memsys wrote:

Some time ago I was given a bunch of old floppy's, however almost all of them have labels upon labels and are covered with Correction fluid. I have tried to peel off the labels of a few of them and remove the goo with wasbenzine (I have no idea what it's called in English but it's like white spirit but weaker) which resulted in a bigger mess 😒 .

Anyone have an idea how I can remove the labels of the floppy's easily ?

You could try with a razor blade? Just be careful not to damage the packaging material of the disks (the plastic the disks are made of). This is about 3.5in floppies, right?
Though the razor blade isn't the most ideal solution, I don't know of any better alternative.

Here's the method I've always used: pick at an edge with my fingernail until I can get ahold of it, pull it slowly and carefully at roughly 90 degrees to the disk, rip off a small piece, invent new combinations of obscene words. Repeat the process a few times, then give up and stick a new label over the remnants of the old one. 🤣

I wouldn't try using chemicals on them. Any chemical that is strong enough to melt the glue is probably also going to be strong enough to melt the plastic.

You could just put new labels over the old ones.

Alternatively, I would suggest scoring the floppy labels all over with a file or cheese grater, than liberally apply Goo Gone. Should make the task of peeling the label off much easier.

@Tetrium Err, no I'm not going to try that and yes it's for 3,5" floppies.

@Old Thrashbarg Yea been there done that 🙄 that is why I'm asking

Great Hierophant wrote:

You could just put new labels over the old ones.

Alternatively, I would suggest scoring the floppy labels all over with a file or cheese grater, than liberally apply Goo Gone. Should make the task of peeling the label off much easier.

I don't have labels for my floppy's that large enough and there are already several layers of labels.

Could I use a Hair dryer to warm up the label without making the floppy it self unusable ?

Only if you want to melt the disk inside and ruin the data ;-(

Disassemble the floppy and put it back again after the labels are removed?
How many have this problem?

@Filosofia 63 floppy's...

Disassemble the floppy ...

and leaving the easly soiled thin magnetic film in the open (and might be slightly dusty) air?

I've done it before with no problemo, but not to 63 floppys! That's labour!
Sorry mate, can't think of anything.

and leaving the easly soiled thin magnetic film in the open (and might be slightly dusty) air?

Floppy disks are pretty resilient against dust. It's not like the little metal door thingy provides a tight seal in the first place, and it opens up the disk surface to free air whenever you put it into a drive (which inevitably will have some dust inside).

The real problem with disassembling floppy disks is that most disks have at least a couple welds holding the case together... you can't get 'em apart without breaking those, and there's really no good way of attaching 'em back together afterwards.

I've used lighter fluid to remove price stickers from books, magazines, boxes and the like. Not sure if it presents a danger to the disk should any fluid seep in, but you could experiment with one.

Carefully saturate the label with fluid then work off with the edge of a thin plastic card - an old credit card, 'metrocard' or typical pass card say. Rub the remaining glue scum off with a cloth or paper towel and fluid.

Like i said, I'm not sure if it will harm the data disk if it comes in contact with the fluid, but it it doesn't effect book covers or printed material so it may not...

This worked for me a couple of times before.... peel away one corner of the label, just enough to be able to get a grip on without tearing it. Then firmly apply duct tape over the entire label (including that corner, but without sticking it back onto the floppy). Grab both duct tape and label at the corner, then slowly peel the whole thing off.

You can use a blow dryer/hair dryer to do this you have to be somewhat patient in that it only take a few seconds of heat, if even that, of going back and forth over the entire label on the diskette.

You can usually peel away the label and see that only a bit of the adhesive is left.

This is where I take a clean/new label and use it to blot up the rest of the adhesive from the diskette.

Back in the day I must have done hundreds if not thousands of disks this way.

Of course I also worked for a local reseller that reformmatted diskettes in a duplicator and then sold them cheap as bulk/used ffloppies 😉

I will probably try a few methods too see what works for me.
If you guys are interested I could make a list comparing different methods .

I have my own technique for getting stickers and labels off of things, but it's very difficult to describe and doesn't always work. It involves VERY slowly peeling the sticker/label off, usually at a rate of 1~3 mm a second. Yes, THAT slowly. Following this, the remaning residue can usually be dabbed off using the sticker/label itself in quick strokes, provided the original surface isn't liable to be damaged from doing so. (IE: Plastic, glass, metal surfaces = OK, but paper surfaces = not OK.)

Part of the technique involves making sure the edges don't rip. If an edge rips even just slightly it will rip into the peeling-off process, so when that happens you have to continue from somewhere else on the sticker/label.

Tough and time consuming, but do-able. I've been able to get stubborn/old price tags off of jewel cases and paintings and even a giant shipping label off of a box so I could reuse the box but still have the label as I was pretty close to needing to prove I had received a particular item. I haven't tried with floppy disks but I can't imagine the process being much different.

If you're looking into solvents, things can get a little tricky. Many are light, volatile and have very little surface tension, so they'll evaporate quickly, flow easily into any nook and cranny (even uphill through capillary action) - think acetone, isopropyl alcohol, lighter fluid, etc.

You may be able to get away with these if you're very careful and use single drops at a time.

Another thing that can work on wood and glass is oil (olive oil, vegetable oil, mineral oil, etc.) - general process for this is that you get oil into a small part of a cloth, then rub it into the sticker until it's soaked in. Leave it for a little while, then come back and wipe it off. If you do it this way, you have to peel off the sticker surface first, so it can soak into the adhesive residue. I'm not 100% sure this will work on plastic or with floppy stickers, so I'd try it on a spare broken disk first as a test.

Some other thoughts - test on a junk disk before using, of course:

WD-40 should work for the oil technique as well, but would probably be harder to apply. It's basically a magic adhesive remover on other surfaces, though.

Vinegar - it's a weak acid, shouldn't interact with the plastic. Might be effective vs. adhesive residue. You'd have to saturate the adhesive with it and let it sit for a good while (possibly reapply) though. Has the advantages of having basically the same physical properties as water, so should be easy to keep it out of the disk.

The general idea being to find a solvent that will work on the adhesive, but not wreck the disk. This may be harder than it sounds. I should try a few of these tomorrow...