[game_preservation] Mold removal from floppy disks

[Christian Bartsch]

As István said, we have done this, and it really depends on what has happened to the media. Mold is organic, it feeds itself by ingesting what's there, e.g. paper. This means that mold will digest the media, or parts of it. It will grow, which means it will fill the gap of what it has ingested with mold. Depending on the surface you will have the chance to remove mold, or you don't. At least you don't get back what's been eaten. The mold itself will stick on heads, which might lead to clogging of tape or similar, thus making the situation worse. The lightest moisture will make mold stick.

What we do with disks is not for the faint of heart. We take the platter out of the protective jacket, stripping it until we only have the bare platter. This is then washed in a solution that will take away mold, but not damage the platter (not beyond the damage that has already happened). After that is washed with distilled water and dried. The platter is then placed in a fresh jacket. 

This is usually not acceptable for collectors, as you destroy the jacket in the process. But it's acceptable if you just intend to recover the data present on the disk.


--
Christian Bartsch
The Software Preservation Society
http://www.softpres.org

On 3 Jan 2012, at 19:59, Henry Lowood wrote:


> Devin,

> 

> Just circling back to this: We have had occasional issues with mold on magnetic media -- not just disks, but tapes as well.  In some cases, we were able to rescue the data, in some cases not.   Note that this is considered a hazardous area.  Mold can be very nasty.  Thus there are specialized mold-treatment or removal companies. This is not my area, but probably one of our conservators would know.  If you know enough about the specific situation, I could put you in contact with a media conservator here -- not that she would take the job, but for advice.  Let me know off-list.

> 

> Henry

> 

> On 12/22/2011 7:19 AM, Devin Monnens wrote:

>> Has the SPS or any other organizations worked with mold removal from

>> magnetic disks? I notice there are several articles (such as a sample

>> below) that discuss methods that sound non-destructive to the media

>> (but fully destructive against the mold!), but I was curious how

>> effective this process is and how stable the media is after the mold

>> has been removed. I think this is particularly relevant to game

>> preservation in Japan, where the climate results in many disks having

>> mold damage.

>> 

>> Joseph Redon tells me he hasn't heard of any scientific studies on the

>> efficacy of it, but that he has some skills in removal (just doesn't

>> have someone to work full-time on care and cleaning of roughly

>> 4000-5000 disks. So if you know anyone who is skilled in this area and

>> interested in coming to Japan, I can send him or her the contact

>> information!).

>> 

>> http://cool.conservation-us.org/byorg/abbey/an/an25/an25-4/an25-408.html

>> - article from 2001

>> 

> 

> -

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