SCREENING COMPUTER DISKETTES AND OTHER MAGNETIC MEDIA FOR SUSCEPTIBILITY TO FUNGAL COLONIZATION

Fungal colonization of magnetic media products (surface attack by pres umed fungal degradation of diffusible components of the products) has been tested mostly by Standard G 21-90 of the American Society for Tes ting and Materials, because the core of the product is polyester plast ic. However, these products fail because of interruption in their cond uctivity rather than from degradation of the plastic. Thus, to emphasi ze early effects of fungal infestation, the test may need to be modifi ed to use fungi isolated from diskettes, a revised rating scale, and a shorter duration. Suspending spores in water instead of in mineral nu trients minimized inflated test scores. Control samples should be the same type as the test material.