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 Auto Inject floppys?
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~Coxy
Leader, Tactical Ops Unit


Australia
2822 Posts		 Posted - 27 Jun 2002 :  17:51:32
I know that these floppy drives had a high failure rate, but has every single auto-inject floppy drive in Australia died? I have never come across on, not even in my IIcx or 950! Have they still got them in the US at all?

~Coxy - Leader, Tactical Operations Unit
Mayor of NuBus City v3.0
danamania
Official 68k Muse


Australia
1193 Posts		 Posted - 27 Jun 2002 :  18:12:01
quote:

I know that these floppy drives had a high failure rate, but has every single auto-inject floppy drive in Australia died? I have never come across on, not even in my IIcx or 950! Have they still got them in the US at all?

What's been wrong with yours? I've had one dead floppy that I know of, and that was in my 8100 - I think tis water damage, as the rest of the machine had some in it when it arrived...

dana

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~Coxy
Leader, Tactical Ops Unit


Australia
2822 Posts		 Posted - 27 Jun 2002 :  19:16:09
You know, the auto inject floppies? They stopped doing them around '93 or '94, I think.

~Coxy - Leader, Tactical Operations Unit
Mayor of NuBus City v3.0
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danamania
Official 68k Muse


Australia
1193 Posts		 Posted - 27 Jun 2002 :  19:29:17
quote:

You know, the auto inject floppies? They stopped doing them around '93 or '94, I think.

Yupyup - just curious what was dying in them - cos the only one dying on me was a manual-inject!

dana

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danamania
Official 68k Muse


Australia
1193 Posts		 Posted - 27 Jun 2002 :  19:30:22
...oh, or did you mean you never found one to begin with?

dana (asleep!)

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FireWire is fast
General, 4 star


USA
1559 Posts		 Posted - 27 Jun 2002 :  19:38:01
The only dead floppy drive I've ever had was a dead auto-inject in my Quadra 650...other than that, manual or auto, I've been fine.

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~Coxy
Leader, Tactical Ops Unit


Australia
2822 Posts		 Posted - 27 Jun 2002 :  19:53:09
I've never found one, even in my Macs which would have shipped with one... I assumed that they died and were replaced.

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QuadraJets
Junior Member


USA
344 Posts		 Posted - 27 Jun 2002 :  20:28:45
I have a bunch of flopped floppy drives. 3 auto, and 2 manual . I have reason to believe that the hydrogen sulfide gas from our well water is corroding something in them.

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thelip
Full Member


USA
729 Posts		 Posted - 27 Jun 2002 :  22:24:47
The reason apple moved towards the manual drives is because the auto-inject had tons of moving parts that increased the chances for failure. I've yet to have one die, but i've made up in other areas, like hdds. Those superdrives are great when they work, that's for sure.

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Trash80toG-4
NIGHT STALKER


USA
2899 Posts		 Posted - 28 Jun 2002 :  05:42:23
quote:

I have a bunch of flopped floppy drives. 3 auto, and 2 manual . I have reason to believe that the hydrogen sulfide gas from our well water is corroding something in them.

that's interesting, i wonder if there's anything that could be placed within the case of the mac to offset that, kinda like the way zinc's protect bronze in saltwater.

dunno, who's got the chem background?

this'd be a good one to post over on fritter if you don't get a response here.

*sighs . . . curiosity can be a curse!*

jt ™.
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QuadraJets
Junior Member


USA
344 Posts		 Posted - 28 Jun 2002 :  06:42:38
I don't think much can be done to keep the drives from dying, the stuff eats holes through the refrigerant lines on our fridge.

I think it is oxidizing the tracings on the head assembly. Floppy disks themselves only live a year or so, even new ones, before they are ruined.

ethernet and localtalk are a great solution to the flopped floppy syndrome, though.

As far as the chemistry goes, Hydrogen sulfide is an oxidizing agent-it promotes the oxidation of a compound that is a weaker oxidizing agent-this weaker oxidizing agent is then known as the reducing agent. The Copper is the reducing agent. When the two react, the copper is oxidized and the Hydrogen Sulfide is reduced to hydrogen gas.

To reduce/prevent oxidation of the copper, the copper must be coated/alloyed with a less reactive metal, such as silver or gold.

the industry ignores this problem that "country hicks with nasty well water" encounter. It would cost an extra $1.00 to coat bare metal parts with a plastic sealer that protects the metal from oxidation, but "only 1% of the population has this problem with hydrogen sulfide in their well water"

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Trash80toG-4
NIGHT STALKER


USA
2899 Posts		 Posted - 28 Jun 2002 :  07:00:01
quote:

I don't think much can be done to keep the drives from dying, the stuff eats holes through the refrigerant lines on our fridge.

i didn't want to telegraph my ignorance in this area, but i had a hunch that an open container of baking soda might cause a large enough localized reduction in the airspace around it to be of assistance.

dunno, it was just a hunch.

would something like a spray can of Krylon "crystal clear work on your refrigerator's coils"? an aluminum pigmented (or a neutral or its reactive opposite) engine block paint might be good too.

jt ™.
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oldmacman
Full Member


USA
713 Posts		 Posted - 28 Jun 2002 :  07:04:23
The other day, the floppy drive in my OpenStep PC died. I took off the cover and the plastic front panel, and I found that a spring that had fallen out of a floppy disk and gotten lodged in the drive mechanism. After removing it, the drive worked fine. Just about anything can cause a floppy drive to die. That's why I've given them up. I use a Zip drive to transfer files between my machines, and it has yet to fail. FLOPPY DRIVES ARE THE WORK OF THE DEVIL!

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QuadraJets
Junior Member


USA
344 Posts		 Posted - 28 Jun 2002 :  07:33:44
quote:
would something like a spray can of Krylon "crystal clear work on your refrigerator's coils"? an aluminum pigmented (or a neutral or its reactive opposite) engine block paint might be good too.

It is a special coating that bonds to copper really well. It isn't the coils that die, it's the tubes that lead to them (the holes were on the the high pressure side, too) We had a fridge that lasted 20 years, but now the appliance companies use a cheap "rolled" copper tubing, rather than the more buff "extruded" copper tubing.

quote:
i didn't want to telegraph my ignorance in this area, but i had a hunch that an open container of baking soda might cause a large enough localized reduction in the airspace around it to be of assistance.

Activated Carbon does absorb hydrogen sulfide, but not much.


quote:
FLOPPY DRIVES ARE THE WORK OF THE DEVIL!

ditto.

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candyPunk
Full Member


USA
856 Posts		 Posted - 28 Jun 2002 :  10:05:17
quote:

Just about anything can cause a floppy drive to die. That's why I've given them up. I use a Zip drive to transfer files between my machines, and it has yet to fail.

I don't know about the newer ones, but older Zip drives have a bit of a history of unreliability, too. The heads can get messed up, and sometimes drives refuse to mount with certain drivers. Maybe not anymore, I haven't kept current on it, but I remember hearing about some of this stuff a while ago

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QuadraJets
Junior Member


USA
344 Posts		 Posted - 28 Jun 2002 :  10:22:46
quote:
I don't know about the newer ones, but older Zip drives have a bit of a history of unreliability, too. The heads can get messed up, and sometimes drives refuse to mount with certain drivers. Maybe not anymore, I haven't kept current on it, but I remember hearing about some of this stuff a while ago


Yes....the click of death...that's why I call the Zip drive the "Click-Click" drive instead.

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maclover5
LC Doctor/Hot Rodder


Australia
5830 Posts		 Posted - 12 Jul 2002 :  04:27:20
quote:

quote:

You know, the auto inject floppies? They stopped doing them around '93 or '94, I think.

Yupyup - just curious what was dying in them - cos the only one dying on me was a manual-inject!

dana


Same here. To date, i've had two manual-injecters die in the past year. I'm still yet to have an auto-injecter die.

Coincidence?

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