SomeGuy's Explanation of Wabash Disks
Talked to SomeGuy earlier today and asked him about Wabash floppies. He complained about them in a couple of threads and piqued my curiosity. Google searching got me nowhere. If you're like me and don't know what Wabash floppies are, here's a good explanation. This was our conversation.
There was one other thing I wanted to know, and I guess I'm an idiot because I asked SomeGuy instead of going to Vintage Computer Forums like he told me.
SomeGuy was kind enough to reply with what he knew, however.
I figured it'd be a good idea to post this info for the less learned, like myself. Hope you guys like it.
BigCJ wrote:Could you tell me more about Wabash floppy disks? They've been mentioned around here every so often and I can't find much about them on Google.
Appreciate it,
C.J.
SomeGuy wrote:Wabash was a brand of floppy disk. They commonly came in both 8" and 5.25" variates. They were extremely low quality and probably the worst brand ever made. Even brand new, after just a few uses they would start shedding oxide losing data and dirtying your drive heads.
Recovering data today found on Wabash media is very tricky. It usually involves "baking" the cookie to temporarily strengthen the binder. I've found washing with hot water is also somewhat successful.
If you just throw one directly in a drive today, you are guaranteed to get immediate screeching against the drive head (due to friction from the loose oxide and decomposing binder) and immediate shedding.
There is more discussion about these disks on the Vintage Computing Forum.
There was one other thing I wanted to know, and I guess I'm an idiot because I asked SomeGuy instead of going to Vintage Computer Forums like he told me.
BigCJ wrote:Okay, thanks. Just one last question and I'll leave you alone. When you say "baking," how is that done?
SomeGuy was kind enough to reply with what he knew, however.
SomeGuy wrote:I have not used that technique myself so I am not sure of the exact details, but you literally remove the magnetic "cookie" from the plastic jacket and put it in an oven. Off hand I don't recall at what temperature or how long, or what to set it on to keep it from sticking, and such. But that temporarily strengthens the binder material that holds the oxide to the mylar disk.
Like I said, look at the discussions on the vintage computing forum. Chuck Guiz (ChuckG) had posted some lengthy information about that over there a while back. He does professional data recovery for a living.
BTW, general discussion like this really should be on the forum.
I figured it'd be a good idea to post this info for the less learned, like myself. Hope you guys like it.
Comments
I'm Scottish. And I'm a girl.
"http://www.dictionary.com/browse/hae"
hae
/heɪ; hæ/
verb
1.
a Scot variant of have
I do believe that the word "idot" always tranlslates to "idiot" - but well, you're the expert.
it really damn slow but it's like a virtual museum of computers and calculators made in the societ union.
Thanks, I'll have to check that out sometime when I'm not on browsing on a phone.
EDIT: Never mind, I did a Google search. PDP11s were a big series of minicomputers.