Floppy Disk Hell

Can anyone tell me if it's at all possible to retrieve information from a
floppy that is now reading "Disk is not formatted. Do you wish to format
now?", or is it totally lost? The information was on there but suddenly I
can't get any PC to read the disk and I know if I click yes to format then
the information is gone anyway. I realize it's highly unlikely but if anyone
knows of anything that might help me retrieve the information, I'd be
extremely grateful.

Thanks

Find another computer and get a "second opinion" on the floppy.

Shaz wrote:

Can anyone tell me if it's at all possible to retrieve information from a
floppy that is now reading "Disk is not formatted. Do you wish to format
now?", or is it totally lost? The information was on there but suddenly I
can't get any PC to read the disk and I know if I click yes to format then
the information is gone anyway. I realize it's highly unlikely but if anyone
knows of anything that might help me retrieve the information, I'd be
extremely grateful.

Thanks

Bob I wrote:
Find another computer and get a "second opinion" on the floppy.

Shaz wrote:

Can anyone tell me if it's at all possible to retrieve information
from a floppy that is now reading "Disk is not formatted. Do you wish
to format now?", or is it totally lost? The information was on there
but suddenly I can't get any PC to read the disk and I know if I click
yes to format then the information is gone anyway. I realize it's
highly unlikely but if anyone knows of anything that might help me
retrieve the information, I'd be extremely grateful.

Thanks



He states that he "can't get any PC to read the disk..." That tells me
that he's tried at least one other PC.

I hope that now he understands the unreliability of floppy disks as a
storage medium.

--
The reader should exercise normal caution and backup the Registry and
data files regularly, and especially before making any changes to their
PC, as well as performing regular virus and spyware scans. I am not
liable for problems or mishaps that occur from the reader using advice
posted here. No warranty, express or implied, is given with the posting
of this message.

Already tried that, on 3 different PC's. No joy unfortunately!!

"Bob I" wrote:

Find another computer and get a "second opinion" on the floppy.

Shaz wrote:

Can anyone tell me if it's at all possible to retrieve information from a
floppy that is now reading "Disk is not formatted. Do you wish to format
now?", or is it totally lost? The information was on there but suddenly I
can't get any PC to read the disk and I know if I click yes to format then
the information is gone anyway. I realize it's highly unlikely but if anyone
knows of anything that might help me retrieve the information, I'd be
extremely grateful.

Thanks

null wrote:
Bob I wrote:
Find another computer and get a "second opinion" on the floppy.

Shaz wrote:

Can anyone tell me if it's at all possible to retrieve information
from a floppy that is now reading "Disk is not formatted. Do you
wish to format now?", or is it totally lost? The information was
on there but suddenly I can't get any PC to read the disk and I
know if I click yes to format then the information is gone anyway. I
realize it's highly unlikely but if anyone knows of anything that
might help me retrieve the information, I'd be extremely grateful.

Thanks



He states that he "can't get any PC to read the disk..." That tells me
that he's tried at least one other PC.

I hope that now he understands the unreliability of floppy disks as a
storage medium.

He? How many blokes do you know called Sharon?

--
Facon - the artificial bacon bits you get in Pizza Hut for sprinkling
on salads.

That doesn't sound good. Around here I fire up a copy of Diskedit on a
DOS box and copy off the sectors to rebuild the disk. You might look
around for a Windows program to do the same.

null wrote:

Bob I wrote:

Find another computer and get a "second opinion" on the floppy.

Shaz wrote:

Can anyone tell me if it's at all possible to retrieve information
from a floppy that is now reading "Disk is not formatted. Do you
wish to format now?", or is it totally lost? The information was on
there but suddenly I can't get any PC to read the disk and I know if
I click yes to format then the information is gone anyway. I realize
it's highly unlikely but if anyone knows of anything that might help
me retrieve the information, I'd be extremely grateful.

Thanks



He states that he "can't get any PC to read the disk..." That tells me
that he's tried at least one other PC.

I hope that now he understands the unreliability of floppy disks as a
storage medium.

Shaz wrote:

Can anyone tell me if it's at all possible to retrieve information from a
floppy that is now reading "Disk is not formatted. Do you wish to format
now?", or is it totally lost? The information was on there but suddenly I
can't get any PC to read the disk and I know if I click yes to format then
the information is gone anyway. I realize it's highly unlikely but if anyone
knows of anything that might help me retrieve the information, I'd be
extremely grateful.

Thanks

It isn't cheap, but SpinRite can usually recover most of a dead floppy's
contents.

http://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm

yes you can get the data back depends on how much you want to spend. I would
find a win98 box and install Norton utilities on it and try to recover the
data using Norton Disc Doctor. You can send the disk out to a data recovery
service and they can get the data back for sure for the right $$$


Wayne

"Shaz" wrote in message
...
Can anyone tell me if it's at all possible to retrieve information from a
floppy that is now reading "Disk is not formatted. Do you wish to format
now?", or is it totally lost? The information was on there but suddenly I
can't get any PC to read the disk and I know if I click yes to format then
the information is gone anyway. I realize it's highly unlikely but if
anyone
knows of anything that might help me retrieve the information, I'd be
extremely grateful.

Thanks

Boot your computer from an MS-DOS floppy, and do a DIR on your floppy.
This should tell you where the problem lies.

On Wed, 26 Jan 2005 10:33:07 -0800, "Shaz"
wrote:

Can anyone tell me if it's at all possible to retrieve information from a
floppy that is now reading "Disk is not formatted. Do you wish to format
now?", or is it totally lost? The information was on there but suddenly I
can't get any PC to read the disk and I know if I click yes to format then
the information is gone anyway. I realize it's highly unlikely but if anyone
knows of anything that might help me retrieve the information, I'd be
extremely grateful.

Thanks

Try a program called WinHex you can find it at
http://www.forensicfocus.com/


--
XPos
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View this thread: http://forum.osnn.net/showthread.php?t=52906

Miss Perspicacia Tick wrote:

He? How many blokes do you know called Sharon?


Sharon? All I see for a name is Shaz.

--
The reader should exercise normal caution and backup the Registry and
data files regularly, and especially before making any changes to their
PC, as well as performing regular virus and spyware scans. I am not
liable for problems or mishaps that occur from the reader using advice
posted here. No warranty, express or implied, is given with the posting
of this message.