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5.25" floppy disk drive bad sounds

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First post, by fractal5

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I have some old 5.25" disks that fail to read. I'm wondering if this is a fault with the drive, or with the disks. The drive makes a "grinding" noise when failing to read, as if there is some mechanical issue with the drive itself. However, since I'm actually not used to 5.25" disks failing, I'm not sure if this sound is normal or not.

Is it normal to get really weird sounds from a 5.25" drive when it fails to read, even though the drive is working perfectly?

Reply 2 of 6, by fractal5

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collector wrote:

Ask old hardware questions in Marvin. This forum is for DOS *games* on modern PCs.

You're absolutely right, not the first time I make the mistake. Sorry.

Reply 3 of 6, by Stiletto

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Moved to Marvin.

"I see a little silhouette-o of a man, Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you
do the Fandango!" - Queen

Stiletto

Reply 4 of 6, by stamasd

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I haven't actually used 5.25" drives much in the past 15 years or so, and not at all in the past 5 years, but: does the drive make that sound with all disks, or only with those that fail to read? Do those disks that fail to read work on another FDD unit?

As for what to look for in the FDD unit itself, I'd start by inspecting the drive belt, those become loose and slippy over the years even if not used. Also there may be gunk accumulation on the read/write head itself.

I/O, I/O,
It's off to disk I go,
With a bit and a byte
And a read and a write,
I/O, I/O

Reply 5 of 6, by fractal5

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stamasd wrote:

I haven't actually used 5.25" drives much in the past 15 years or so, and not at all in the past 5 years, but: does the drive make that sound with all disks, or only with those that fail to read? Do those disks that fail to read work on another FDD unit?

As for what to look for in the FDD unit itself, I'd start by inspecting the drive belt, those become loose and slippy over the years even if not used. Also there may be gunk accumulation on the read/write head itself.

All of the disks fail to copy, however many of then give a working directory listing. I'm guessing it is unlikely that a bad drive can read anything at all? The problem is I don't have another drive to test with, and it would be annoying to buy one just to find that all of the disks are actually bad.

But thanks for the advice of removing it and inspecting it for problems.

Reply 6 of 6, by Jo22

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fractal5 wrote:

All of the disks fail to copy, however many of then give a working directory listing. I'm guessing it is unlikely that a bad drive can read anything at all? The problem is I don't have another drive to test with, and it would be annoying to buy one just to find that all of the disks are actually bad.

Sounds like the drive heads need some cleaning. A bit of cleaning alcohol and a qtip could help here (or similar).
Or if you don't want to touch the heads, simply use an old spare disk (no originals) and cover the magnetic surfaces with some cleaning alcohol (not too much!).
Then run "DIR A:" or "DIR B:" and try to read the disk again and again (maybe you will get read errors).
After this, remove the disk and let the drive dry. If you're lucky, your reading problems are gone by then.

Btw, be careful when using disks with a dirty drive, because they will become dirty, aswell.

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

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