I have windows 98 and a working floppy drive, 3.5". If the disk has info on it, I can read it. If the disk is blank and formatted, I cannot read it. The disks I have were formatted in Win XP. I tried to reformat these disks on hte Win 98 computer and the system does about 3/4 of the formatting and then says the disk is damaged and cannot be formatted. Any suggestions? I have tried nearly 15 different disks. Bobbie

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|I tried to reformat these disks[...]and the system does about 3/4 of the formatting
|If the disk has info on it, I can read it.
| Bobbie

...even if the data is on the last 1/4 of the disk?

Try it using a floppy you have filled up completely like this:
Using the working box, put a 1MB file on the floppy then put a 400kB file on it.
0n the W98 box, try to copy the 2nd file to the HDD.

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If the Windows format doesn't work then use the DOS format. Actually DOS works faster 
than Windows.

Run: Format A:

You could always try a floppy cleaner disk.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I tried a DOS format and it does not complete either. It says "unable to write BOOT record" after going through the whole format thing and stating "Format Complete." I think I need a new drive?!?!? Bobbie


On Tuesday, May 22, 2007 at 4:09 am, Keith Stanier wrote:
>If the Windows format doesn't work then use the DOS format. Actually DOS works faster
>than Windows.
>
>Run: Format A:
>
>You could always try a floppy cleaner disk.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

|I tried a DOS format
| Bobbie
|
{semantics}FORMAT.COM is *NOT* a Windows program[1];
it ALWAYS runs under DOS--even when called from Windoze.{/semantics}

|and it does not complete either.  It says "unable to write BOOT record"
|after going through the whole format thing and stating "Format Complete." 
|
Hmmm.  Makes me wonder if FORMAT.COM is corrupt on this box.

You might try System File Checker:

Put your Windows CD in the drive.
Start; Run; Open: "SFC"
Extract one file from installation disk; "FORMAT.COM"; Start
Restore from; Browse; E:\WIN98\   [2]
Save file in; Browse; C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\
Start


|I think I need a new drive?!?!?
|
How did the **Read the Last 25%** test go?


[1] Windoze apps are NEVER named *.COM.

[2] YMMV on the designation of the drive.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

A floppy disk which is formatted for use in Win XP might not be usable with Win 98, because Win XP floppies can use either the NTFS file system or the FAT system.

Probably your DOS format program is failing because it cannot recognise the data structure of the floppy disk, because it's formatted as NTFS.

Buy some floppy disks which are unformatted, or are formatted for FAT.

Ed



On Monday, May 21, 2007 at 2:08 pm, Bobbie wrote:
>I have windows 98 and a working floppy drive, 3.5". If the disk has info on it,
>I can read it. If the disk is blank and formatted, I cannot read it. The disks
>I have were formatted in Win XP. I tried to reformat these disks on hte Win 98 computer
>and the system does about 3/4 of the formatting and then says the disk is damaged
>and cannot be formatted.
>
>Any suggestions? I have tried nearly 15 different disks.
>
>Bobbie

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

|A floppy disk which is formatted for use in Win XP
|might not be usable with Win 98,
| Ed
|
Wrong.

|because Win XP floppies can use either the NTFS file system or the FAT system.
|
Complete crap.
Any Microsoft OS, when doing a FORMAT on a floppy, uses FAT12.
If VFAT is supported by the OS reading the disk, LFNs are supported.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

"....because Win XP floppies can use either the NTFS file system or the FAT system."

You can't even format 2 GB flash drives as "NTFS" from XP's Format dialog box, never mind a floppy! >;^D ... I oughta know, I buy cheap 2 GB pocket USB flash drives that for some reason come formatted in FAT16 instead of FAT32, so I re-format them in FAT32 before I use them...

Floppies are only formatted as FAT12 in M$ operating systems, from DOS to Vista.

I'd say the reported '9x-to-NT' floppy incompatibilities are in fact 'drive-to-drive' incompatibilities... If I had a dollar for every floppy disk I've seen that read/wrote in one drive but not another, for no particular reason, over the last 20+ years, I'd have been able to retire already! >;^)

-------------------------------------------------------------

Athlon 1.1 - 768 MB RAM = 98SE & XP Home

Athlon 3000+ 64 - 1024 MB RAM = 98SE (@768 MB RAM) & XP Pro

IBM ThinkPad PIII 900 - 384 MB RAM = 98SE & XP Pro SP2

Windows 2000 Server in the basement

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I tried to use the 1mb plus the 400kb disk from Win XP in the Win 98 computer and it did not find ANY info and asked if I wanted to format the disk. Bobbie


On Monday, May 21, 2007 at 3:58 pm, gewg_ wrote:
>|I tried to reformat these disks[...]and the system does about 3/4 of the formatting
>|If the disk has info on it, I can read it.
>| Bobbie
>
>...even if the data is on the last 1/4 of the disk?
>
>Try it using a floppy you have filled up completely like this:
>Using the working box, put a 1MB file on the floppy then put a 400kB file on it.
>0n the W98 box, try to copy the 2nd file to the HDD.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

The disks I am using were purchased formatted prior to 2000. CompUSA had a big sale and I bought about 1500 of these 1.44 mb disks. I tried using some that had info on them that I had saved back in the early 2000's when I was still using Win98 and those disks did not work either. How do I, or can I, format a disk with the FAT system on a WIN XP machine? Bobbie


On Tuesday, May 22, 2007 at 4:06 pm, Ed wrote:
>A floppy disk which is formatted for use in Win XP might not be usable with Win 98,
>because Win XP floppies can use either the NTFS file system or the FAT system.
>
>Probably your DOS format program is failing because it cannot recognise the data
>structure of the floppy disk, because it's formatted as NTFS.
>
>Buy some floppy disks which are unformatted, or are formatted for FAT.
>
>Ed
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Will one of those diskettes format in someone else's computer?

Will a new diskette format in yours?

Buy a head cleaning diskette. About $3. Such a one has a disk of fabric in it and a bottle of a magic fluid that you are to put one one radial streak on the diskette. If the magic cleaning fluid runs out I find that alcohol works. Put it in the drive and try to access A: a half dozen times. Then the head will be clean.

Also consider that a new floppy drive is $15.


On Tuesday, May 22, 2007 at 7:04 pm, Bobbie wrote:
>The disks I am using were purchased formatted prior to 2000. CompUSA had a big sale
>and I bought about 1500 of these 1.44 mb disks. I tried using some that had info
>on them that I had saved back in the early 2000's when I was still using Win98 and
>those disks did not work either.
>
>How do I, or can I, format a disk with the FAT system on a WIN XP machine?
>
>Bobbie
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Thanks for all your suggestions. I have a friend with a couple of floppy drives he is not using. He will bring them by tomorrow. I will try them. If they work, I will use one of them. If not, I think it might be the cable or?? I will format a new floppy in my XP machine and try that, also. I will also try the cleaning disk if his drives work. Thanks, Bobbie


On Tuesday, May 22, 2007 at 7:39 pm, dhm wrote:
>
>Will one of those diskettes format in someone else's computer?
>

>Will a new diskette format in yours?
>

>Buy a head cleaning diskette. About $3. Such a one has a disk of fabric in it and
>a bottle of a magic fluid that you are to put one one radial streak on the diskette.
> If the magic cleaning fluid runs out I find that alcohol works. Put it in the drive
>and try to access A: a half dozen times. Then the head will be clean.
>

>Also consider that a new floppy drive is $15.
>
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Morning Bobbie,

This might seem like a dumb question, but are you sure they are 1.44 Mb diskettes 
and not 720 Kb diskettes?

The 1.44 diskettes have a hole in the lower right corner that a 720 K diskette does 
not.  Of course, both types have the write protect tab in lower left. Don

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Most of the disks I tried were 1.44 HD disks, but I tried some that were not HD. I also attempted to format both types as 7250 and they still were not done right. I am getting another drive today from a friend to try it out. Thanks for all the great ideas I have received. These forums are great. Bobbie


On Wednesday, May 23, 2007 at 3:06 am, Don wrote:
>Morning Bobbie,
>
>This might seem like a dumb question, but are you sure they are 1.44 Mb diskettes
>and not 720 Kb diskettes?
>
>The 1.44 diskettes have a hole in the lower right corner that a 720 K diskette does
>not. Of course, both types have the write protect tab in lower left. Don

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

(was: 3.5 floppy will not format disks -- Complete crap from Ed)

|I buy cheap 2 GB pocket USB flash drives
|that for some reason come formatted in FAT16 instead of FAT32,
|so I re-format them in FAT32 before I use them.
| DNA

The big reason I like a thumbdrive 
8-) is for backing up my Favorites[1].
ISO 9660 truncates really long filenames, so I am happy to not use CDs for this.[2]
cache 
of http://bmrc.berkeley.edu/people/chaffee/jolspec.html
++64.unicode.characters++up.to.128.bytes


[1] Does everyone know that putting a *space* in a filename
adds 3 characters to the filename NOT just 1?
A *space* is actually stored as %20.
(You've probably seen this when some goof tries to put a space in a URL.)
Other non-DOS stuff (like periods and commas) each take 3 characters as well.

[2] I use a Gecko browser--but instead of the Mozilla (nee Netscape) method
of putting ALL Internet Shortcuts in ONE file (Bookmarks.html), 
I prefer Internet Exploder's way of saving each shortcut as an individual file,
so I save mine manually using that Favorites paradigm.[3]

In terms of disk space it's horribly inefficient (especially on FAT32; see below)
and you have to use a file manager to access them (not from within my chosen browser),
but searching them with the Find utility is far more powerful[4]
using combinations of keywords in EITHER/BOTH the filename AND/OR the file contents.
I also find editing/rearranging Favorites MUCH easier.

I also like having a timestamp on a Favorite
(I generally set that to the date the page was last updated
--NOT the day I saved it).

As the minimum file size (allocation) of FAT32 is 8kB
and a Favorite is typically 100 bytes or less,
I find that FAT16 on a thumbdrive serves me better for these.

[3] IMO, IE's method of caching content is nicer as well
--but as it was only useful to me for the rare screwup, I don't really miss it much.
(I did read something that said it had negative security implications.)

[4] I have previously admitted that I have a Bookmark addiction.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Many, many thanks to all who offered suggestions. I just put in a different drive and it works fine. The first drive must have been DOA. I really appreciate all the nice people who tried to help me. Have a wonderful day, Bobbie


On Wednesday, May 23, 2007 at 6:56 am, Bobbie wrote:
>Most of the disks I tried were 1.44 HD disks, but I tried some that were not HD.
> I also attempted to format both types as 7250 and they still were not done right.
>
>I am getting another drive today from a friend to try it out.
>
>Thanks for all the great ideas I have received. These forums are great.
>
>Bobbie
>
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Hi gewg_, I certainly can't find fault with your preferred method of storing bookmarks as individual files, BUT...

As far as I understand the FAT system, a FAT16 partition sized from 512 to 1023 MB would have 16 KB clusters, and a FAT16 partition from 1024 to 2047 MB would have 32 KB clusters, meaning minimum disk space allocated per file of 16 KB and 32 KB respectively (even for a '100-byte' file), versus...

A FAT32 partition from 512 MB to 8 GB would have a cluster size of 4 KB, thus a minimum disk space of 4 KB allocated per file.

On a 2 GB partition (ex: the flash drive), it must be noted that the size of the FAT (file allocation table) will be 128 KB in FAT16 and 2 MB in FAT32, so that when empty, the drive has 1920 KB more usable space.

But if one is storing a large number of <4-KB files, and if each <4-KB file takes up 4 KB in FAT32 and 32 KB in FAT16, it would take only 69 <4-KB files to use up the 'extra' 1920 KB in disk space in the FAT16 partition (69, times the 28 KB difference = 1932 KB).

If you're "addicted" to bookmarks, you probably have more than 69 individual bookmarks. I have more than that, and I wouldn't say I was "addicted"....So I would think that FAT32 would be more efficient for your 'individual bookmark' use, all said and done...

If I'm missing another possible advantage of FAT16 for a USB drive (besides being able to run DOS from it, if the BIOS allowed booting from a USB drive), please follow up and explain... Thanks, DNA ----------------------------------------------------------

Athlon 1.1 - 768 MB RAM = 98SE & XP Home

Athlon 3000+ 64 - 1024 MB RAM = 98SE (@768 MB RAM) & XP Pro

IBM ThinkPad PIII 900 - 384 MB RAM = 98SE & XP Pro SP2

Windows 2000 Server in the basement

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

|[...]a FAT16 partition sized from 512 to 1023 MB would have 16 KB clusters
| DNA
|
True. I must have been thinking of ancient HDD sizes.

|A FAT32 partition from 512 MB to 8 GB would have a cluster size of 4 KB
|
Also true.
Now I'm scratching my head trying to figure out how my required space went *down*
when I backed up from my FAT32 HDD to my FAT16 thumbdrive.

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