4 Effective Ways to Take Care of Your Floppy Disks
Methods to take good care of your floppy disks include keeping them away from extreme temperatures, not exposing them to magnets, protecting them from dirt, dust and other environmental hazards and handling them correctly.
A few decades ago, floppy disks were the best kinds of recordable media. Not only were they efficient, but they're very affordable, too. Although we now have more efficient media for recording, some people still have and utilize floppy disks. These disks are still useful, and they may last a long time when cared for properly. Read this article to know different methods to take good care of your floppy disks.
Keep them away from severe temperatures
Floppy disks do not respond well when exposed to very hot or very cold environment. The magnetic media, that's the very thin and round object inside them, can get damaged easily when placed in a very cold or very hot environment. Don't carry them around with you or leave them inside your car. High temperatures will warp their plastic casings and make them unusable or make their data unreadable.
Don't expose them to magnets
Inside a floppy disk is a flimsy piece of plastic which stores the information of the disk. Floppy disks depend on the magnetic fields of floppy disk drives to store or erase data. While the magnetic fields of floppy disk drives are crucial to the use of floppy disks, the exposure of a disk to other types of magnets can erase all the information it contains. Unfortunately, there are numerous items that you might not expect to have magnets in them, such as computer speakers and radio and even business cards having magnet backings. As a result, you risk your floppy disks' usefulness when you put them alongside any type of item. It's, thus, vital that you ensure there's no presence of any magnetic object where you place your floppy disks, so you won't end up removing the data they contain.
Protect them from dirt, dust and also other environmental hazards
Dust can be very damaging to floppy disks because of their corrosive nature. It is just as destructive as smoke, water, and liquid cleaners. When these components get into the recording medium of the floppy disk, the stored data could be affected, or the floppy disk could no longer be readable. If your floppy disk accidentally got spilled by water, you can wait for the water to dry out. However, there is no assurance that all the information inside the floppy disk can be saved. Even your own bare hands present a great risk to the delicate recording medium because of the natural oil of your own skin. Thus, avoid sliding the shutter of the smaller-sized floppy disks or avoid getting your own hands on the recording surface which is seen through the opening in big floppy disks.
Handle them correctly
Because of the delicate nature of floppy disks, handling is also a crucial factor in their life and performance. Keep them in upright positions inside floppy disk holders and never bound them with an elastic band, attached them to documents by using paper clips, or lay them flat inside the drawer or shelf. If you had to stick a self-adhesive tape on them for their labels, always use a pen and never a pencil to keep erased crumbs from getting inside their hard casings. It is also best to complete the label information prior to sticking them on the floppy disk casing.
Even with the availability of newer forms of recording media, there is no need to destroy your existing floppy disks if they are still in excellent condition.
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