Windows 2000
Diskette Care
Taking care of diskettes may not seem very complicated but it is critical to the protection of your data. The following tips are fairly common sense, but a reminder does not hurt -- it can save hours of work trying to recreate a document.
Tips for Diskette Care
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Never touch the shiny surface of a diskette. Oil and dirt from your hands can (and is likely to) ruin the surface of the diskette and fingerprints can cause problems when the computer tries to read from or write to the diskette.
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Never subject diskettes to extreme hot or cold. For example, do not leave diskettes in your car during cold winter nights or hot summer days. Room temperature is best for your diskettes.
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Avoid spilling anything on them — like Pepsi or coffee.
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Keep your diskettes protected from smoke, food, ashes, and pets.
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Guard your diskettes when near X-ray machines. The magnetic fields can quickly erase all of the data from your diskette.
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Never clean a diskette with alcohol, thinner, freon, or household cleaning products.
- Never expose a diskette to a magnetic object.
Other General Tips
- Keep backups of all important information. If you don’t want to recreate, you should have a backup (on a different diskette). For extra security, a set of backups should be kept at an off-site location.
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Devise a filing system for organizing your diskettes and files. Perhaps all memos are stored on one diskette or all information related to a specific project is kept on the same diskette.
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Label your diskettes to make it easier to locate files.
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When working with 5¼" diskettes, write on the label before you put it on the diskette. If you need to write on the label after it is placed on the diskette, use a felt-tip pen and write softly.
- Keep your diskettes in a protective case (either the plastic sleeves or a diskette case).
