# Contaminated floppy disks... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 17, 2002, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contaminated-floppy-disks/124375 "2002-08-17T18:48:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2002, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contaminated-floppy-disks/124375/1 "2002-08-17T18:48:12Z")
My trigger-happy cat decided to urinate over a pile of disks I foolishly left out in the open… several times. Is there any way to clean/sterlize them and have them still be readable? I realize this is probably a lost cause, but I just wanted to see if there was hope… ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2002, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contaminated-floppy-disks/124375/2 "2002-08-17T19:14:24Z")
If you **really** need the data, it is possible to take 3.5" disk cases apart with a razor blade. Rinse the unjacketed disks with distilled water and let them dry on paper towels. Prepare a temporary home for them by cutting apart an unsoiled diskette. Put each clean, dry floppy in the case, tape shut, and copy the files to your hard drive. I’ve gotten data off of coffee and coke soaked disks with this procedure. Cat pee shouldn’t present any special problems. ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2002, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contaminated-floppy-disks/124375/3 "2002-08-17T19:22:59Z")
Hmm, anything more mass-cleaning viable? I’m not talking a few, this is more like 30. It’s not INCREDIBLY valuable… more for sentiment’s sake… ---
**Author:** ![mblackwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5fc32e/32.png) [@mblackwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mblackwell)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2002, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contaminated-floppy-disks/124375/4 "2002-08-17T23:16:25Z")
Maybe you could just let them dry and then try to copy them using an old floppy drive that you don’t mind destroying. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2002, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contaminated-floppy-disks/124375/5 "2002-08-18T04:11:41Z")
The cat pee probably did not damage the disks as the disks are plastic mylar coated with oxide. Unless the cat pee has some thick element that would mess up the contact of the oxide layer with the read write head of the floppy drive. Just wipe off the outside of the case with water or alcohol and copy them to a drive directory and then toss them. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2002, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contaminated-floppy-disks/124375/6 "2002-08-18T04:42:46Z")
“Unless the cat pee has some thick element that would mess up the contact of the oxide layer” There’s lots of urea and salts in cat pee. Urea can get pretty gooey, and salt crystals are abrasive. If the pee made it inside the case, it has likely saturated the paper linings on each side of the disk. Upon drying you’ll have a gooey abrasive mess pressed up against the mylar. The disks might still be copyable, but you might wreck your drive trying it. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2002, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contaminated-floppy-disks/124375/7 "2002-08-18T12:54:34Z")
One of my wife’s cat decided to mark my moniter shortly after I got it. A few days later, the horizontal control went out of whack but I got it working again. About 2 months later, the the horizontal went out again. I took the moniter apart. The cat pee had gotten onto one of the push button switches mounted to the main circuit board. The switch was ruined. It had corroded to almost nothing. I tried a couple of electronic retailers but a replacement is not available. I removed the switch, soldered in a couple of wires and those wires are attached to a toggle switch that now hangs from the bottom of my moniter. ---
**Author:** ![partly\_warmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@partly\_warmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/partly_warmer)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2002, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contaminated-floppy-disks/124375/8 "2002-09-06T03:01:12Z")
As it happens, I just successfully rescued a disk that had been severely warped by heat: 1. Carefully pry open the old floppy. 2. Carefully pry part way open a good floppy that you don’t need anymore. Just crack open the two corners opposite the sliding opening. 3. Dump the disk from the new floppy. 4. Insert the disk from the old floppy. 5. Rock and roll. In your case, with contaminated disks you’d want to try water to rinse it off, first. If that failed, water with mild soap, I’d guess.