Date:         Tue, 30 Jan 2007 22:42:59 -0500
Reply-To:     Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
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Sender:       Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
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From:         "Steven C. Barr(x)" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:      Re: Floppy Disc Blues--aka data recovery software suggestions?
Comments: To: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
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----- Original Message ----- 
From: "andy kolovos" <[log in to unmask]>
> Anyone have recommendations for good, low cost (lets say circa $65 tops) 
> data recovery software?  One of my coworkers has just approached me with 
> that rarest of things--a dead 3.5" floppy disc.
> 
> It's amazing.  I've never known these things to fail before.
> 
Floppy discs can easily be "failed" by any exposure to magnets or magnetism
(like, for example, loudspeakers, electric motors, usw.) You actually have
a repair tool on your computer (unless it's a Mac...dunno about those).

Put the bad floppy in the drive, and then run Scandisk (which is a DOS
utility, but is also in Windows). Make sure you have it set to "Repair
bad files" (or whatever it calls that) and "Save fragments" (ditto).

If the contents are text files or similar, you'll have enough left for
adequate reconstruction (also true for .dbf data files, unless the headers
are damaged). Program files are usually beyond repair, since there is no
way to know what any missing bytes were. Word Processor files usually
contain their text content as part of the file (MS Word also contains
the old, revised versions, while WordPerfect files include formatting
bytes). Sound files and image files may open with gaps, or may not
open at all. Most current programs will attempt to repair damaged
files, though.

Steven C. Barr