Reading old floppy disks

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bert
  • Start date Start date
B

Bert

I have numerous floppy disks on which I archived various
files for save keeping. Some from Win95 others from Win98
machines. When I try to read the disks on WinXP machine
all I get is "insert disk in drive A". How can I retrieve
the data on thes floppies to the XP machine?
 
700 MB??
Wow I want one of those ! : )
-----Original Message-----
Are they 700MB floppies? If so they can't be read on XP. If they are 1.44MB
then there might be a problem with the head alignment on the floppy drive in
your XP system.

--

Harry Ohrn - MS MVP [Shell/User]
www.webtree.ca/windowsxp


Bert said:
I have numerous floppy disks on which I archived various
files for save keeping. Some from Win95 others from Win98
machines. When I try to read the disks on WinXP machine
all I get is "insert disk in drive A". How can I retrieve
the data on thes floppies to the XP machine?
Click to expand...


.
Click to expand...
 
LOL. Yeah me too ;-)

--

Harry Ohrn - MS MVP [Shell/User]
www.webtree.ca/windowsxp


erpara said:
700 MB??
Wow I want one of those ! : )
-----Original Message-----
Are they 700MB floppies? If so they can't be read on XP. If they are 1.44MB
then there might be a problem with the head alignment on the floppy drive in
your XP system.

--

Harry Ohrn - MS MVP [Shell/User]
www.webtree.ca/windowsxp


Bert said:
I have numerous floppy disks on which I archived various
files for save keeping. Some from Win95 others from Win98
machines. When I try to read the disks on WinXP machine
all I get is "insert disk in drive A". How can I retrieve
the data on thes floppies to the XP machine?
Click to expand...


.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Maybe the drive is dirty. dust has a way of sneaking into floppy drives.
Blow a few blasts of compressed air into the drive and see if that helps.
There is software that will analyze a drive but most of it is far more
expensive than buying a new floppy. If the system is still under warranty
don't open the case and start digging around inside. Just call Dell and tell
them that disks are being read in several other systems but not on your XP
system. A floppy drive is so inexpensive that they will likely just replace
it for you.
--

Harry Ohrn - MS MVP [Shell/User]
www.webtree.ca/windowsxp


Bert said:
All floppies are 1.44. I've had a friend check and they
can be read on a Win2K machine. How can I check the WinXP
drive to verify head alignment before I go to Dell?
-----Original Message-----
Are they 700MB floppies? If so they can't be read on XP. If they are 1.44MB
then there might be a problem with the head alignment on the floppy drive in
your XP system.

--

Harry Ohrn - MS MVP [Shell/User]
www.webtree.ca/windowsxp


Bert said:
I have numerous floppy disks on which I archived various
files for save keeping. Some from Win95 others from Win98
machines. When I try to read the disks on WinXP machine
all I get is "insert disk in drive A". How can I retrieve
the data on thes floppies to the XP machine?
Click to expand...


.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
According MicroSoft Knowledge Base Article - 309623 Windows Xp can read
and write 1.44MB and 720KB 3.5" floppies and also 1.2MB and 360KB 5.25"
floppies.
Windows XP can only format 1.44MB 3.5" floppies.

Some people reported success when formatting 720KB 3.5" floppies in the
Command Window using the parameters for such a disk.
 
E.P. van Westendorp said:
According MicroSoft Knowledge Base Article - 309623 Windows Xp can
read and write 1.44MB and 720KB 3.5" floppies and also 1.2MB and
360KB 5.25" floppies.
Windows XP can only format 1.44MB 3.5" floppies.

Some people reported success when formatting 720KB 3.5" floppies in
the Command Window using the parameters for such a disk.
Click to expand...

Getting a little of topic, but I know below to work, on my machine anyway.
(formatting 720 floppy that is).

format a: /t:80/n:9
 
No I never did because at the time there were many warnings about the
reliability of disks treated like that.
I still have many 1.44MB floppies I used in the later 80's, I got my
first 1.44MB drive in 1988 with a computer running Dos 3.3, most of them
are still OK.
I wonder how the how the treated 720KB/1.44MB ones kept after all these
years, afterall most of them are only DD.
720MB floppies (and 1.2MB ones) were never very popular in my country, I
only got them when I bought commercial software stored on those formats.
I don't remember ever buying them.
 
Bert said:
I have numerous floppy disks on which I archived various
files for save keeping. Some from Win95 others from Win98
machines. When I try to read the disks on WinXP machine
all I get is "insert disk in drive A". How can I retrieve
the data on thes floppies to the XP machine?
Click to expand...

I read a the replies and may have missed this, but nowhere did I see a
reference to the fact that if these floppies have contents created by
programs OTHER than ones in Windows, you need the same program or a later
version on the new machine. Otherwise, nothing is going to be seen.

Malv
 
Hello all,

There are a lot of variables to this issue and it is currently under
investigation. I have been working the issue for some time trying to lock
down a stable repro scenario and determine root cause. Work continues.

Best regards,

Mike Truitt
Microsoft Corporation
 
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