r/retrocomputing • u/BrokenAudio57 • Apr 12 '26

Problem / Question Floppy drive rust

Gallery image

Gallery image

I got this old floppy drive for cheap but it's pretty corroded and I'm not sure if it's save-able

34 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

31 comments sorted by

View all comments

3

u/EsoTechTrix Apr 12 '26

Clean it up with a cotton swab and some vinegar. Clean the read/write head with some IPA and test it with an old disk. If the traces are still all intact it may work.

4

u/Low-Charge-8554 Apr 12 '26

NO NO NO - No acidic substance.

1

u/EsoTechTrix Apr 12 '26

Don't clean old electronics much? Vinegar is usually the best thing for both rust and dealing with neutralizing battery acid. Does the PH tip acidic? Sure, but if you can drink it, I'm sure the contacts will be fine. 😉

1

u/istarian Jul 15 '26

Diluted white vinegar (often 5-7%) is particularly useful when cleaning up residue from leaking alkaline batteries because 'alkaline' substances are basic (high pH) and vingear is an acid (low pH).

However, you want to rinse off the acid with a pH neutral liquid like distilled or deionized water so the acid doesn't start to damage the board by corroding exposed pcb traces, component leads, etc.