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Floppy Troubleshooting

Problem: Can't format a disk

Possible Solutions:

  • Make sure disk is not write protected
  • Make sure the disk is the right type for your drive
  • Close all open programs and try formatting the disk again
  • Reboot PC and try again

Problem: Cannot read disks

Possible Solutions:

  • Try the same disk in a different PC
  • Try a few different disks in the drive
  • If no disks work in the drive, the drive could be going bad. If it's just one disk won't read in the PC, the disk is probably going bad. If you need to salvage data from the disk, the Help Desk may be able to help.

Problem: Unable to copy files from a 5.25" disk.

Possible Solution:

  • Take your disks to the Help Desk. They have access to a PC with a 5.25 drive in it.

Problem: Invalid Media and or Track 0 is bad

Possible Solution:

  • If you were trying to format a disk when you got this error, open a command prompt and with the disk in the drive, type Format a: /f:720 to see if it formats. If it does, the disk is double, not high, density. Otherwise the disk is bad. A high density disk will say HD on it and a double density disk will not.