Disk not recognized

aldebaran95 Posted messages 265 Status Member -  
aldebaran95 Posted messages 265 Status Member -
Hello,

My wife wanted to reuse a floppy disk on which she had saved CVs and other cover letters.
We haven't used the floppy drive for a very long time.

And when I insert the floppy disk, nothing happens, the disk is not recognized.

The drive is recognized by Windows (XP2).
I attempted to update the drive's drivers through Windows, but without success.

If you could help a computer novice recover their data...

Thank you.
Configuration: Windows XP2 Firefox 2.0.0.7 ASUS A7N8X board

16 answers

Anonymous user
 
Hi, when you put your floppy disk in the drive, does the LED light up for a few seconds?
0
zolou Posted messages 814 Status Member 72
 
Hello

I don't remember very well, but on the floppy disks there should be a small square in one corner that serves as a write protection if my memory serves me right...
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Anonymous user
 
The protection does not prevent reading, only writing (or erasing...).
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zolou Posted messages 814 Status Member 72
 
Sure! What would you like me to help with?
0
econo
 
Hello,

Try with another diskette. If it works, I’m sorry to say that the file system is probably in RAW format.
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Anonymous user
 
Le format raw fait référence à un type de fichier qui contient des données brutes, c'est-à-dire non traitées ou non compressées. Dans le contexte de l'audio ou de la vidéo, cela signifie que le fichier conserve toutes les informations capturées par l'appareil d'enregistrement sans aucune modification, ce qui permet une meilleure qualité et une plus grande flexibilité lors du traitement ultérieur. Dans le domaine de la photographie, un fichier raw est celui qui est enregistré par un appareil photo numérique, contenant toutes les données d'image capturées par le capteur, qui peut être développé ultérieurement avec des logiciels spécialisés.
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youpi
 
Hello,

the green LED should briefly light up when you insert the floppy disk into the drive,

if it does not light up, it indicates a hardware problem on the computer side: incorrectly connected ribbon cable, poorly connected power supply, floppy disk drive disabled in the BIOS or in the wrong format in the BIOS, or drive disabled in the device manager.

(It is possible for the floppy disk drive to appear in the file explorer even when there is no floppy disk drive in the machine; I've seen that before, so you can't assume that your drive is necessarily recognized)

If it does light up, then the issue is more likely with the floppy disk: either it's raw or expired (do not place magnets or mobile phones near a floppy disk)

The best thing to do is to try reading a floppy disk that you are sure works or to try the floppy disk on another machine.
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Anonymous user
 
(It is possible that the floppy disk drive is present in the workstation even though there is not even a floppy disk drive in the machine, I have seen that, so you can't say that your drive is necessarily recognized) --> +1 I've seen that too

And by the way, what is this raw format you are talking about?
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youpi
 
Hello,

raw=unformatted disk

either the disk is empty or the file system is damaged,
in any case, the raw format is not readable by Windows

this mostly means that your data is probably lost,
there may be data recovery software, it's a lead to seriously explore if the problem is not with the computer but with the disk.
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Anonymous user
 
Ok, so as the man says there was data on it, we only have the second solution left... Back when I was still using floppy disks, it would happen regularly that a disk that was working perfectly suddenly went kaput! If you work with floppy disks, it's better to have multiple backups, but one piece of advice: forget about floppy disks, we're in 2007, switch to CDs, USBs, I don't know!
0
econo
 
https://support.microsoft.com/fr-fr/help/261531

One day I inserted a floppy disk that contained my personal documents, therefore I couldn't read it as it was in RAW format (unknown file format) and I never found a solution to my problem.
I looked on some forums but it’s vague.
I specify that it contains data, so the question is why a floppy disk that has just been formatted and had data added to it ends up in RAW format some time later?
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Anonymous user
 
youpi said:

"raw=unformatted disk

either the disk is empty or the file system is damaged, <--
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youpi
 
Hello,

raw = unformatted floppy disk

either the floppy disk is blank or the file system is corrupted,
in any case, the raw format is not read by Windows

this mainly means that your data is probably lost,
there might be data recovery software, it’s a lead to seriously explore if the problem is not from the computer but from the floppy disk.
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econo
 
Floppy disk carefully kept in a case and sheltered from any magnetic field

Mystery!
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Anonymous user
 
Do you know that a floppy disk (like a CD, a USB stick, a hard drive, in short, like everything!) has a lifespan?
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youpi
 
I would say 10 years.
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econo
 
Yes, you are right, and in general, whether new or not, a system disk will always be considered unexpectedly defective in any case.
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aldebaran95 Posted messages 265 Status Member 13
 
Ok, thank you all for your advice.

The floppy disk was safely stored in a box far from any magnetic fields.

Nothing happens when I insert one, so I guess it’s the drive that’s faulty.

Thanks again to you all.
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