Error trying to copy file from diskette to hard drive

[not formatted properly]

I have a diskette drive connected to the USB port. It works fine for other
diskettes. This particular diskette gives an error which says the drive is
not formatted properly and to reformat it. Windows Explorer shows the name,
size, type, and date last modified of the file I want -- but will not copy
(or open) it. There is only one file on the diskette -- .WPS, 163 KB.

How can I access this information? Is there a utility which will read it?
Something else?

 

[Pegasus [MVP]]

I have a diskette drive connected to the USB port. It works fine for other
diskettes. This particular diskette gives an error which says the drive is
not formatted properly and to reformat it. Windows Explorer shows the
name,
size, type, and date last modified of the file I want -- but will not copy
(or open) it. There is only one file on the diskette -- .WPS, 163 KB.

How can I access this information? Is there a utility which will read it?
Something else?

You could try the diskette on a number of different PCs. In general I
suggest you stop using diskettes. Their capacity is very small compared to
flash disks and they have an aging problem: Some 50% of them develop read
errors after three years.

 

[Al Falfa]

I have a diskette drive connected to the USB port. It works fine for
other diskettes. This particular diskette gives an error which says the
drive is not formatted properly and to reformat it. Windows Explorer
shows the name, size, type, and date last modified of the file I want --
but will not copy (or open) it. There is only one file on the diskette
-- .WPS, 163 KB.
How can I access this information? ...

[Start] > Run > COMMAND [ok]
Then type the following, then press [Enter]:
d:
(replace 'd' with the actual drive-letter)

If the complete name of that file is really '.WPS', type the following:
REN .wps x.wps
then press [Enter]

Then type the following, then press [Enter]:
COPY /b *.wps c:\

Once that file is in C:\ you can use Explorer to move it somewhere else.

 

[Paul]

I have a diskette drive connected to the USB port. It works fine for other
diskettes. This particular diskette gives an error which says the drive is
not formatted properly and to reformat it. Windows Explorer shows the name,
size, type, and date last modified of the file I want -- but will not copy
(or open) it. There is only one file on the diskette -- .WPS, 163 KB.

How can I access this information? Is there a utility which will read it?
Something else?

Something that appears to make a sector by sector copy of a floppy, is
"winimage" from winimage.com .

Start the program, after your USB floppy is connected and working.
On my machine, my regular floppy is A:, and my USB floppy drive
is B:. In the Winimage program, select the drive letter which
corresponds to your drive. Then select "read disk". The
1440KB of data should be read into system memory.

You can then do a "Save as", to save out the image. I chose
the IMA format, which is uncompressed. If I had to, I could then
use a hex editor, and piece together the parts of my file
(assuming there isn't any crazy fragmentation involved).
I would simply delete the parts of the 1440KB file, until
I just had my WPS file.

Another option, assuming the read operation completes, is to
immediately write out the info, to a brand new floppy diskette.
After Winimage has finished writing the floppy, try examining it
the same way you were originally. (There is no reason to assume
this will work any better, but at least the floppy magnetic
surface will be clean and new. This will be your backup copy,
in case the original floppy gets worse and dies completely.)

Things that can go wrong:

1) I don't know how Winimage handles sectors it cannot read. Many
programs get pissed, if they run into trouble. A program like
dd_rescue, for example, is formulated to expect bad sectors
and just step over them, replacing the data with zeros. This
can "punch a hole" in a file, but if the bad sector is in
an area of a disk which is not actually in use, no harm is
done.

Because the unit is a USB floppy, it may not deal with a bad
sector with the same grace as a real floppy. It may try and try
to read the sector. I've never tried mine with a bad floppy,
so I don't know how slow it gets when the data is bad.

2) It is a shareware program with a 30 day evaluation. If you've
used it before, your evaluation may already be up.

If you want to try a data recovery program, you can try this one.
WPS is in the list of file types it recognizes. "Scavenging"
comes with no guarantees, and a scavenger may find every
"old" invisible version of the file on the floppy as well.
It might even cut your WPS document in two. Sometimes you
can have some extra work ahead of you, to "make a file" out
of what a scavenger finds. But at least the scavenger will
write what it finds, to some other disk. I've spent
days, trying to make sense out of what programs like this
find. You can try scavenging, after you've at least made
a backup image of the floppy, just in case.

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/File_Formats_Recovered_By_PhotoRec

Paul

 

[SR329]

You could try the diskette on a number of different PCs. In general I
suggest you stop using diskettes. Their capacity is very small compared to
flash disks and they have an aging problem: Some 50% of them develop read
errors after three years.

Absolutely! I have been extremely slow copying the info from my old
diskettes onto my hard drive. Actually, I was looking for one certain file
-- found it, and it won't copy. It is a long document and I prefer not to
type the whole thing -- 75 pages.

 

[R. McCarty]

You might try a USB/External Floppy drive. I frequently loan mine to
customers who have Floppy disks that need copying. No guarantee it
will read your disks. Can usually be bought for ~$25. Not sure if the
money is worth it for a 75-page document.

 

[SR329]

You might try a USB/External Floppy drive. I frequently loan mine to
customers who have Floppy disks that need copying. No guarantee it
will read your disks. Can usually be bought for ~$25. Not sure if the
money is worth it for a 75-page document.

That's what I have -- borrowed from my son.

 

[SR329]

Something that appears to make a sector by sector copy of a floppy, is
"winimage" from winimage.com .

Start the program, after your USB floppy is connected and working.
On my machine, my regular floppy is A:, and my USB floppy drive
is B:. In the Winimage program, select the drive letter which
corresponds to your drive. Then select "read disk". The
1440KB of data should be read into system memory.

You can then do a "Save as", to save out the image. I chose
the IMA format, which is uncompressed. If I had to, I could then
use a hex editor, and piece together the parts of my file
(assuming there isn't any crazy fragmentation involved).
I would simply delete the parts of the 1440KB file, until
I just had my WPS file.

Another option, assuming the read operation completes, is to
immediately write out the info, to a brand new floppy diskette.
After Winimage has finished writing the floppy, try examining it
the same way you were originally. (There is no reason to assume
this will work any better, but at least the floppy magnetic
surface will be clean and new. This will be your backup copy,
in case the original floppy gets worse and dies completely.)

Things that can go wrong:

1) I don't know how Winimage handles sectors it cannot read. Many
programs get pissed, if they run into trouble. A program like
dd_rescue, for example, is formulated to expect bad sectors
and just step over them, replacing the data with zeros. This
can "punch a hole" in a file, but if the bad sector is in
an area of a disk which is not actually in use, no harm is
done.

Because the unit is a USB floppy, it may not deal with a bad
sector with the same grace as a real floppy. It may try and try
to read the sector. I've never tried mine with a bad floppy,
so I don't know how slow it gets when the data is bad.

2) It is a shareware program with a 30 day evaluation. If you've
used it before, your evaluation may already be up.

If you want to try a data recovery program, you can try this one.
WPS is in the list of file types it recognizes. "Scavenging"
comes with no guarantees, and a scavenger may find every
"old" invisible version of the file on the floppy as well.
It might even cut your WPS document in two. Sometimes you
can have some extra work ahead of you, to "make a file" out
of what a scavenger finds. But at least the scavenger will
write what it finds, to some other disk. I've spent
days, trying to make sense out of what programs like this
find. You can try scavenging, after you've at least made
a backup image of the floppy, just in case.

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/File_Formats_Recovered_By_PhotoRec

Paul

Thank you. I will attempt to try what you suggest. Have never used
winimage before.