I have a 3.5 preformatted diskette (floppy disk) with six documents on it. When I put it in my A drive it tells me that the disk is not formatted. But if I already have six documents on it, the disk is already is formatted. So I just don't what the problem is. Can you please help me out.
10 points for Best Answer.
2007-01-12 14:11:38 · 13 answers · asked by Mr. Jeff - It is what it is ☺ 6 in Computers & Internet ➔ Software
I wanted to add that I put it in last week and I actually got the documents to come up. So I don't know what it is.
2007-01-12 14:19:58 · update #1
Thank you all for all your teriffic answers. I will give them all a try and see what happens.
You all get 10 points in my book. But unfortunaly only 1 in Yahoo Answers.
Thanks again everyone.
2007-01-12 14:59:06 · update #2
floppy disks are extremely unreliable ... and worthy of much hate
don't give up ... they are quirky, try to read the files on another computer, often you will find the other PC will open the disk just fine ....
i have more than one PC in my house and trying a different floppy drive is very often the easy way to get around this problem. Just because your PC won't read that floppy doesn't mean the drive is bad ... just that the drive hates you and wants to harm you =)
2007-01-12 14:17:32 · answer #1 · answered by homerq7 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Sorry, I think your data is lost for good.
When you think of storage systems then it is best to compare it to a library. The format is the shelves and the card catalog file. Without the card catalog file you can't find your programs. When you erase a program or delete it from the trash bin then you remove it's entry in the card catalog file (called the File Allocation Table or FAT on computers). If the format is damaged then you remove all the bookshelves and dump the books into a pile.
There are programs that can recover deleted files, but there are no programs that can recover the format.
No media is perfect, and the cheaper it is the greater the chance of it having a flaw in it. 3.5 disk drives use a magnetic filed to store the information. If these disks are exposed to another magnetic field then the information held on them can be damaged. In this case the format has been turned unrecognizable. The format is identical to that set by your previous system, unless you first used a single sided floppy drive, so your computer is not at fault.
Unfortunately the same problem can occur if the disk is just slightly damaged in the critical spot, or if there is an imperfection in the disk, or if the field has degraded from age, or the media itself starts to degrade.
You would think that CDs and DVDs would be more stable, but they haven't been in existence long enough for full tests to be done. However at least one experiment has shown that CDs do have a shelf life. If that is true then it will be the same with DVDs since they are only CDs with a tighter format (which requires material of a higher grade to support that format).
Hard Drives use the same magnetic system that floppy disks use, but they use better and thicker material and this media is stored in a sealed case. So the safest place to keep your information is on your hard drive. When I had my computer collapse a few months ago one of the hard drives was fried; which is your problem time 500, so I know how you feel. If there were a way to recover that data it would be hugely popular, because you and I are not alone.
Until someone invents such a system it is a good idea to keep multiple copies of your files. If you back them up then you need to back them up on at least 2 CDs or DVDs. There is compression software that can shrink a file down, especially documents. You should look for WinRar or WinZip, both programs have a free trial period.
2007-01-12 14:33:20 · answer #2 · answered by Dan S 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
The disk probably has a bad sector on it, and the drive can't read it. Unfortunately, your documents are probably lost. But before you give up, try the floppy in a different computer. Do not reformat the disk, or you really will wipe them out. If no computer you have access to will read the floppy, then the disk and your documents are a loss. I'm sorry!
2007-01-12 14:16:33 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
This is a common problem with the floppy drive. Stick the disk back in and give it a wiggle or two, I know sounds stupid but try it. I used to thump on the back of them while trying to access. I'm betting that you used a different drive to load the documents. If you can't get it to read then take it to another PC and try to open it up and copy them to another floppy that you have formatted on your drive. I doubt if your drive is bad and the floppy is probably ok they are just picky sometimes, depending upon the drive.
2007-01-12 14:17:38 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
when floppy drives ( not diskettes) become too dirty because they havent been used in a while - they do not get any data from a rotating disk and it thinks that the disk is not formatted.
Here are the solutions-
1) do not run that disk in that drive until you clean it using a cleaning disk.
2) use it in some other computer.
2007-01-12 14:19:25 · answer #5 · answered by mrcool101 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It is possible that the disk was formatted in a different operating system, or that there is something wrong with the drive or floppy disk. Try reading it on several different computers if you can.
2007-01-12 14:16:27 · answer #6 · answered by karldon 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
It's possible that you may have a virus in your system. So run AVI first. Or like the other have said, your disk or A Drive has went bust. It might be time for some upgrades.
2007-01-12 14:15:47 · answer #7 · answered by Legsology07 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
your disk somehow got corrupted and you can no longer get the data off the disk, i hate floppy disks i got a USB flash drive much more secure
2007-01-12 14:14:14 · answer #8 · answered by willy 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
at the same time as it says you want to format your disk, it signifies that that disk changed into used on a distinct type of pc, so your going to have a demanding time attempting to save those information till you take advantage of the same pc. sorry.
2016-12-02 04:48:16 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
you can try 2 things.First make sure the disk isnt in the locked possition and also make sure the disk is clean.Pull very gently on the aluminum cover and blow in it gently and reboot system
2007-01-12 14:19:48 · answer #10 · answered by ? 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋