Broken Floppy Disk - Can I still get info of it?

dunna

Just a quick question,
I have saved an important document on a floppy disk some time ago.
The disk is now broken and I am wondering is there ANY way possible of retrieving this important document?
Is it possible to use the little round negative thing inside the disk to get the information from it???
Any help would be GREATLY appreciated :eek: :mad:

ricman

IF YOU have another disk the same size ,it might be possible to open up the 2 plastic sides ,remove the round magnetic piece and place it inside another disk and use tape ,or glue to hold the 2 pieces together. REMOVE THE METAL SHIELD and spring 1st , hold the round part by the edges.USE a sharp knife to carefully gently cut the edges of the plastic to open it.
USE a tiny bit of glue,wear plastic gloves.
say its brand x 3.5 ,try and use an identical brand disk,as the casing will be identical.Place the round disc with the magnetic side facing up.
OR bring it to a data recovery company.
Floppys are very unreliable, the data can just disappear or they become unreadable.

M5

dunna wrote: »

Just a quick question,
I have saved an important document on a floppy disk some time ago.
The disk is now broken and I am wondering is there ANY way possible of retrieving this important document?
Is it possible to use the little round negative thing inside the disk to get the information from it???
Any help would be GREATLY appreciated :eek: :mad:

Before you tear your disk apart define broken. Is it physically broken or just not reading?

CreepingDeath

The likes of DOS and Windows stop trying to copy a file after it hits a few errors.
You might try this freeware tool called "Unstoppable Copier", which will keep trying to read the floppy disk for ages.

Unstoppable Copier Link

ricman

try start, programs, command prompt ,type cd a: , wait 20 seconds,, then dir a: it,ll try and show you all the directorys on the disk.Have you another pc with a floppy drive, do other floppys work on the pc.
Most librarys have pcs with 3.5 inch drives for free net acess.

dunna

Thank you for all your replies. Much appreciated.
Well in terms of 'broken' I mean the silver thing that slides over and back is not on the disk anymore! Apart from that everything is intact.
I was trying to read the disk from my laptop. My laptop does not accept floppys but I have a small device/piece of hardware that I hook up to my laptop and it reads floppy's then. It works fine with any other floppy disks but it seems the disks with the silver slidey thing wont work. Typical, the one I need :eek:

Skerries

the shutter is just there to protect the disk inside
when you put it into the pc does it see the disk at all or is it trying to format it?

ricman

You can carefully remove the spring from the metal shutter and unhook it from the plastic shell, When inserting it in the drive just hold the metal open , or remove the metal slider completely .PUT it inside a plastic bag or container to stop dust going onto the magnetic disk when its not inside the pc.
THE drive will read the floppy whether the metal slider is there or not.
so the metal slider is gone ,you could try and clean the disk with a very soft brush to remove dust ,if all else fails.