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Posted By: Queen Ehlana Jan 04, 2005 - 06:35 pm

I don't know what to do about these crappy disks. My dad bought a bunch of floppy disks a long time ago, and now almost none of them work. They stay saying that the disk is no longer formatted. How can a disk suddenly be unformatted?!

My writing disk stopped working today. I had some info on it that I didn't put anywhere else... Just some random notes I took and some links I saved - not anything life-changing - but I'd still really like to have that stuff back. And now I don't have anymore disks, and my school computer has started messing with me, so I can't do anything in class now except write background info in my journal.

Am I simply screwed?

Posted By: Magus Jan 04, 2005 - 07:02 pm

Hmmmmmmmmmmm... Try it on another computer. try restarting your computer and try it again. If all else fails then take it into a computer place.

Other then that...

you're screwed.

Posted By: Talon Sinnah Jan 04, 2005 - 07:09 pm

Here is what I say. Write down all you remeber and the rest if you forgot it it was not important anyway.

So in short I would say you're screwed.

Posted By: fanuilh Jan 04, 2005 - 07:17 pm

Queen Ehlana, you might try BadCopy from Jufsoft. They have a free trial version. I've never used it and so can't vouch for its effectiveness or ease of use.

Good luck.

Posted By: talisman Jan 05, 2005 - 01:05 am

Looks like the file system on the disk has become corrupted. Floppy's aren't that reliable sadly.

Firstly, do what magus says. Try in a machine with a different Windows version from what you're using.

Secondly, try using some software to recover data from the disk.
Here's another, though I've never tried it
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/pcinspector.html

If you can't recover the data, you can probably still reformat the disk (right click A drive and select 'format') and use it again.

Posted By: Aldan Jan 05, 2005 - 07:23 pm

One other suggestion: Don't use floppies. Save your money and pick up a used cd burner (or a cheap new one) and save your info onto cds. CDRWs would work for your updating and such, and then when you have enough info, save it to a CDR. I know it'll waste a lot of space, but if the info's important enough, the dime for the disc would be worth the investment, IMO.
You should be able to pick up a not-quite-as-up-to-date-speed-wise CD burner for your at-home computer for around 25 to 30 bucks new. If you find a sale, I've seen it for less...

Posted By: talisman Jan 06, 2005 - 01:10 am

or simply set up an online email account (gmail, hotmail etc) and email yourself the files. Far more reliable than disks or cds imo

Posted By: Aldan Jan 06, 2005 - 07:03 am

If you go hotmail, though, you MUST be sure to clean out your acct VERY regularly, or otherwise your oldest files will start being erased when your account becomes full (and it really doesn't take very long for that to happen). Without a hardcopy, then, you'd be SOL.

Posted By: Queen Ehlana Jan 06, 2005 - 09:02 am

Well, I've saved my writing to my website before, but it's tedious to do that everyday. I guess I should start doing that, though.

Thanks for the CD idea, Aldan... And thanks, everyone else... but I asked my teacher about it, and he saved my files with some file recovery program, probably like the one talisman mentioned. He put them on a new disk, so I've got to find a way to keep this one clean.

Posted By: chowder Jan 06, 2005 - 10:18 am

QE

I use a USB Flash Drive (I think that's what they're called) as a backup.

Posted By: Bmat Jan 06, 2005 - 12:54 pm

Hotmail increased their memory a little while ago.

Also, Yahoo has a lot of space, and Gmail beats them all with 1000 MB. I have 5 email invites that I can send to anyone, btw, just tell me your email and I'll send the invitation to you. It seems that if you use the account they send 6 invitations that you can send to others.

Posted By: Aldan Jan 06, 2005 - 05:28 pm

True, Bmat, but it's still relatively small, and if you get several emails a day, with graphics attached, then it still fills up pretty quickly.
I, too, am on the Gmail beta and you have PLENTY of space on there. It's why I didn't mention it as a "shouldn't do".

Posted By: Queen Ehlana Jan 06, 2005 - 08:49 pm

Chowder - I'll have to look that up later...

Bmat - what's an e-mail invite?

Aldan - you recieved e-mails with attachments every day? I always delete the e-mails that have attachments... after I save the attachments. I have like 115 read e-mails in my MSN folders, and that only takes up like 13% of the capacity...

Posted By: Aldan Jan 06, 2005 - 09:02 pm

I'm a member of Gamespy as well as a few other groups and so get things that are verrah prettah and verrah colourful everah deh. And I delete most of them... however when I receive something with my password printed on it for a website, or other such, I save those. It really does add up.

Posted By: Magus Jan 07, 2005 - 01:18 pm

I don't know why I ever said on those standardized tests that Colleges could E-Mail me. I've been getting so many as of two months or so ago. And I know what school I'm going to!

***Magus whacks his own forehead***

StupidStupidStupid!

Posted By: Bmat Jan 07, 2005 - 02:50 pm

QE- Gmail is still in beta phase, so getting an account is by invitation only. People who are invited and set up accounts are allowed to invite 6 other people. I have 5 invitations left, so if anyone would like an invitation send the request to me by email and I'll send the invitation.