smagt@fwi.uva.nl (Patrick van der Smagt) (11/14/90)
Hi, My sister who works in the Philippines for the VSO (Voluntary Services Overseas; the British development work organisation) decided to buy an AT there with 5 1/4" floppy drives. However, due to the local climate all her floppies start to grow moulds! Is there any cure (prevention) for this problem which is feasible in her environment? Of course, she doesn't have airconditioning, her fridge only works half the time, and her house doesn't have any windows. She lives 100 miles or so from Manila which is a twelve-hour drive. Thanks for any suggestions. Patrick van der Smagt P.S. she has the same problems with colour slides.
jmoore@cidmac.ecn.purdue.edu (James D Moore) (11/15/90)
In article <1461@carol.fwi.uva.nl> smagt@fwi.uva.nl (Patrick van der Smagt) writes: >Hi, > >My sister who works in the Philippines for the VSO (Voluntary Services >Overseas; the British development work organisation) decided to buy an >AT there with 5 1/4" floppy drives. However, due to the local climate >all her floppies start to grow moulds! Is there any cure (prevention) >for this problem which is feasible in her environment? Of course, >she doesn't have airconditioning, her fridge only works half the time, >and her house doesn't have any windows. She lives 100 miles or so >from Manila which is a twelve-hour drive. > >Thanks for any suggestions. > > Patrick van der Smagt > >P.S. she has the same problems with colour slides. Maybe this is not the solution but here goes.... The problem here if I understand is the amount of humidity that is present (at least that is what my limited memory of moulds and biology tells me). Why not have her store her diskettes (and slides) in some small enclosed area with a light bulb to keep the humidity low. We used to do this for welding rods when I worked for a machine shop. We simply put a light bulb in an old refrigerator that did not work so that it would stay on all of the time. We also built something similar to dry out MACs that the hard drive stops working because of high humidity in one of our building. We call it the "MAC incubator". One other suggestion is to use the Silica Gel pellets (if you can get enough of them) at a low heat the peletts can be dried in an oven. Hope this helps. Jim Moore -- James D. Moore jmoore@ecn.purdue.edu Computer Engineer Phone:(317) 494-2686 Purdue University, Industrial Engr. Dept., W. Lafayette, In 47907