Anyone know how to repair an ATM card?

DatabaseError

might be worth trying t-cut to polish out the scratch - card doesn't work anyway

hoonatic

I guess t-cut worth a go as last resort. I know I will likely end up doing a transfer using xe.com or similar (checking their rates now) but as I have faith in technical solutions to everyday problems - I'm going to at least have a good go at bending the technology to my will. Does anyone in this "techie" forum have any techie information about how the magnetic strip stores it's data & how the reader reads it? (obviously only info that may help with my problem - we don't need a detailed description of illegal card cloning technologies here). I'm assuming it's like a magnetic representation of a barcode - with vertical lines written so the data can be read horizontally (i.e 1 dimensional like a barcode) - but does anyone know if the data takes the full length of the card? is it repeated for resilience/error correction? how deep into the card is the data written (i.e how thick is the magnetic layer? could I get away with trying to lift it off with a scalpel or something?) surely someone has some tech knowledge about these things?

fwor

From the wiki:

"In most magnetic stripe cards, the magnetic stripe is contained in a plastic-like film. The magnetic stripe is located 0.223 inches (5.56 mm) from the edge of the card, and is 0.375 inches (9.52 mm) wide. The magnetic stripe contains three tracks, each 0.110 inches (2.79 mm) wide. Tracks one and three are typically recorded at 210 bits per inch (8.27 bits per mm), while track two typically has a recording density of 75 bits per inch (2.95 bits per mm). Each track can either contain 7-bit alphanumeric characters, or 5-bit numeric characters. Track 1 standards were created by the airlines industry (IATA). Track 2 standards were created by the banking industry (ABA). Track 3 standards were created by the Thrift-Savings industry."

As you can see, there are several tracks, which would make removing and then shifting up or down ineffective.

The actual magnetic layer itself is very thin - essentially the same as that used on audio tape - and is heat-welded in place. This makes it virtually impossible to remove intact without cutting a complete section of the card out.

Can you get a friend/relative in the UK to send you cash via a money transfer company such as WU?