5 inch floppies

[fredex]

On Sat, Sep 03, 2005 at 01:39:07PM -0500, Michael Hennebry wrote:
> On Sat, 3 Sep 2005, George N. White III wrote:
> 
> > On Sat, 3 Sep 2005, Michael Hennebry wrote:
> >
> > >
> > > I'm trying to read some old (duh) 5 inch
> > > floppies with a borrowed drive on an FC3 box.
> > > Probabaly there is more than one format,
> > > but I'm not sure which has which.
> > > The usual result is that I can read the
> > > directory by clicking on a KDE icon,
> > > but get I/O errors when trying to read any of the files.
> > > Trying to mount with a mount command also results
> > > in an I/O error.
> > > If I couldn't read the directory,
> > > I'd suppose that I was out of luck.
> > > Is there a reason that the directory
> > > would be easier to read than the files?
> > > Any ideas on how to read the files?
> >
> > I've seen this behaviour with old floppies -- I suspect there is a bad or
> > marginal area on the disk.  Since the data typically take much more space
> 
> Disks. Plural.
> 
> > than the directory, the chances of a bad spot zapping data are much
> > higher.  You should try a different drive -- old drives are even less
> > reliable than old floppies.
> 
> I only have one drive.
> Apparently I'm getting all the directory data,
> but none of the other data at all.

If you'd like to try some other drives, I think I have a few of
them in the "spares" drawer around here. all old and of unknown
quality (removed from junked systems). Lemme know.

-- 
---- Fred Smith -- fredex at fcshome.stoneham.ma.us -----------------------------
               But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: 
                         While we were still sinners, 
                              Christ died for us.
------------------------------- Romans 5:8 (niv) ------------------------------
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