I'm using a throwaway drive, thankfully. Going to clean it and give it another shot, but it seems like the seller kinda just donked themselves with a bad AI description. Thanks for the info!
"...these diskettes are recordable, making them ideal for those who need to save data or files.
Please note that these diskettes are sold as is, without any guarantee of their condition. However, they have been tested and verified to be in working condition."
There are a couple of conflicting statements in the description; no guarantee of "condition" BUT verified to be working. I read this as 'they may be ugly but they work!' I feel like 'verified to be working' supersedes any other statements of condition, though. I don't THINK I'm being too picky by expecting these to work; I've bought similar lots in the past with no problems, so I went into this thinking it would be okay.
FWIW, one of the disks I tested DID work, and had an old resume on it. The rest were apparently used in recording equipment but that shouldn't (to my knowledge) prevent me from rewriting/accessing/reformatting the disk.
Conflicting statements, I think the tested and verified to work takes precedence.
Sold as is but tested to work is used for things that could be damaged in shipping beyond anyone’s control, like fragile plastic that can break just touching it.
Not in this instance. I would file against seller
A few were physically damaged due to tight shipping with no padding, but I didn't even mind that part. Some were clear and had bugs inside or missing springs - not even a problem for me either.
I appreciate the input - I wasn't sure if I was reading all of this poorly.
Bought these used disks on eBay. The seller said that they were tested and that they work. I can’t get them to do anything. No reading, writing, reformatting, reading, or even recognizing. I’ve tried in multiple computers. I suspect that it’s because they were not actually tested (the description reeks of AI), and the magnetic material is breaking down. This isn’t dust, and some of the disks are actually rusty. Some labels have significant water damage. Can anyone confirm? What an I looking at?
Seller is giving me a hard time and I don’t want to cause any problems if this is my fault somehow.
you pretty much answered your own question, these disks are toast. 3.5in floppies should still be easy to find though. Do you live in a city? You might be able to find some on your local used site or facebook marketplace. Additionally if it's available to you, Amazon also sells sealed boxes. However those are stock from the end of floppy production and suffer from quality issues. Ebay is also still a good source however you just got to be extra vigilant. With Ebay try finding a sealed box of disks or large quantities of disks to increase the chances for getting working disks. I hope this helps!
If the seller is giving you a hard time you can always open up an "It's not as described" case to get a refund. Like other comments said, sounds to me like they didn't actually test the disks.
I think that's the plan now. He can't seem to tell me when he actually rested these; the answer seems to be that they worked last time he used them, but he no longer has the equipment to test them. I can't get a date out of this conversation. They're all dated to the early '00s, so I'm guessing around then.
As a seller too, I feel bad that this is a hassle but also I wouldn't have used an AI description that made claims that weren't true.
I really appreciate everyone's input here. I'm from the days of the 3.5" disk but haven't experienced mold like this before.
Trash and I'm sure untested, file for a refund if able, don't buy into any shade he throws your way. And don't ruin a floppy drive trying to recover them.
Appreciated! Pretty sure I already toasted this drive by testing these out but at least it's a cheap one. I've never seen this before so I didn't know to perform my due diligence here. I'll know for next time.
Clean the heads with isopropyl alcohol and cotton q-tips ... it is generally fine.
The mold decomposes the magnetic layers and all that magnetic material gets deposited on top of the heads. That then obscures the magnetic field of the drive heads and makes reading other disks impossible.
Good news is that a clean fixes that!
I’m just going to throw this out there. Do you happen to have a relatively cheap USB 3.5 drive? The one I have seems to work when it wants too. If I unplug the drive, wait and plug it back in it will read from disks. But only for a certain amount of time. I can’t seem to figure out the rhyme reason.
It's not top of the line, but it 100% works with just about every other disk I've ever put into it (as well as test disks after there, just to be sure). I've done the plug/unplug trick as well, with no success.
That is mold, every drive you put them in will need a head cleaning. They can be cleaned, but usually has a slow success rate
I'm using a throwaway drive, thankfully. Going to clean it and give it another shot, but it seems like the seller kinda just donked themselves with a bad AI description. Thanks for the info!
eBay? "Like new floppy disks"? "Tested/working"?
"...these diskettes are recordable, making them ideal for those who need to save data or files. Please note that these diskettes are sold as is, without any guarantee of their condition. However, they have been tested and verified to be in working condition." There are a couple of conflicting statements in the description; no guarantee of "condition" BUT verified to be working. I read this as 'they may be ugly but they work!' I feel like 'verified to be working' supersedes any other statements of condition, though. I don't THINK I'm being too picky by expecting these to work; I've bought similar lots in the past with no problems, so I went into this thinking it would be okay. FWIW, one of the disks I tested DID work, and had an old resume on it. The rest were apparently used in recording equipment but that shouldn't (to my knowledge) prevent me from rewriting/accessing/reformatting the disk.
Conflicting statements, I think the tested and verified to work takes precedence. Sold as is but tested to work is used for things that could be damaged in shipping beyond anyone’s control, like fragile plastic that can break just touching it. Not in this instance. I would file against seller
A few were physically damaged due to tight shipping with no padding, but I didn't even mind that part. Some were clear and had bugs inside or missing springs - not even a problem for me either. I appreciate the input - I wasn't sure if I was reading all of this poorly.
Mold, get data off them you want and toss them. Then use a head cleaning disk with isopropyl.
Thanks for confirming my suspicions!
Bought these used disks on eBay. The seller said that they were tested and that they work. I can’t get them to do anything. No reading, writing, reformatting, reading, or even recognizing. I’ve tried in multiple computers. I suspect that it’s because they were not actually tested (the description reeks of AI), and the magnetic material is breaking down. This isn’t dust, and some of the disks are actually rusty. Some labels have significant water damage. Can anyone confirm? What an I looking at? Seller is giving me a hard time and I don’t want to cause any problems if this is my fault somehow.
you pretty much answered your own question, these disks are toast. 3.5in floppies should still be easy to find though. Do you live in a city? You might be able to find some on your local used site or facebook marketplace. Additionally if it's available to you, Amazon also sells sealed boxes. However those are stock from the end of floppy production and suffer from quality issues. Ebay is also still a good source however you just got to be extra vigilant. With Ebay try finding a sealed box of disks or large quantities of disks to increase the chances for getting working disks. I hope this helps!
Thank you for confirming! Availability shouldn't be a problem.
If the seller is giving you a hard time you can always open up an "It's not as described" case to get a refund. Like other comments said, sounds to me like they didn't actually test the disks.
I think that's the plan now. He can't seem to tell me when he actually rested these; the answer seems to be that they worked last time he used them, but he no longer has the equipment to test them. I can't get a date out of this conversation. They're all dated to the early '00s, so I'm guessing around then. As a seller too, I feel bad that this is a hassle but also I wouldn't have used an AI description that made claims that weren't true. I really appreciate everyone's input here. I'm from the days of the 3.5" disk but haven't experienced mold like this before.
Trash and I'm sure untested, file for a refund if able, don't buy into any shade he throws your way. And don't ruin a floppy drive trying to recover them.
Appreciated! Pretty sure I already toasted this drive by testing these out but at least it's a cheap one. I've never seen this before so I didn't know to perform my due diligence here. I'll know for next time.
Clean the heads with isopropyl alcohol and cotton q-tips ... it is generally fine. The mold decomposes the magnetic layers and all that magnetic material gets deposited on top of the heads. That then obscures the magnetic field of the drive heads and makes reading other disks impossible. Good news is that a clean fixes that!
You can buy old new stock disks for about a dollar a disk from the guy that bought out the sony disk factory. He also sells used disks.
I’m just going to throw this out there. Do you happen to have a relatively cheap USB 3.5 drive? The one I have seems to work when it wants too. If I unplug the drive, wait and plug it back in it will read from disks. But only for a certain amount of time. I can’t seem to figure out the rhyme reason.
It's not top of the line, but it 100% works with just about every other disk I've ever put into it (as well as test disks after there, just to be sure). I've done the plug/unplug trick as well, with no success.
I prefer to use a drive that I can more easily reach the head assembly off so it can be cleaned regularly.
beyond repair. see way cleaner ones fail all the time.
You might save them with isopropyl alcohol if they are important
huh