Can not copy XP files to 98 machine

[Dave]

Hi,

I copied Word files to a floppy on a XP Pro machine and
when I try to read them on a Windows 98 machine it ask if
I want to format the floppy.

Even going to the DOS prompt on the Windows 98 machine it
can not read the floppy at all.

Any ideas?

I can not find anything in Knowledge base.

Thanks, Dave

 

[LVTravel]

Dave,

If you have browsed this and many other newsgroups you will find that
this is a common problem when using floppy disks. It normally is not
related to the operating system but the hardware you are using. Back in the
older times when floppy drives cost $50 - $100 each they seemed to be much
more reliable than the garbage placed in new computers. This includes brand
name floppy drives. A slight head misalignment will prevent one drive from
reading another drives data. The common error message is that the floppy
needs to be formatted.

Some workarounds you might try.

1. Format the floppy on the Win 98 machine and see if the XP machine will
recognize the floppy. If it does, copy the info again and the 98 machine
should be able to read it.

2. Try a different brand of floppy disk.

3. If the XP and 98 machines both have a CD RW drive, use a CD-RW disk for
the data transfer. (Software on the two machines need to be compatible). Or
use a CD-R from the XP machine if the 98 box doesn't have a CD-RW but does
have a CD-R.

4. I use a 1 GB Compact Flash memory card with two inexpensive USB card
readers to transfer data from one computer to another. If the cost of that
size CF card is too much, you can get a 64 MB card for just a little money.
The two readers can be purchased for less than $20.00. Very reliable and
can be carried in your pocket (in the small carry case).

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\)]

Please check the following Knowledge Base Article:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=http://support.microsoft.com:
80/support/kb/articles/q140/0/60.asp&NoWebContent=1

 

[LVTravel]

As a follow-up to my original post I found this as a response to your post
in windowsxp.general ng from lem.

"XP's floppy driver is the culprit. See: http://tinyurl.com/llkb for a
description and fix"

I have reviewed the site and it appears that it may be a fix for your
problem especially with the kb article about not having drivers native in XP
for the 3 mode floppy.

I'm going to try it on a system I built from scratch and see if it solves
the problem between Win 2000 machines and XP as I don't have access to 98
machines anymore.