Unable to read floppy files

[tony01]

This problem is a neighbor's WIN95 system. Files have been historically saved on a diskette. Most of the files are WORD PERFECT files. There are about 69 small files stored. When attemtping to read these files with either the Word Perfect application or with Windows Explorer, the WIN 95 system will go blue screen. I tried another diskette in the WIN95 system and it read it OK. I took the failing diskette to my personal XP system and it would not read it either. With Explorer, I get the message "the diskette in drive A is not formatted" but at least I don't get a blue screen. I tried Norton DU and the message is "the disk may not be formatted or it may be physically damaged". I ran the DOS CHKDSK against the diskette and the messages are "An error occurred while reading the FAT 1 and FAT 2. There are no readable file allocation tables". I've searched the web for some data recovery programs but the only one that may work is from "ONTRACK" which costs substantially more than I think is reasonable for a one time fix for one diskette. Does anyone have any suggestions or inexpensive software or preferably freeware that might help me recover all of most of these files? I thank you in advance for your patience in reading this long note.

[Budfred]

Tony01, Welcome to PCGuide!!

I don't know of a good recovery program, but I would recommend that you search the download files at PCWorld.com to see if they have what you need. Their files are pretty extensive.

On the other hand, do you know where your neighbor was storing these disks. Floppies are very sensitive to magnetic fields and your description sounds a lot like what happens with exposure. I don't think they will be recoverable if that is the case.

Good luck,
Budfred

[mjc]

First try cleaning the floppy in the first macnhine.

Then try the disk in another machine.

But if the disk was stored for a long period of time it could just be gone. Also running an AV scan on it may be a good idea...

[tony01]

Thanks for your responses. I will take a very close look at the PC Guide downloadsfor some recovery software. Regarding scanning with NAV, the summary indicates no files and no infections. Regarding trying to read the disk on another system, that is what I have done to no avail. I haven't tried cleaning the disk itself. I'm not sure I know how to do that. Is there such a thing as a diskette cleaner?

[Budfred]

That was PCWorld downloads. I don't think PCGuide has any except the PCGuide guides.

As for cleaning a floppy disk, don't try. They are not cleanable on the media. What mjc was referring to was to try cleaning the drive and there are kits for doing that.

If you can't read the floppies on another computer, chances are that they are fried. Did you check into where the neighbor had them stored?

Good luck,
Budfred

[tony01]

I haven't tried cleaning the drive on which this diskette was created. I'm attempting to find out where the failing diskette was stored. However, when inserting a different diskette into the drive, the files were read properly so I'm not too concerned about the drive. I think it is functioning ok but clearly something caused this particular diskette to fail.

[Budfred]

Sad to say Tony01, but I suspect it is time to play Taps for the data on that poor disk. The disk may be usable if reformatted, but I suspect the data is lost. You still may want to try a recovery program before giving it up, but I fear you will have little luck. It may be time to talk to your neighbor about either getting a CDR to make backups or at least keeping several copies of the floppy in different locations.

Sorry,
Budfred

[tony01]

the Ontrack company has a program called Easy Recovery. They will allow you to download a free copy which makes an assessment of the files but when it comes to copying the files which presumably have been fixed, they require that you purchase the program which costs $199. They do provide a summary copy of the what they find on the diskette and it appears that all of the files are there. The $199 is just too darn much for a sone time fix. Thanks for your help and responsiveness.

[Budfred]

Here are a couple of programs that I found on PCWorld that may allow you to recover something if there is anything to recover. They are both expensive, but it looks like they have some free trial time.

http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/fi

http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,4170,00.asple_description/0,fid,8263,00.asp

I also took a quick look at that Ontrack program and it occured to me that a computer repair shop might well have something like that available and would probably be willing to try to recover those files for a lot less than Ontrack charges for the whole program. If there is no visible damage to the disk, it might be worth a try if neither of these programs are helpful.

Budfred

[Paul Komski]

No harm in trying scandisk on the floppy. It sounds like the FAT tables are caput and I don't know if there are backup tables on a floppy, like with a HDD. Best chance is if the disk was not nearly full.

[tony01]

Thanks. Did a SCANDISK but it didn't help. The disk is full and I'm also thinking that this could be a part of the problem. There are 2 FAT12 tables on the disk but apparently both are worthless. I'm still looking for some freeware that might solve the problem. Ontrack did reply telling me that they have a Lite module that might do the trick but it still costs $55. Thanks again for your response.

[Paul Komski]

Pity. You certainly need just a bit of space for scandisk to operate in; I've know this to sometimes work - but only when you have first been able to see a file of two to delete on a full diskette - which is your fundamental problem. Good luck.