[Techtalk] Sending floppy disks thru the mail

[Maria Blackmore]

On Fri, 13 Sep 2002, Arashi wrote:

> This is a general question:  what are the chances of a floppy disk getting
> corrupted when it's sent overseas via air mail?

I have to confess that I have no idea about this particular bit, I imagine
it's entirely possible that it could, but then x ray machines are supposed
to be "safe" for that kind of thing

> I live in Japan and my lecturer in Australia requested us to submit our
> scripts on floppy as well as on paper.  I have a hard plastic case to put
> the floppy in but those anti-magnetic bags seem to be non-existent in Tokyo.

The easiest way to do this would be to use a couple of squares of thin 
sheet steel and put one on either side of the disk.  I imagine you would
be able to find some sort of place that will let you have some offcuts or
something, given how common steel is :)
if you want, you could probably bend over the edges a little to lift
the squares of steel away from the disk and provide some physical
protection too.
There is only one catch, this will show up as being completely black and
opaque on an x ray, and thus will be a prime candidate for being opened
and looked at by hand.  This will be true of any method to shield the disk
from electrical and magnetic fields though

I would be tempted to burn the script onto CD and send it that way (having
previously checked that the person you are sending it to has a CD drive.  
given the cost of CDs you can send more than one, just in case.  also you
could put the same file on the CD many more than once so that copies of
the thing are spread probably hundreds of times across the whole CD ... in
the event the CD gets scratched, there is bound to be one that's still
readable :)  (ok, so I'm going over the top here :)


Good luck :)

Maria