What happened to Scandisk in XP????

[casey.o]

Win95 and 98 (maybe Win-ME) had Scandisk, which was a very useful
utility. Starting with Win2000, it was gone. I find thisd most
puzzling, because it was replaced by Chkdsk, which was an old dos
utility. While they did this, it seems real confusing, that they bring
back this dos utility (chkdsk) at the same time they stop having native
dos as part of the OS. Chkdsk cant be run from Windows, because you
dont see what it's doing, so it has to be run from a Dos window, and
typed in as a command. This is not a problem for myself, but for the
average guy who knows little about computers, they wont know what to do
with it.

Why did they stop using Scandisk?

Note - I once tried to run a Win98 version of it in XP, and it would not
work.

Whiel using XP, I had a floppy giving me errors. I'm so used to opening
Scandisk for stuff like this (on W98), that I was a bit confused what to
use. I did go to a dos prompt and ran chkdsk, but I also stuck this
same floppy in my Win98 computer and ran Scandisk.

I just dont understand why they offerred Scandisk on earlier dos based
versions of Windows, yet stopped using it on the NT based OSs, which are
no longer Dos based, and instead are using a Dos based disk scanner.
Seems rather stupid.....

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Win95 and 98 (maybe Win-ME) had Scandisk, which was a very useful
utility. Starting with Win2000, it was gone. I find thisd most
puzzling, because it was replaced by Chkdsk, which was an old dos
utility.

Although they have two different names Chkdsk and Scandisk are
essentially just two different versions of the same program.


And note that Chkdsk did not replace Scandisk starting with Windows
2000. "Chkdsk" was the name that was used in all the Windows NT
versions.

 

[BillW50]

In (e-mail address removed) typed:
[...]

I just dont understand why they offerred Scandisk on earlier dos based
versions of Windows, yet stopped using it on the NT based OSs, which
are no longer Dos based, and instead are using a Dos based disk
scanner. Seems rather stupid.....

Yeah well... I too liked Scandisk better than chkdsk.

Here is the info about Scandisk.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandisk

Here is the info about chkdsk:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHKDSK

 

[casey.o]

In (e-mail address removed) typed:
[...]

I just dont understand why they offerred Scandisk on earlier dos based
versions of Windows, yet stopped using it on the NT based OSs, which
are no longer Dos based, and instead are using a Dos based disk
scanner. Seems rather stupid.....

Yeah well... I too liked Scandisk better than chkdsk.

Here is the info about Scandisk.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandisk

Here is the info about chkdsk:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHKDSK

I see, it dont work on NTFS. But, why dont they have a GUI based chkdsk
in XP?

 

[BillW50]

In (e-mail address removed) typed:

In (e-mail address removed) typed:
[...]

I just dont understand why they offerred Scandisk on earlier dos
based versions of Windows, yet stopped using it on the NT based
OSs, which are no longer Dos based, and instead are using a Dos
based disk scanner. Seems rather stupid.....

Yeah well... I too liked Scandisk better than chkdsk.

Here is the info about Scandisk.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandisk

Here is the info about chkdsk:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHKDSK

I see, it dont work on NTFS. But, why dont they have a GUI based
chkdsk in XP?

I know, right? Maybe there is a good third party utility out there that
works under NT like the old scandisk.

 

[casey.o]

I know, right? Maybe there is a good third party utility out there that
works under NT like the old scandisk.

That would be nice. Most of the time I just check floppies anyhow.
Seems the old floppies are not real durable.

This brings up another question, do they still manufacture floppies? Or
are all the ones sold just old stock? Stores dont carry them anymore,
at least not around here. So online is the only way to get them. I
need some GOOD ones for bootdisks.

 

[JJ]

That would be nice. Most of the time I just check floppies anyhow.
Seems the old floppies are not real durable.

This brings up another question, do they still manufacture floppies? Or
are all the ones sold just old stock? Stores dont carry them anymore,
at least not around here. So online is the only way to get them. I
need some GOOD ones for bootdisks.

Floppies are still manufactured in China. In my country (Asia) floppies are
still sold on computer stores and some stationery stores.

Maybe you might want to get an SSD floppy drive instead?

 

[Don Phillipson]

. . . do they still manufacture floppies? Or
are all the ones sold just old stock? Stores dont carry them anymore,
at least not around here. So online is the only way to get them. I
need some GOOD ones for bootdisks.

Up to date hardware BIOS enables booting from a thumb
drive (USB) so this function superseded booting from a
floppy (except only for old hardware before USB boot was invented.)

 

[BillW50]

In Don Phillipson typed:

Up to date hardware BIOS enables booting from a thumb
drive (USB) so this function superseded booting from a
floppy (except only for old hardware before USB boot was invented.)

Even so, there are times that an USB drive won't cut it. For example,
while I can boot from an USB on many of my machines, I can't pick which
one. Thus two or more USB drives connected, it will try to boot from the
first one the BIOS sees. If that is the wrong one, you have to swap USB
cables to have the one you wanted to boot. PIA. Also it is my
understanding that none of Casey's machines (OP) can boot from the USB.

Some BIOS flash software will only work from a floppy and that is it.
They are getting rarer though.

I am not sure about this next one, but when you install Windows and when
you need a driver like SATA or something with the F6 option... this
might also require being on a floppy too.

 

[casey.o]

Floppies are still manufactured in China. In my country (Asia) floppies are
still sold on computer stores and some stationery stores.

Maybe you might want to get an SSD floppy drive instead?

You lost me......
What is a SSD floppy?

We have lots of new technology amd much of it is good, but it seems the
old stuff is discarded too soon. The floppy is one of them. While they
cant be used for too much these days, because files are so damn big on
most things, they do still perform a function to boot to Dos, or just
copy some text notes, or today's email. etc...

I'd be willing to pay a premium price for a WELL MADE box of floppies.
Even when everyone used them, it seemed there were too many faulty ones
per box, and I now know they are failing from age, and not even being
used. I'm sure they COULD manufacture some durable ones.

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

In message <[email protected]>,

I see, it dont work on NTFS. But, why dont they have a GUI based chkdsk
in XP?

Windows key + E. Right-click on a drive. Select Properties. Select Tools
tab. Click Check now.

OK, it isn't very thrilling to watch (and didn't tell me _anything_ when
it finished [though it might if it'd found anything]), but is this what
you meant by a GUI based chkdsk? You certainly don't have to open a DOS
box, and can do it all with the mouse if you wish. (Win key + E is I
think similar to clicking on My Computer.)

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

In message <[email protected]>,

I'd be willing to pay a premium price for a WELL MADE box of floppies.
Even when everyone used them, it seemed there were too many faulty ones
per box, and I now know they are failing from age, and not even being
used. I'm sure they COULD manufacture some durable ones.

I'm half-convinced XP and later have a prejudice against floppies. On an
old system at work, we use a floppy to transfer log files from the
Windows 95 based system (it does what it does perfectly adequately so no
need to change it; these log files are ~40K, so floppy is fine) to the
networked system to archive the results. I frequently find the XP system
has some problem with the floppy, which when I put it back in the 95
system is fine; I've tried two different (USB) floppy drives on the XP
system. Also, when it _does_ have a problem reading the floppy, it gets
its knickers in a twist - things go wrong, and I often find I even have
to unplug and reconnect the floppy drive. And I'd wondered if it would
be better when upgraded to Windows 7 - but it doesn't seem to.

So it may not be the floppies themselves.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

You lost me......
What is a SSD floppy?

A joke, almost certainly.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

In message <[email protected]>,

I'm half-convinced XP and later have a prejudice against floppies. On an
old system at work, we use a floppy to transfer log files from the
Windows 95 based system (it does what it does perfectly adequately so no
need to change it; these log files are ~40K, so floppy is fine) to the
networked system to archive the results. I frequently find the XP system
has some problem with the floppy, which when I put it back in the 95
system is fine; I've tried two different (USB) floppy drives on the XP
system. Also, when it _does_ have a problem reading the floppy, it gets
its knickers in a twist - things go wrong, and I often find I even have
to unplug and reconnect the floppy drive. And I'd wondered if it would
be better when upgraded to Windows 7 - but it doesn't seem to.

So it may not be the floppies themselves.

You will need to format an unused floppy on your newer
machine, then on an older machine that can read the floppy with data
on it, copy it to your newly-formatted floppy.


The problem is that the Media Descriptor Byte is missing from the
floppy, and newer versions of Windows can therefore not read it.


See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/140060/EN-US

 

[John Dulak]

In Don Phillipson typed:

Even so, there are times that an USB drive won't cut it. For example,
while I can boot from an USB on many of my machines, I can't pick which
one. Thus two or more USB drives connected, it will try to boot from the
first one the BIOS sees. If that is the wrong one, you have to swap USB
cables to have the one you wanted to boot. PIA. Also it is my
understanding that none of Casey's machines (OP) can boot from the USB.

Some BIOS flash software will only work from a floppy and that is it.
They are getting rarer though.

I am not sure about this next one, but when you install Windows and when
you need a driver like SATA or something with the F6 option... this
might also require being on a floppy too.

BillW50:

Perhaps your old machines with a BIOS that does dot support a boot
from USB could be made to do so with one of these:

http://www.floppytousb.com/

John

--
\\\||///
------------------o000----(o)(o)----000o----------------
----------------------------()--------------------------
'' Madness takes its toll - Please have exact change. ''

John Dulak - 40.4888ºN,79.899ºW - http://tinyurl.com/3lvoh2n

 

[JJ]

You lost me......
What is a SSD floppy?

Solid state floppy drive. Kind of a floppy drive emulator. Uses Flash memory
to store floppy disk images.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floppy_disk_hardware_emulator

http://californiasoftwaresystems.com/sp/solid-state-floppy-disk-emulator/

http://www.amazon.com/Floppy-Drive-Emulator-Emulator--Keep-Install/dp/B0083Z29JO

 

[JJ]

A joke, almost certainly.

Certainly not. >:-D

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

You will need to format an unused floppy on your newer
machine, then on an older machine that can read the floppy with data
on it, copy it to your newly-formatted floppy.


The problem is that the Media Descriptor Byte is missing from the
floppy, and newer versions of Windows can therefore not read it.


See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/140060/EN-US

No, it reads it OK - a bit more than half the time; when it has
problems, it's while actually reading the data from one of the files, as
if there's a bad sector (there may well be a _weak_ sector or two). It
can always read the directory, and _some_ of the files. The main thing
is that when it _does_ encounter some difficulty, it takes ages
(minutes) to recover; even if I click the Cancel button on the copy
operation, the window doesn't disappear, and the light on the floppy
drive stays on: I find physically ejecting the copy is the quickest way
to get it to give up. And it makes the underlying OS uneasy - under XP
at least, it used to become rather unresponsive, redraw the task bar and
that sort of thing, though can't say I've noticed it being that bad
under 7 (but I've not had many units in since I've been sevened).
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

They are public servants, so we will threat them rather as Flashman treats
servants. - Stephen Fry on some people's attitudo to the BBC, in Radio Times,
3-9 July 2010

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

In message <[email protected]>,
(e-mail address removed) writes:
[]
I'd be willing to pay a premium price for a WELL MADE box of floppies.
Even when everyone used them, it seemed there were too many faulty ones
per box, and I now know they are failing from age, and not even being
used. I'm sure they COULD manufacture some durable ones.


I'm half-convinced XP and later have a prejudice against floppies. On an
old system at work, we use a floppy to transfer log files from the
Windows 95 based system (it does what it does perfectly adequately so no
need to change it; these log files are ~40K, so floppy is fine) to the
networked system to archive the results. I frequently find the XP system
has some problem with the floppy, which when I put it back in the 95
system is fine; I've tried two different (USB) floppy drives on the XP
system. Also, when it _does_ have a problem reading the floppy, it gets
its knickers in a twist - things go wrong, and I often find I even have
to unplug and reconnect the floppy drive. And I'd wondered if it would
be better when upgraded to Windows 7 - but it doesn't seem to.

So it may not be the floppies themselves.

You will need to format an unused floppy on your newer
machine, then on an older machine that can read the floppy with data
on it, copy it to your newly-formatted floppy.


The problem is that the Media Descriptor Byte is missing from the
floppy, and newer versions of Windows can therefore not read it.


See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/140060/EN-US

No, it reads it OK - a bit more than half the time; when it has
problems, it's while actually reading the data from one of the files, as
if there's a bad sector (there may well be a _weak_ sector or two). It
can always read the directory, and _some_ of the files. The main thing
is that when it _does_ encounter some difficulty, it tak

OK, then I misdiagnosed the problem. Sorry.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Solid state floppy drive. Kind of a floppy drive emulator. Uses Flash memory
to store floppy disk images.

Interesting, thanks. I hadn't heard of these before.