rare windows 1.02 with mold, track scratches - help needed

[RubyTuesday]

I've pulled a 2nd copy of Windows 1.02 from my collection, and the disks appear to have mold on the surface, and there appear to be concentric scratches on the first tracks, as if somebody has tried to read them, and failed. i.e The drive-head encountered the mold and that, in turn, caused the heads to collide with the surface.

This is the first time that I've encountered disks in this state. I haven't tried reading the disks for fear of further damaging them. Hopefully some of the disks are recoverable.

This would appear to be a rarer copy of 1.02, as it is not boxed or packaged like RTM versions of 1.01, 1.02 or 1.03.... Instead, it is contained in a Microsoft ring-binder, and the manuals/user-guides are loose-leaf in the binder. But, this is definitely not an OEM release, as it is 100% Microsoft branding. The version numbers are NOT printed on the disk labels, so I can only deduce the version by looking at the version of the Windows Update document in the binder.

Has anybody done a major rescue on disks that have mold damage like this? Are there some drives perhaps, that might work better for this type of job?

[vicvan]

Wow! Thanks very much.
I think you did very well.

You can check the version number on disk label.

0500050z.102 --> version 1.02

I have dumped disk image of Windows 1.04 (exists as 2 kinds) from original media. (Retail or OEM)
But I don't have original media, so I only can contribute it on MEGA.

[vicvan]

>Has anybody done a major rescue on disks that have mold damage like this? Are there some drives perhaps, that might work better for this type of >job?

I have more 10ea of 5.25 (1.2MB) Floppy drive for IBM PC compatible.
In this case, I think it depends on condition of diskette.
I've tried to recover and dumped many of broken or unreadable diskette.
Most of them are recovered correctly with using PC-Tools or Copy II PC optionboard, further by using another dumped Disk Image or ripped files on abadonware site.
Unfortunately not all the broken disk can be recovered.

I also have a lot of broken disks they are not still recovered.

[RubyTuesday]

The version numbers are NOT printed on the disk labels, so I can only deduce the version by looking at the version of the Windows Update document in the binder.

Let me say that again The version numbers are NOT printed on the disk labels

[RubyTuesday]

Here's a 1200dpi close up of the tracks, and a photoshopped version (on the right) to amplify the mold...

[vicvan]

>Let me say that again The version numbers are NOT printed on the disk labels

Hmm, interesting.

>Here's a 1200dpi close up of the tracks, and a photoshopped version (on the right) to amplify the mold...

If you want to try to clean diskette, refer this youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01n8RgHgIwg

[RubyTuesday]

I've just cleaned one of the disks with Isopropyl Alcohol (instead of demineralised water, as the video suggests), and am dumping it now. The disk is at least spinning without hitting the head, so the head doesn't sound like it's damaging the disk, but my KF isn't having any joy, so far, in reading the disks.

This isn't a great start...


I'll wait and see what the image looks like, and the log...

[vicvan]

Hmm, that's too bad.

[RubyTuesday]

So, every track was bad, and a quick look at the log suggests that there were 2-5 bad sectors per track. If I look at the image in a hex editor, It looks like I have about half of the data.....

[vicvan]

So, every track was bad, and a quick look at the log suggests that there were 2-5 bad sectors per track. If I look at the image in a hex editor, It looks like I have about half of the data.....

Can you uploade bad dumped image by PM anyway?

I want to check disk how many bad sector include.

[RubyTuesday]

Have PM'ed you

[vicvan]

Have PM'ed you

Oh, ok!

[yourepicfailure]

I'd recommend cleaning that read head after each disk. You know, to keep it from destroying other floppies you want to read.