[Sussex] Cleaning recommendation?

[Stephen Williams]

On Tue, 2005-04-19 at 09:27 +0100, Steve Dobson wrote:
> Steve
> 
> On Tue, Apr 19, 2005 at 07:52:05AM +0100, Stephen Williams wrote:
> > On Mon, 2005-04-18 at 19:54 +0100, Geoffrey Teale wrote:
> > > On Mon, 2005-04-18 at 19:10 +0100, Fleming, Frances wrote:
> > > > Hi there, all ...
> > > 
> > > Evening
> > > 
> > > -------- %< ------------
> > > > What does anyone think I should best do? Paintbrush and vacuum combo or
> > > > compressed aerosol 
> > > 
> > > I swear by the later.  Compressed air cans from a photography shop are
> > > best.
> > > 
> > > > There were a couple of floppies lying out as well: do you think they
> > > > would have been damaged? :(
> > > 
> > > Possibly, and harder to fix!
> > > 
> > > 
> > 
> > Here's another tip I've used on processors that have been fouled up by
> > too much (electrically conductive) heat sink paste. Remove the processor
> > and spray copious quantities of aerosol car brake cleaner at the
> > offending paste until no trace of it can be seen. It seems rather
> > extreme, but I've rescued 3 processors this way.
> > 
> > I've no doubt you could try it on other electrical items if nothing else
> > works, but I've never needed to resort to this on things other than
> > processors. I guess you could try it as a last resort on floppy disks if
> > you REALLY needed the info from them.
> > 
> > The brake cleaner is available at Halfords.
> 
> This seams way over the top for cleaning a floppy.  The brick dust should
> not have stuck to the casing, so a damp duster should get the dust off.
> What worries me is the dust that has gotten inside.  There is no cover on
> the underside to stop dust getting in where the drive mates with the
> disk.
> 
> Isn't the car brake cleaner going to "clean" the magnetic surface of the
> disk too?
> 

I don't recommend this as anything other than a last resort, and I've
never tried it myself. However, if you desperately need the info off a
floppy you could try flushing out the inside with brake cleaner. It
evaporates completely and so doesn't leave any trace of damp or
moisture. But then, if you're that desperate to get info off a floppy,
perhaps you should have chosen a more reliable storage medium in the
first place.


> Steve
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