Disklavier

A point of clarity:


I should mention that the floppy drive heads are not in

actual physical contact with the revolving magnetic disk.


That situation is what damages floppy drives and floppy disks.


Like spinning hard drives, the floppy drive

head(s) float on a very thin, tiny blanket of air.


But the floppy drive mechanism and floppy disks are far

more delicate and subject to the "mechanisms lube drying

out" and "dust" issues as they are not in a vacuum or an air

sealed environment as with hard drives and therefore more

easily damaged especially when the floppy drive head(s) bangs

against the floppy disk from rough handling, mechanism

failures, etc. especially when writing or reading data or

inserting or removing the floppy disk at the wrong moment.


Consider mobile laptops of that period with built in floppy disk drives.

There were lots of damaged floppy drives and floppy disks going on.


Or homes that are very dusty and maintain very dry or wet humidity.

Wet humidity can cause the floppy drive head(s) to more easily breach

the thin, tiny air blanket and stick and damage the head(s) and the

floppy disk more easily.


I have observed that wide swings in temperature, humidity, barometric

pressure can be the precursor to floppy drive and floppy disk failure

because the floppy drive is always exposed to potentially unfriendly

room conditions and may need lube and floppy drive head cleaning

more often.


Too much head cleaning physically wears out the head(s) because the

cleaner works by actually being in physical contact with the floppy drive

head(s) as it lightly attempts to rub off the dust or floppy disk gunk that

accumulates just from use over time.


So it's 6 of one and half a dozen of another.


But if your floppy drive stops working,

floppy disk cleaners are certainly worth a try.



On 12/19/2016 7:52 PM, dashby wrote:
> Hi Everyone,
>
> Mostly just a lurker here, I like to know about player pianos, I am a
> piano player as well.  I also have a 35 year career in A/V recording,
> some community television and as a computer technician.
>
> Floppy drives and disks have been around
> from about the mid 1970s into the late 2000s.
>
>
> (See Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floppy_disk)
>
>
> Along with aging, they have always been problematic because as
> with audio tape and video tape, the floppy drive head(s) is/are in
> actual physical contact with the magnetic rotating disk.
>
> Eventually as with all audio tape machines, i.e. reel to reel, 8 track,
> audio cassette and all video tape machines, i.e. reel to reel, Sony
> 3/4 inch U-Matic, Sony Beta or JVC VHS cassette, the heads get
> dirty and clogged with dust and audio or video tape gunk which
> in the old days you had to periodically clean off either by bringing
> the unit to a repair shop, or taking it apart and cleaning it yourself
> by hand with Q-Tips and rubbing alcohol and a Degausser.
>
>
> (See Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degaussing
>
>
> Or you could try a self-contained audio reel to reel, 8 track, audio
> cassette or video reel to reel, Sony 3/4 U-Matic, Sony Beta or JVC
> VHS cleaner. Sometimes you cleaned the units and they would start
> working again, sometimes not. As a repair tech, I cleaned by hand,
> hundreds of these units. In addition, some floppy drives just plain
> mechanically wear out over time and use or got damaged by the
> floppy disk.
>
> Examples of Floppy Drive self-contained Cleaners:
>
>
> http://www.newegg.com/Floppy-Drive-Diskette/SubCategory/ID-131
>
>
> Fast forward to 2016. The floppy drive and floppy disks were never
> meant to last this long and most are only going to fail faster and
> faster over time.
>
>
> In the old days you just bought off the shelf from a computer store,
> a standard floppy drive because the Data Connector and Power
> Connector and Data Protocols were universal.
>
>
> Example of a Standard Internal Floppy Drive: $8.49 plus shipping.
>
>
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&IsNodeId=1&N=100007543%20600010633 
>
>
>
> Examples of Standard External USB Floppy Drives:
> Range from $18.99 to $29.99 plus shipping.
>
>
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&IsNodeId=1&N=100007543%20600010635%20600010634 
>
>
>
> It may be that Yamaha, like many companies, in order to lock you
> into their system and pay their higher profits, has a proprietary
> floppy drive so you can't go to a computer shop and pay about
> $9 to $20 for a new floppy drive, instead of about $300 which I
> read someone here mentioned as the cost to buy a floppy drive
> via Yamaha Repair Service and you have to install it yourself.
>
> If this is the case, their price is not in line with the OLD technology
> they are selling you and they are gouging customers because
> proprietary means they can.
>
> I see over time, more and more people here are complaining about
> floppy drives.  So it is probably very wise indeed for everyone who
> is still relying on the floppy drive built into their Yamaha Player
> Pianos to be making plans to migrate as rapidly as possible to
> other sustainable solutions as have been mentioned by other
> members here.
>
> There is no winning with this floppy drive, floppy disk game.
>
> Please plan ahead because increased Floppy Drive and
> Floppy Disk failures are coming to a theater near you. :-)
>
>
> Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
>
> Sincerely,
>
> DNA


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