but more complicated/less stable). Just print the scans at 100% (could print them with a fine line around for cutting).
btw, nice collection you have there. I would recommend burning them to a bootable CD; just create a bootfloppy with a few different configs (eg clean, XMS, XMS+EMS, etc.) and include a dos subsection with mouse/cd-drivers, etc...This way you will still be able to play them on any x86 compatible machine in 20-30 years. Also make sure you use quality disks...seen CD-layers comming off after as little as 6 months on cheap cd's...
Blue Rishi
As for the labeling software; I would recommend using graphical software like Paint Shop Pro 8 or the Gimp (freeware, but more complicated/less stable). Just print the scans at 100% (could print them with a fine line around for cutting).
btw, nice collection you have there. I would recommend burning them to a bootable CD; just create a bootfloppy with a few different configs (eg clean, XMS, XMS+EMS, etc.) and include a dos subsection with mouse/cd-drivers, etc...This way you will still be able to play them on any x86 compatible machine in 20-30 years. Also make sure you use quality disks...seen CD-layers comming off after as little as 6 months on cheap cd's...
Blue Rishi