info-mac@uw-beaver (01/25/85)
From: Steven B. Munson <sbm@Purdue.ARPA>
I saw this mentioned somewhere, I think in net.micro.mac, but I
can't find the article anymore. Anyway, the guy said that his most
frequently used disk suddenly became unusable, and when he looked at it,
he saw lots of little one- or two-millimeter scratches on the surface of
the disk. This concerned me, so I looked at my MacTerminal disk (my
most frequently used disk), and lo and behold, it was full of scratches!
Actually, they looked more like smudges, but I went to the dealer to ask
about it anyway. I looked at their demo disks, and they looked like
they were in perfect condition. The only difference seems to be that
they clean their heads regularly, and I never have in the three months I
have had my Macintosh. There were more scratches on the outside tracks
(the ones more frequently read, judging from the sound of the motor)
than on the inside tracks, so this sounds like a likely explanation to
me. Also, there are fewer on disks I use less, and none on disks I
hardly ever use. Needless to say, I bought a head-cleaning kit
immediately and cleaned the heads.
What I would like to know is how many other people have had this
problem, so look at your disks (open the shutter and hold it up to a
light so that the light reflects off of it) and send me mail saying
whether your disks have scratches, how long you have had your Mac,
whether you clean your heads regularly, and whether you know what else
might cause this problem, and I will summarize the results in a week or
two.
Steve Munson
sbm@purdue
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