Jackson
Experienced Member
It's this same old topic again. We all appear to recommend basic alcohol solutions from the convenience store, but nothing appears to come well out of it.
I tried 70% isopropyl alcohol on a sacrificial 3.5" disk that was in perfect condition. Half of the binder seemed to have disintegrated, and the disk could no longer be formatted in Windows. It was a few gentle swipes. The flux scan from my SuperCard Pro had worried me enough. I'm tired of having to deal with hasty solutions.
Al Kossow had redirected me to an alternative that was no longer available: whiteboard cleaner from before the mid-2010's. The brands selling whiteboard cleaners switched to "green," "plant-based," etc. formulas which have an ineffective ingredient solution. The last of the brands selling the old formula, such as Quartet, have all switched now.
How the ether, benzyl, trisodium phosphate, and the polytergent manage come into play, I wouldn't know.
Since then, there have been no ideal replacements. The best alternatives I have in my hand are Office Depot screen cleaner from circa '2002, which appears to be mostly water with slight isopropyl-- not benzyl-- alcohol and a bit of glycol ether. It has a blue color and smells fruity. It will not completely remove the mold, but it will successfully neutralize it enough to avoid disk from being scraped by the heads. So far, no oxide appears to have came off in any of my cleaning sessions with it.
Simple Green, diluted to a 1:20 water to formula ratio, is my fallback. It's less effective and will damage the media if you scrape it too hard, but it has shown some success; and even then, you may end up still damaging a few sectors. Just like the the screen cleaner mentioned above, Simple Green will only be able to neutralize the mold.
Another significant problem with the formulas, even with 70% isopropyl alcohol, is that they leave stains if you don't wipe the disk in a precise manner. You then have to wipe the whole disk again. Sadly, there is no solution to remedy this without purchasing an industrial sucker. I have a couple of sunglass 'towel' microfiber cloths that appear to be better than cotton swabs at not leaving stains, but it still happens. Best to buy a better brand of microfiber cloth.
Is it possible that a homemade formula can be concocted with little need of sourcing old stock or industrial inventories? Surely, there could be a way.
I tried 70% isopropyl alcohol on a sacrificial 3.5" disk that was in perfect condition. Half of the binder seemed to have disintegrated, and the disk could no longer be formatted in Windows. It was a few gentle swipes. The flux scan from my SuperCard Pro had worried me enough. I'm tired of having to deal with hasty solutions.
Al Kossow had redirected me to an alternative that was no longer available: whiteboard cleaner from before the mid-2010's. The brands selling whiteboard cleaners switched to "green," "plant-based," etc. formulas which have an ineffective ingredient solution. The last of the brands selling the old formula, such as Quartet, have all switched now.
This is the old formula for Quartet cleaners, circa '03:
How the ether, benzyl, trisodium phosphate, and the polytergent manage come into play, I wouldn't know.
Since then, there have been no ideal replacements. The best alternatives I have in my hand are Office Depot screen cleaner from circa '2002, which appears to be mostly water with slight isopropyl-- not benzyl-- alcohol and a bit of glycol ether. It has a blue color and smells fruity. It will not completely remove the mold, but it will successfully neutralize it enough to avoid disk from being scraped by the heads. So far, no oxide appears to have came off in any of my cleaning sessions with it.
Simple Green, diluted to a 1:20 water to formula ratio, is my fallback. It's less effective and will damage the media if you scrape it too hard, but it has shown some success; and even then, you may end up still damaging a few sectors. Just like the the screen cleaner mentioned above, Simple Green will only be able to neutralize the mold.
Another significant problem with the formulas, even with 70% isopropyl alcohol, is that they leave stains if you don't wipe the disk in a precise manner. You then have to wipe the whole disk again. Sadly, there is no solution to remedy this without purchasing an industrial sucker. I have a couple of sunglass 'towel' microfiber cloths that appear to be better than cotton swabs at not leaving stains, but it still happens. Best to buy a better brand of microfiber cloth.
Is it possible that a homemade formula can be concocted with little need of sourcing old stock or industrial inventories? Surely, there could be a way.
