User's Manual

Caring for your Disks and Disk Drives
To avoid damaging floppy and hard disks, you need to care for them
properly. Take these precautions to avoid losing data:
Keep disks away from dust and dirt. Small particles of dust or dirt
scratch the magnetic surface and can destroy data. Dust can also ruin
the read/write heads in a disk drive.
Keep disks away from magnetic fields. (Remember that disks store
data magnetically.) There are many sources of magnetism in your
home or office, such as electrical appliances, telephones, and espe-
cially loudspeakers.
Keep disks in a moderate environment. They work best at room-
temperature and in normal humidity. Never leave diskettes sitting in
the sun, or in extreme cold or heat. The temperature in a car in the
middle of summer or in the dead of winter can cause severe damage.
Never touch a diskette’s magnetic surface. The oils on your fingertips
can damage it. Always hold a diskette by its protective jacket.
Store diskettes properly. When they are not in use, keep diskettes in
their protective envelopes and store them in a diskette container.
Do not place anything on top of your diskettes and be sure they do
not bend or sag. They do not rotate properly in the drive if damaged.
Never wipe, brush, or try to clean diskettes in any way.
Be careful when you label diskettes. Attach labels firmly but gently
and only along the top of a diskette (next to the manufacturer’s label).
Do not place several labels on top of one another-too many labels
can prevent a diskette from spinning freely in a disk drive.
It is best to write on a label before you attach it to a diskette. Use only
soft-tip pens (not ballpoint pens or pencils) to write on a label that is
already on a diskette.
Do not remove a diskette or turn off the computer while the drive
light is on. This light indicates that the computer is copying data to
or from a disk. If you interrupt this process, you can destroy data.
Remove all diskettes before you turn off the computer.
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