The Revitalization (REVITALIZE) of Floppy Disks.

Just remembered about this when I faced a read error while installing Spellcraft - Disk C (the last one) faced the problem.

Some of you may remember this utility : Revitalize, found in DISKFIX section or the DISK MANAGEMENT section in PCTOOLS (by Central Point Software).

I've been using this since the PCTOOLS v4.3 Deluxe.

Coming back to the topic, I used PCTOOLS v9.0's DISKFIX.EXE utility to enter into the disk repair management suite.

Before revitalization, the program checks for system integrity - it will utilize the memory to read and hold the track data before writing back again.

The Revitalize process in progress :

What it does is :

1. Read a track
2. Hold the track data in memory
3. Format the track while holding the data in memory
4. Re-write the data from memory into the formatted track

This process is repeated for each track till the last one. The whole process will take anywhere between 5 to 10 mins, depending on the type of error.

If there is a physical bad sector, the program will try to write on an empty track and link that track to it's immediate predecessor track to maintain continuity.

It's just like cleaning a case fan. (i.e. remove the dusty fan, clean it up and re-install back to provide smooth, better air flow.)

There are limitations however :

A real badly damaged track, usually physical damage, like a dent on the floppy film, will not be helpful - the program can't read the track to begin with. You can retry reading anyway. There is a chance to save the data sometimes.

A fungal infection is also bad news both for the floppy disk, as well as the floppy drive. This is quite scary, like those Alien movies, where the fungus are alive on the drive's head. But this can be avoided with the help of disk drive cleaners. Immediately using a suspected fungal-infected disk after cleaning the drive may help to spread the alcohol residue on the head back on the floppy film. This may help in further eradicating of the fungus/fungi.

If the floppy disk is full of files, it is helpful to copy some good readable files to a safe place on a hard drive, for example, before starting the revitalize process - helpful to re-write the damaged track data on a free data track - ( the one which was occiped by the now-moved files). You can then salvage the remaining data, copy them to the same place where the previous files were copied to, and then transfer back all the files back to a good, new and formatted disk.

I think I better back-up all floppy disks as images and save them to a portable drive and cds. (Till now, I only have backups of all games in ready, installed form - the actual game directories.)

The images will provide a more authentic feel of installing from the floppy drives. And you can be sure that all the original files are present.