Floppy Disk Problem

Elizabeth1977 · 12-12-2005, 04:09 PM

Hi everyone! I sure hope this is in the right forum, if not - I apologize.

I got rid of my old Dell Dimension 4300 a few months ago and got a brand new HP Pavillion a1050y. However, before I got rid of my DELL I made sure that I saved all of my information to several pre-formatted floppy disks.

When I got my new HP Pavillion a1050y system I was shocked to learn computers were no longer made with floppy drives. So, in order to use the information that I stored to my floppies I was finding myself on the phone with HP Sales buying a removable floppy drive.

Up until now I was able to access the information on one of my disks without any problems. Now, I can't open my floppy disk. It's telling me the disk isn't formatted and asks me if I'd like to format it now. I am a bit confused as to why this is happening and, needless to say, I'm upset because it contained some really important documents like my résumé and cover letter, which I can't afford to loose.

I know I should be learning to save everything to CD now, but still have yet to figure that out. I'm sure it's not that hard to do, but it's something I just haven't made time for yet.

I'd like to know why the computer is telling me my floppy isn't formatted and whether or not my information is salvageable (retrievable). If it's not salvageable then I'll have to face the fact that all of the information's gone and just have to do my best to reconstruct certain information and start all over again. If, however, it's salvageable then I need to know how I can salvage everything.

I was going to take the floppy disk along with my removeable floppy drive and another blank floppy disk over to my friend's to see if it'd work on my old DELL. If it did then I was planning on trying to copy the information to another floppy disk.

You can just imagine my frustration right now.

suprasteve · 12-12-2005, 05:06 PM

Okay, the first thing to do is to try the floppy disk in another computer. If you can't get to it there, the information is probably gone. If you've tried other disks in your removable drive and they all work, it's even more likely that the one disk is bad. I don't know how to get data off a floppy, I know it can be done with hard drives, but obviously those are two very different things. Floppy disks, like everything else, only stay good for a certain amount of time, and floppys are much more easily affected by outside interference than a cd is. Likewise, you should have saved all the information on those disks to your new computer when you got it, the miniscule amount of space on a floppy compared to your hard drive should make absolutely no difference to the way your computer runs.

Elizabeth1977 · 12-12-2005, 05:36 PM

I went to my local libarary to use their DELL computers and got the same message about the disk not being formatted only this time when the message came up it also mentioned something about not being formatted for macintosh.

I'm going to assume, at this point, the information is gone altogether. That's okay though because I can reconstruct the information. It'll just take a few days to do that. I wanted to hope against the odds it's work on another computer, but it just wasn't meant to be.

**jancz3rt** · 12-12-2005, 05:43 PM

Go and try it on a Windows machine, not a MAC! If that fails, the chances are that your data really is lost.

JAN

Elizabeth1977 · 12-12-2005, 05:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jancz3rt

Go and try it on a Windows machine, not a MAC! If that fails, the chances are that your data really is lost.

I did. I used a DELL computer running Windows XP.

suprasteve · 12-14-2005, 04:38 PM

well then I am afraid I would have to say that the information is gone

12-12-2005, 04:09 PM	#1 (permalink)
Elizabeth1977 New Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 3	Floppy Disk Problem Hi everyone! I sure hope this is in the right forum, if not - I apologize. I got rid of my old Dell Dimension 4300 a few months ago and got a brand new HP Pavillion a1050y. However, before I got rid of my DELL I made sure that I saved all of my information to several pre-formatted floppy disks. When I got my new HP Pavillion a1050y system I was shocked to learn computers were no longer made with floppy drives. So, in order to use the information that I stored to my floppies I was finding myself on the phone with HP Sales buying a removable floppy drive. Up until now I was able to access the information on one of my disks without any problems. Now, I can't open my floppy disk. It's telling me the disk isn't formatted and asks me if I'd like to format it now. I am a bit confused as to why this is happening and, needless to say, I'm upset because it contained some really important documents like my résumé and cover letter, which I can't afford to loose. I know I should be learning to save everything to CD now, but still have yet to figure that out. I'm sure it's not that hard to do, but it's something I just haven't made time for yet. I'd like to know why the computer is telling me my floppy isn't formatted and whether or not my information is salvageable (retrievable). If it's not salvageable then I'll have to face the fact that all of the information's gone and just have to do my best to reconstruct certain information and start all over again. If, however, it's salvageable then I need to know how I can salvage everything. I was going to take the floppy disk along with my removeable floppy drive and another blank floppy disk over to my friend's to see if it'd work on my old DELL. If it did then I was planning on trying to copy the information to another floppy disk. You can just imagine my frustration right now.

12-12-2005, 05:43 PM	#4 (permalink)
jancz3rt Moderator - F@H Guru Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Czech Republic Age: 23 Posts: 4,009	Hmm Go and try it on a Windows machine, not a MAC! If that fails, the chances are that your data really is lost. JAN __________________ A64 3700+ @ 2.65Ghz ::: 7300GT @ 600/1500 ::: 2GB RAM @ 440Mhz www.CZ3RT.com ::: FOLDING FOR THE GOOD OF MANKIND ::: F@H Team 44358

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12-12-2005, 05:06 PM	#2 (permalink)
suprasteve Diamond Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Atlanta Posts: 1,355	Okay, the first thing to do is to try the floppy disk in another computer. If you can't get to it there, the information is probably gone. If you've tried other disks in your removable drive and they all work, it's even more likely that the one disk is bad. I don't know how to get data off a floppy, I know it can be done with hard drives, but obviously those are two very different things. Floppy disks, like everything else, only stay good for a certain amount of time, and floppys are much more easily affected by outside interference than a cd is. Likewise, you should have saved all the information on those disks to your new computer when you got it, the miniscule amount of space on a floppy compared to your hard drive should make absolutely no difference to the way your computer runs.

12-12-2005, 05:36 PM	#3 (permalink)
Elizabeth1977 New Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 3	I went to my local libarary to use their DELL computers and got the same message about the disk not being formatted only this time when the message came up it also mentioned something about not being formatted for macintosh. I'm going to assume, at this point, the information is gone altogether. That's okay though because I can reconstruct the information. It'll just take a few days to do that. I wanted to hope against the odds it's work on another computer, but it just wasn't meant to be.

12-14-2005, 04:38 PM	#6 (permalink)
suprasteve Diamond Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Atlanta Posts: 1,355	well then I am afraid I would have to say that the information is gone