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Before You Submit a Trouble Ticket
Computer Labs
Connecting Through VPN
Dial-up Instructions
Computer Help Desk Request Form
Passwords
Software Downloads
Using the Lab Scanners
Virus Information |
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 Floppy Disks |
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| Why You Should Worry about Floppy Disks |
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| First, a scenario |
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| There you are, in the computer lab, putting the finishing touches on your 15-page paper, which is due in 45 minutes. You go to save the file one last time before printing it out, and suddenly you get a weird error message from the program, "Unable to write to drive a:" What's going on? The disk is in the drive (you pop it out & put it back in, just to be sure). It was fine the last time you saved it, just a few minutes ago. You call on the lab consultant for help. He calls on a Computer Services staff member. After waiting 20 or 30 minutes, while they try all sorts of things with your disk, you get the bad news: "Sorry, but your disk is corrupt. There's nothing we can do to recover the data." If you're really lucky, they may have been able to salvage some of the text of the file, in bits and pieces. "But I've spent weeks on this paper, and it's due in 15 minutes. What am I supposed to do?" you ask. The Computer Services people suggest that you open your backup copy of the file and work from there. "What backup copy?" you ask yourself, as you walk despondently back to the computer to pack up your stuff... |
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| What happened? |
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| Floppy disks are a relatively unreliable storage device. They are fairly cheap and highly susceptible to damage from spills, fingerprints, dust, heat and magnetic fields. Despite these flaws, floppy disks are still the most widely used portable storage device for both PCs and Macs. If you rely on floppy disks to store your data, you really should be concerned about them failing you, usually at the most inconvenient moment. Beyond worrying, what can you do? |
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| What You Can Do |
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| Because of the weaknesses of floppy disks, you should never use a floppy disk to store the only copy of your files. The single most important thing you can do is to save multiple copies of everything, in different locations! We can't emphasize this enough -- this is the only way to truly protect yourself from data loss. If you are working on a file that's stored on your hard drive, periodically save another copy of it onto a floppy disk. If you are working on a file that's stored on a floppy disk, save another copy of it on your hard drive (if you have your own computer) or on your M: drive. If all you have access to are floppy disks, make the second copy on another disk. |
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| This may seem like a lot of trouble now, but when your floppy disk goes bad (trust us, it happens all the time), you'll be really glad that you took the time to save another copy. The hardest part is to remember to back up both copies after you work on or change a file, but even if the second copy is doesn't reflect your most recent changes, it's still a whole lot better than doing the whole thing over from scratch! |
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| What to Do with a Corrupt Floppy Disk |
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| Corrupt disks are a common problem. If you have a corrupt disk, bring it to the Helpdesk in Sorkness 105. Describe the type of files you have on the disk, and provide file names if you can. We will attempt to recover your data. |
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| Preventing Data Loss - How to Handle Floppy Disks |
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| Floppy disks aren't forever, but if you treat them nicely, they will be much less likely to misbehave: |
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- Keep your disks away from devices that produce magnetic fields -- like your monitor, speakers and, yes, refrigerator magnets. Floppy disks are not in any danger when X-rayed by airport security. X-rays are not magnetic. (They are electromagnetic energy but then again so are visible light rays.) But do watch out for the metal detectors; most employ a weak magnetic field to find metal.
- Put your floppies in a hard plastic container for protection from dust. Don't put them in your pocket, purse or backpack without covering them.
- Protect your floppies from high or low temperatures. Don't expose them to temperatures above 120 degrees Fahrenheit -- leave them in a car on hot day and they will warp. Floppies can handle exposure lower temperatures (within reason) but should be allowed time to warm to room temperature (if you leave a disk in your car overnight in winter, it might survive, but don't put it into the drive until it warms up).
- Don't touch the read/write window of the disk (area covered by the metal shutter). Even though it may be fun, don't play with the shutter. They are pretty flimsy and break easily. If you have a disk with a broken or defective shutter, do not put it into a disk drive! It will get stuck and may damage or ruin the drive. Dispose of the disk and copy the files onto a new floppy disk from your backup copy (remember that copy you saved on your hard drive or U: drive?).
- You can use a ballpoint pen or pencil to write on labeled 3 1/2-inch floppy disks, but try not to press too hard.
- Use the write protect notch, a sliding plastic piece in the corner of the floppy, to keep from accidentally formatting the disk or erasing files. When the hole is open the disk is write-protected; when it's closed you can write to the disk.
- If a floppy disk starts showing problems, copy the data to a new disk and throw away the old disk.
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| Formatting Floppy Disks |
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| Formatting a disk means completely erasing it and preparing it for a new use. If you accidentally format a disk, whatever files or data were on the disk will be gone. |
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| Formatting disks in windows 95/98/Me/2000/XP |
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- Insert the disk.
- Double click on My Computer.
- Right-click on the 3-1/2 floppy [A:] icon and choose Format (left-click once on it).
- Left-click once on the Start button
- Wait for the formatting process to finish and the drive light to go off before removing the disk.
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| Formatting disks in DOS |
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- Insert the disk.
- Type format a: at the MS-DOS prompt.
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| Assistance and Questions |
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| If you have any questions or need more information, please contact us via e-mail at helpdesk@jc.edu, or stop by the Help Desk in Sorkness 105. |
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