Why doesn't my floppy disk drive recognize that a floppy disk is formatted?

Question

I have a floppy I was just looking at, I removed it from drive then a few minutes later put it back in the drive and now my drive keeps trying to get me to format that disk because it says it isn't formatted. I have an important document I spent the last 4 hours working on and saving to that disk. Closed it and opened it again numerous times in that time but now my disk drive just sits still. Help Please

Answer 1

Floppy disks become very unreliable media over last few years. If your drive doesn't see the contens of the disk, it's hed is probably worn-out, or even worse floppy disk is damaged. Easiest way out is to try reading it on onother computer. if not , once upon the time whe people around the world used floppies a lot there were an application for reading "bad disks", unfortunatly I do not rememer it's name anymore. Try googleing for it.

Advice : get yourself USB stick instead using the floppy !

Answer 2

Put a blank floppy into the drive and see if it will format it. If it does then try your disk again after you format a floopy in the drive.
If it won't format a floppy then there is something wrong with the drive. If you know someone that has a computer with a floppy drive then see if it will read your disk or take the disk to a computer store to see if they have a computer that will read it. This way you will know if the drive actually wrote the disk.

Answer 3

well the simple answer is windows XP is not the best when it comes to floppy disk it needs to format the disk before you save files to it,

It will read an old dos format the first time you put one in the drive, but it writes to the boot sector and messes it up, so if your writing documents always save them to the hard drive first, that way you never lose the file,

then format a floppy ans save it to the floppy disk.

Answer 4

viruses on the computer can do this. Run a virus check if you're sure your virus software is updated or run an on-line virus check... Also a bad or dirty floppy drive can damage the disk and make it unreadable... Magnets can damage a disk too... And then, sometimes, the floppy just goes south. As the floppy gets older it looses its ability to retain written data...

Answer 5

Let's check the device driver:
cl Start
cl Settings
cl Control Panel

cl System
cl Hardware
cl Device Manager

R-cl on the item to be checked. Click Properties.
That will tell you if the item is working properly.

To update the driver:
Start, Settings, Control Panel, System, Hardward, Device Driver
click the icon for the item you want
click the “update driver” button on the toolbar.

If it is o.k.:
- see if you accidentally moved the disk lock - it doesn't take much to move into "lock"
- you didn't try to put it in upside down, did you?
- when removing the disk, did you accidentally catch the metal plate and loosen it

Please check the device driver. If it is o.k., Restart and try again. I'd be interested to know if you can access your files.

Answer 6

check the IDE cable at the back of floppy disk drive. you said you removed it and put it back again, maybe you put it a wrong side, check the notches of cable the gray cable. and try to clean also your floppy drive, if you have a compressor or something like that you can use it blow the inside of floppy drive, i know there;s a lot of dust inside of it.

Answer 7

I'd agree with the first answer... Also your drive may be getting tired. When a drive can't read track zero the o/s will ask to format the disc. Try running scandisk with "check for errors" enabled. Or better yet try a later/newer drive.

Answer 8

You guys are all wet. I have the same problem. the floppy drive I installed is new. it was installed per the motherboard mmanual instructions.
the Red ribbon of the iDE Cable should be oriented next to the connection for the power connector.
I thinkt he motherboard manufacturer screwed up.