Yes, you
can do this. No, you will not wash off
the data.
Back in the days of
Windows 3.1(when
feces was
faeces) I spilled
Coke on my Windows install disks. I didn't realise a the time that I had not gotten them clean.
A few months later, while reinstalling everything (ok, I exaggerate I prolly reinstalled Windows at least once a month) I ran into a problem with one of my disks... my pimping
486 didn't want to read it. Further inspection revealed sticky cokeness on the media, complete with fuzz from the white tissue on the inside. Don't pretend you've never taken a disk apart.
You know exactly what I'm talking about.
It was late at night, prolly 3 AM or so, much to late to call anyone. So I did the only thing I could think of. I shucked away the plastic shell and washed the media with soap and warm water. Then I patted it dry with paper towels and destroyed another disk (maybe an
AOL disk?) to get the shell. I assembled my
Frankenstein disk and put it in the drive.
Bob was my uncle! It worked! I was well on my way to
GUI Paradise.
I feel terribly juvenile for noding this.