[Coco] Read Coco floppies in my PC

[Frank Pittel]

I used to use a magnet to erase floppies.

The Other Frank


On Sat, Mar 31, 2012 at 11:11:48AM -0700, Stephen H. Fischer wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> Due to the lack of affordable bulk tape erasers,
> 
> can any household device with an ac electric motor be used? Perhaps
> a vacuum cleaner.
> 
> I remember some magnetic media being erased by a floor buffer used
> too close to the almost at floor level shelf.
> 
> That took a huge amount of time to find the cause.
> 
> SHF
> 
> P.S. I am NOT selling my bulk eraser, it is in use ever so often on
> 3.5" floppies if I am changing from PC to CoCo. If in doubt, use
> one.
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "gene heskett"
> <gheskett at wdtv.com>
> To: <coco at maltedmedia.com>
> Sent: Saturday, March 31, 2012 9:22 AM
> Subject: Re: [Coco] Read Coco floppies in my PC
> 
> 
> >On Saturday, March 31, 2012 12:00:20 PM Michael Graham did opine:
> >
> >>Well, if you'd like, I guess you could try the bulk erase method listed
> >>in that link.  I found a copy of the BULKERAS.EXE that it mentions here:
> >>http://retro.icequake.net/dob/files/cp2pc/bin/cp2pc600/
> >
> >No program can duplicate a true bulk eraser.  It will be a waste of your
> >time, and if they charge for the program, money.  The drive can only erase
> >where its heads travel, and I have yet to see a micro-stepping driver in a
> >floppy drive that would allow the intertrack spaces to be erased.
> >
> >True erasure means the disk is being subjected to a strong magnetic field,
> >generated by the powerline frequency, strong enough to flip the magnetic
> >signals fully one way or the other.  The disk needs to be moved
> >slowly over
> >the working face of the eraser and removed slowly such that as the
> >alternating magnetic field fades with increasing distance, so the magnetic
> >coating on the disk is essentially left in a neutral, no net magnetism one
> >way or the other remaining state.  The shack once sold a handheld rig that
> >was strong enough for disks but not anything thicker than a 1/8" cassette,
> >but I haven't seen one of those on the pegboard for close to 20 years.
> >That leaves Guardiner who supply a belt driven carrier model strong enough
> >to wipe a  2" quadruplex video tape.  But it will need a 240 volt circuit
> >rated for a 20kw load and you will need several thousand to buy it with.
> >
> >Much much cheaper to find an old 360k drive.  Hopefully with good heads
> >yet, some of mine are dying from worn heads.  My fav drive, a Teac 55 360k
> >gave up the ghost about a year ago from worn out heads.  I expect they had
> >the equ of 3 million miles on them though.  It had been my /D0 for nearly
> >26 years.
> >
> >>I might have to try it myself next time I go back home to my old
> >>desktop, I hadn't run across that method the first time I was searching.
> >>
> >>On 3/31/2012 9:08 AM, Bill wrote:
> >>> So basically, regardless of the OS, I still ain't gonna get any good
> >>> results 'till I find me a 360.
> >
> >That is in this case, the least headache method, by a very large margin.
> >
> >>> -----Original Message-----
> >>> From: coco-bounces at maltedmedia.com
> >>> [mailto:coco-bounces at maltedmedia.com] On Behalf Of Aaron Wolfe
> >>> Sent: Saturday, March 31, 2012 12:31 AM
> >>> To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts
> >>> Subject: Re: [Coco] Read Coco floppies in my PC
> >>>
> >>> http://www.oldskool.org/guides/oldonnew/hardware/1.2mb_to_360k.html
> >>> "Everybody knows that trying to write to a 360K disk in a 1.2MB drive
> >>> usually works fine for the 1.2 MB drive, but then renders the disk
> >>> mostly unusable for the 360K drive. "
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> --
> >>> Coco mailing list
> >>> Coco at maltedmedia.com
> >>> http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
> >>
> >>--
> >>Coco mailing list
> >>Coco at maltedmedia.com
> >>http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
> >
> >
> >Cheers, Gene
> 
> 
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