A:\

Hello
I tried transferring some floppies to dvd but the A drive is saying disc needs to be formatted which it is then it says formatting cannot take place.
Another message is that the floppy cannot be found.
These are Verbatim formatted by IBM and I have many grandchilderen piks I want to transfer.
I cannot even view old never mind see new.
Are there steps to take to see if something can be done before I conclude the drive is defective?
Thank you

 

Test the floppies in another PC but please bear in mind that a defective drive could render a good floppy disk bad

 

Hey peter, i might be readng your post wrong, but just incase....
If you format the Floppy you WILL LOSE ALL DATA ON IT!

First of all check all cables are seated properly....

If no joy.... uninstall the drivers for it in device manager, and restart windows [it will reinstall the drivers]

Also if possible try those discs in another computer and try a different floppy that you know is good in your computer.

Q

 

I checked the connections, cleaned it and uninstalled the driver.
Mistake was to use my reource disc for new driver as old is probably out of date. I did not know if you uninstall abnd reboot it will find latest driver. I wanted to go to Dell instead of windows but do not know what "speccific driver to get.
Could it be that outated driver is why it is not working.
it does work on my neighbors xp.
Thank you

 

Windows has many drivers built in, so it doesnt get the "latest" driver for your product, rather it should find one that works.

Now you have done that try "update driver" in the device manager and let it search for it.



BTW, What is the make model of your 'puter... or the make model of the drive, if it is an external?

Q

 

My old floppies aren't recognized either, the things sat around for years, maybe a speaker was set up close to them or just plain age. At any rate their magnetic info deteriorated over time, no matter what you do unless you manually re-write the data.

Someone else will have to jump in here as I can't recall the app I used but it basically copies the diskette bit by bit (errors and all) and then you might be able to salvage something. Good luck man.

 

Hello
I took the A:\ drive out and could not get inside b/c there was a ciruit board in the way + I'm no tech. I could see, in the very rear, some loose brown tape.
I do not kbow if this is left over from some floppy or if there is brown tape as part of the A: drive.
It seems to pe be an integral part of the drive itself not just something floating in there.
I guess the drive is n/g but do you have a comment on that brown ?1/8" wide 3" section of tape? I'm curious b/c if it is old floppy material it might be worth getting it out but if A: drives have tape themselves then the drive is a lost cause.

 

Hi peter, im not sure what type of tape you mean.... do you mean the actual magnetic film from inside the disc?..... [Pic of inside a floppy disc]

Q

 

Yes, the magnetic tape.

 

Well it's been a while since i was inside a floppy drive but i think i've seen some with ribbons that were made from a not too dissimilar stuff. so it could be that.

New drive time methinks

Q

 

Me thinks as you do, and thank you.

 

Hello
Regarding that A: drive that stopped working; the strangest outcome has occured and although it is good, I like to know why something malfunctioned.
I took the drive out of the machine then separated the two halves. I put a disc in and after a few tries, it began to receive and eject the disc. It received the disc before but did not really seat.
Now, when I assembled the two halves, it would only work with one of the four screws NOT inserted. Apparently there is some teeny problem with pressure on something inside the drive on one corner??
The puzzling part is that the drive stopped without any one touching it. Now one missing screw makes it function.
And yes, I was doing trial and error for sometime. At least I have my old flopy back. It has run consistently well.
Can any one explain why this is occuring?
Thank you

 

I dont know mate but it sounds like it is ready for the bin IMO, a drive that conks out while writing or booting could cause problems

Q

 

I don't know but I have never seen a black film like strip on a 3 1/2 floppy drive the only thing is a ribbon cable and a 4 pin small cable on the back of it, but in any case don't format the floppy or you loose all the data, if you can put the floppy in and right click and go to properties and check to see if any thing is on it, if all else fails but a new one for about 7 to 10 dollars

 

I am not using it. I was only reporting the odd behavior and my resolve.