In another thread, Jim pointed out:
> That "unknown" dump has massive amounts of smeared flux, which usually means that the head is dirty. Keep in mind that you should be cleaning the heads just about every single time you dump a disk!
I was able to buy a new-old-stock disk head cleaner for about $20 on eBay. Its instructions say I should only use it a maximum of 15 times. So I've been using it a lot more sparingly than between every disk since they seem hard to find and keeping the price+shipping under $20 even was a bit of a haggle.
How are people keeping their drive heads clean while imaging hundreds of floppies? Is it okay in practice to keep using the head cleaner disk until it is visibly filthy, or at least more like 50 times rather than 15? Or can I glue some felt to a popsicle stick or something instead of relying on a supply of these Rare Antique Vintage cleaner kits?
> That "unknown" dump has massive amounts of smeared flux, which usually means that the head is dirty. Keep in mind that you should be cleaning the heads just about every single time you dump a disk!
I was able to buy a new-old-stock disk head cleaner for about $20 on eBay. Its instructions say I should only use it a maximum of 15 times. So I've been using it a lot more sparingly than between every disk since they seem hard to find and keeping the price+shipping under $20 even was a bit of a haggle.
How are people keeping their drive heads clean while imaging hundreds of floppies? Is it okay in practice to keep using the head cleaner disk until it is visibly filthy, or at least more like 50 times rather than 15? Or can I glue some felt to a popsicle stick or something instead of relying on a supply of these Rare Antique Vintage cleaner kits?