Diskettes are used to store all the information you want to save while working
with your computer.  That's a pretty important part of your system, so it's
worth saying a few words about their use.

Always purchase good quality diskettes!  How do you tell?  Ask friends or
other companies that use different diskette brands what type of problems they
have had with each type.  If a brand gets a poor recommendation from two or
more sources, there is probably a problem with that brand.  Conflicting reports
may indicate that the poor rating came from a source that does not handle its
diskettes properly (see below).  Rather than purchasing "cheap" diskettes, look
for the brands you know are good at a reasonable price.  Usually a good
starting source is your friends.  Daily newspapers in larger cities often have
a feature one or two times per week in the business section where discount
advertisements may be found.

Make backup copies of diskettes and fixed disks frequently (see the help file
BACKUPS for details).  Once you've had a diskette fail you'll understand how
important this is (and it WILL happen sooner or later regardless of how careful
you are).  Save the work you are doing to disk often.  When typing a document
save after every one or two pages so that if the power fails or your diskette
goes bad and suddenly will not store your file, you have not lost too much time
and work.

Here is a list of things you should and should not do to diskettes.
*  Keep diskettes away from dirt and dust (including cigarette smoke).  The
   best way to do this is to put diskettes in their protective sleeve when not
   in the disk drive, and keep them in their box or a "flip-and-file" case.

*  Do not drink or eat near a computer or your diskettes.  Coffee and sandwich
   crumbs do nasty things to diskettes (they have the same effect on the rest
   of you computer as well).

*  Store your diskettes away from direct sunlight and heat.  Also keep them
   away from magnetic fields (not right beside your monitor or system cabinet).

*  When putting a paper label on your diskette, fill in the label first then
   affix it to your diskette.  When marking a label already on a diskette, use
   a felt tip pen and do NOT press hard (it can damage the media underneath).

*  If a diskette has been bent or punctured, do NOT use it.  A punctured
   diskette could damage the disk drive itself.

*  Periodically check the exposed part of the diskette for signs of excessive
   wear (dark and dull patches rather than the normally medium gray and shiny).
   If there are many areas showing wear, copy the diskette to another and
   retire the old diskette before it fails or causes disk head wear.
*  Do not touch the diskette's exposed magnetic media with your fingers.

*  Clean the heads on your diskette drives very infrequently.  Most diskettes
   have a soft felt-like material the media spins against which is quite
   effective at trapping dust and dirt, so the drive read/write heads don't
   generally collect much dirt.  Most home and office environments probably
   don't need to clean the disks more than once per year unless the area has
   a great deal of airborne dust or smoke.  Cleaning drive heads too frequently
   can cause excessive head wear or premature failure when the glue that bonds
   the head to the drive arm loosens (with cleaning kits that use a fluid).
   Of course, if many of your diskettes start to have problems at once, dirty
   drive heads should checked for immediately.

*  Never insert or remove a diskette while the disk drive activity light is
   on.  If a program is acting strangely and won't stop accessing the diskette,
   reset the system (with the Ctrl-Alt-Del key or by turning off the system
   power).  Removing a diskette while the read/write heads of the drive are
   accessing the diskette will most likely corrupt the diskette.

*  The fastest way I know to mess up a disk drive is to move your machine
   around.  If possible, don't move your machine from place to place.  When
   moving a machine with a fixed disk, make certain you have a full backup
   of it before the move.
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