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Floppy disk help

dell optiplex 380

dell optiplex 380

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Aug 17, 2022
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So I have 30 or so floppy disks and the problem is only 2 of them work. And I would like to get all of them working. Is there any way I can get them all working?

When I try to format them it says that sector 0 is corrupted.
 
A little scant on information here. What physical size are these floppies, what density are they, and were they previously used with this computer?
It could be that the disks are a different density than the drive if they didn't get used together previously, etc.
 
A couple things you should try.

First. Clean the drive. Here is a decent video on how to do that with a 3.5" drive.

If it is still giving you issues, then replace the drive with a different floppy drive. They are not hard to find and not expensive. Check Facebook marketplace or your local craigslist or other online classifieds. I see them locally listed for $10.00 all the time.

If after doing this, the disks still do not work, you probably have bad disks. I've had full boxes of disks where the majority of them were bad disks. It's not that unusual.
 
I'm trying to format them the software that was on then is long gone. And the drive is clean and the heads are aligned.
 
The disks ar
Teletech said:
A little scant on information here. What physical size are these floppies, what density are they, and were they previously used with this computer?
It could be that the disks are a different density than the drive if they didn't get used together previously, etc.
Click to expand...
The disk are high density and the disks are 3.5 inch and they were used with a computer and the drive is rated for the density
 
The number one thing to do is closely inspect the surface of the disk "cookies" for any damage or grime. (You should use a bright light such as a flashlight and look at the surface from an angle) Clean with a damp q-tip if needed. (There are more involved cleaning methods for 5.25" disks, but see what you are up against first.)

Then, as suggested, make sure your drive is in proper working order. Make sure the head is clean, that it can step over all tracks without issue, and that it can low-level format, read, and write to a known good disk without errors.

Consider using a formatting tool other than the DOS formatter. DOS 5 format and later can get hopelessly confused if it sees a non-standard format already on the disk. Other formatters will usually give you more information when things go wrong.

Also, if you format and see some errors, but the disk surface is not falling apart, then try re-formatting a few more times, and in some cases things might improve.

I like to follow up formatting suspect disks by testing the disks with Norton Utilities Disk Test 4.5.

If 5.25" disks are involved, make sure you are not trying to use 1.2mb disks in a 360k drive. Also understand that 360k disks formatted or written to in a 1.2mb drive may not be reliably readable in a 360k drive.
 
Cheap 3.5" HD media is a curse. What brand are these floppies? I'll trust 3M/Imation ones, but even there, the casualties have been considerable. If you're determined to use these, tape over the density aperture and use them as 720K DD floppies.
My reaction only, after more than 30 years of these and many hundreds of them. (I bought my first box of HD floppies in the late 80s--cost more than $50 for a box of 10 Fujis. Not a one has survived.)
 
SomeGuy said:
The number one thing to do is closely inspect the surface of the disk "cookies" for any damage or grime. (You should use a bright light such as a flashlight and look at the surface from an angle) Clean with a damp q-tip if needed. (There are more involved cleaning methods for 5.25" disks, but see what you are up against first.)

Then, as suggested, make sure your drive is in proper working order. Make sure the head is clean, that it can step over all tracks without issue, and that it can low-level format, read, and write to a known good disk without errors.

Consider using a formatting tool other than the DOS formatter. DOS 5 format and later can get hopelessly confused if it sees a non-standard format already on the disk. Other formatters will usually give you more information when things go wrong.

Also, if you format and see some errors, but the disk surface is not falling apart, then try re-formatting a few more times, and in some cases things might improve.

I like to follow up formatting suspect disks by testing the disks with Norton Utilities Disk Test 4.5.

If 5.25" disks are involved, make sure you are not trying to use 1.2mb disks in a 360k drive. Also understand that 360k disks formatted or written to in a 1.2mb drive may not be reliably readable in a 360k drive.
Click to expand...
I'll try a different formating software. Also I hade tried Norton before but it didn't fix the disks.
 
There is no magic bullet to fixing disk drives. One often has to write code to test specific parts of the drive. Having a schematic for the drive is often necessary but one can still do a lot with a scope and some generic drive knowledge. Just using the format without writing your own code will be quite frustrating because you have little control over what is happening and when.
The problem could be a stepping issue, write issue, read issue or combination of each. Without specific code to check each, you are limited in what you can do. Also, after formatting can you read the disk on another drive. That would isolate write/read failures.
Again, writing you own test code can help a lot as the system code has a lot of expectations about the state of the disk that can cause failures that have little diagnostic information.
Of course, clean heads and properly lubed stepping can be important.
Dwight
 
I for one do like the bulk-erase idea, that would rule out weird formatting issues and just get right down to media/drive questions. I see watch degaussers for sale for as little as $11 online, so worth it just as a test at that point.
 
You need something a bit stronger for floppies. The old Radio Shack video tape degausser is very popular for this purpose. On this forum, I posted photos of a DIY degausser using ring magnets from an old microwave oven. Works great.
MUKTExa.jpg]side view
 
Floppy disks can just go bad, especially 5.25". It also depends on the conditions under which they have been stored all these years. If the iron oxide surface has deteriorated, no amount of degaussing will restore a disk and that surface can come off and coat the drive head. That can be cleaned off, but the drive could be useless until it is cleaned.
 
@dell optiplex 380,

you have disclosed only enough information to tell us that the diskettes were used on another computer, they are 3.5" and HD. Also that you tried "Norton". Your message is also in the "Unix" area.

It would help to know what computers you are working with. What brand names and what operating systems?

What computer was used for these diskettes you have? What brand are the diskettes? What brand is the drive on the new computer? What brand of computer. What operating system are you trying to use now with these diskettes?

More information please.

Seaken
 
seaken said:
@dell optiplex 380,

you have disclosed only enough information to tell us that the diskettes were used on another computer, they are 3.5" and HD. Also that you tried "Norton". Your message is also in the "Unix" area.

It would help to know what computers you are working with. What brand names and what operating systems?

What computer was used for these diskettes you have? What brand are the diskettes? What brand is the drive on the new computer? What brand of computer. What operating system are you trying to use now with these diskettes?

More information please.

Seaken
Click to expand...
Ok so my main computer is a dell optipex 380 I dual boot windows and Ubuntu 22.04. The computer that these were originally used with is an hp computer that we no longer have. The disks are 3.5
 
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