I had a big (and I mean BIG) cardboard box of discs which I had accumilated over the years from buying various second hand Amiga systems. I spent a whole week going through them all. Unfortunately, only about 60% actually worked! The others gave out that familiar squeaky/metallic grinding sound...
I wonder if that's something to do with the cleaning pads sticking to the disc surface and causing friction?
Tapping the discs lightly seemed to get them to work but others were beyond help. It seems that just sitting in a sealed cardboard box for a few years can render floppy discs useless.
