Disk Drive Tip

Always keep a disk in your 1571 and close the latch.

When the latch is up, the upper read/write head is lifted away from the disk by a spring. Eventually that
spring weakens and disks will not work correctly.

When you close the latch the pressure on the spring is released and the read/write head can rest against
the disk.

1541 disk drives do not have the upper read/write head, so this is not a concern for them.

(From Tri-City Commodore Computer Club newsletter, May 1997)

EDITOR'S NOTE: Fresno Commodore User Group technical expert Del Contreras recommends
following this practice for the 1541 drives also. Even better than a disk is the head protector card that
originally came with the drive if you have one. You can make extras by tracing around the original on a
piece of light cardboard and cutting it out with an Xacto knife.

Via The Commodore Information Center web site (http://home.att.net/~rmestel/commodore.html)