Q: I am sure this is the thread for this post?
TO my knoweldge this disk is formatted, but I guess I was wrong? To use the startup files for win2k AS house. It was placed in a computer running win2k pro disk access which was fine, the previous files deleted and new files added to the disk without a problem. When I put it in my XP Pro machine it tells me the disk is not formatted and asks if I want. I tried to access it from another win2k pro comp, but it does the same. I do not have access to the computer that the files on the disk in the first place. Is there anyway to access the files on the disk instead of formatting and losing access to the !?!?!?!? Any help would be appreciated!
Best Answer: Read this
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307654
Basically you need to create a Dos diskette and use the fixboot and fixmbr commands to repair the Master boot record and boot table
hope that helps!
Google for more info!
Re:I've found reading the unreadable disks/floppy needing format on Win 95 works great.
Re:Originally posted by: guy
Yeha i have run into that problem before and I just go back to the originating computer to access the floppy BUT this time around that floppy drive is in California, i'm in Florida, I won't be going back to cali until April of 2004, and mailing the floppy home for soemone else to do it for me is not an option =\
=p
Re:put one in her machine already
my sis doesn't have a burner so i couldn't burn the files
Re:yup, this is probably the first time i have used one in a good 2 years but it was in my case already so i fgure it is better than throwing it away and my sis doesn't have a burner so i couldn't burn the files
Re:Um, you actually have a FLOPPY drive?
I stopped putting them in systems I built last year. I know that it's hard to update a BIOS without one but that doesn't happen to often….hmm…
guy
Re:Yeha i have run into that problem before and I just go back to the originating computer to access the floppy BUT this time around that floppy drive is in California, i'm in Florida, I won't be going back to cali until April of 2004, and mailing the floppy home for soemone else to do it for me is not an option =\
Re:did you see if it works in the machine the files where orignally copied from? if a floppy drives read/write heads get out of alignment it will appear to all other pc's that it isn't formatted, when the original machine that wrote the files to it reads them fine. If that's the case, copy the files back to said machines hdd, replace it's floppy drive and you should/could be good to go.
Re:ok i have tried this knoppix and linux thing, when i run the command i get:
dd: reading `/dev/fd0' : Input/Output Error
0+1 records in
0+1 records out
8192 bytes transfered in 30.241272 seconds (271 bytes/sec)
i am starting to feel like i am never going to recover the files on this floppy.
Re:lol unfortunatly I do not know anyone who runs linux, maybe if I was still in socal! but here in fl, on an Air Force base, not a chance.
Re:If you know anyone who runs linux already give the disc to them. The actual process guy said is really easy. The downloading Knoppix and burning it is what is a bit of work, but Knoppix can be fun.
Re:dang! that's seems like a lot of work but the info on this floppy is worth it so I will give it a try, keep in mind i have only used linux a few times which was quite a while ago!
Re:Can anyone say "linux"? Best way to do it. Easiest would be to download knoppix and burn it to cd. Knoppix is an entire linux distribution that is bootable and runnable from CD, no need to install anything on your HD at all.
The "dd" command in linux should be able to do what you need to do. For full information on "dd" there are about 1000 websites out there, but http://www.geocities.com/tipsforlinux/articles/036.html should get you started.
In particular:
dd bs=265b conv=noerror if=/dev/st0 of=/tmp/bad.tape.image
While that line is set for tape devices, if you make the following change:
dd bs=2×80x18b conv=noerror if=/dev/fd0 of=/tmp/bad.floppy.image
An image of the disk is saved to whatever you set "of=" to. In the above case, it would be in /tmp/bad.floppy.image (where /tmp is the dir and bad.floppy.image is the filename (if you are new to linux there is no such thing as a filetype so the .image is just for your reference)).
You can then try and create a new floppy by using:
dd bs=2×80x18b if=/tmp/bad.floppy.image of=/dev/fd0
I do not remember if you need to have a formated floppy or not for the destination floppy. Just make sure you remove the floppy you are trying to recover BEFORE issuing the last command, as you don't want to write over the contents that you are attempting to recover (because this may or may not work, it should, but might not).
Re:LOL that's odd but I don't have access to a mac out here!!!!!
Re:This tends to happen when disks are dead or dying anyway. I have had goodluck reading "non formatted" disks on a mac.
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