1 disk copied over another...while it was in my bookbag ???

[AccipiterQ]

Ok, so i have 2 standard 1.44 meg disks....one has my budget, specs for a couple computers I"m building, and some other random files. That's disk 1. Disk 2 has my resume, cover letter, and a database for all my past invoices for work, as well as a blank invoice form. Today I had to print off an invoice, so I put in disk 2, printed off the invoice and ejected the disk. I think put disk 1 in and made a quick adjustment in my budget that I wanted to do. I saved the budget file...I noticed that it went from 100k file size, to 99k....I closed out of everything...put disk 1 back in, and opened it....and for some reason it shows all the files from disk 2 as being on disk 1....I try using access to look on the disk for the database I need with past invoices....nothing there, it shows all the files from disk 2 on there. I figure I musta just mixed em up, so I put disk 2 back in, but nope it has all hte correct files on it....here's teh weird thing though, on both disks they both show my budget as being 99k big...despite the fact that I only saved the file once, and the other disk was in my book bag at the time...


so anyone have ANY clue how this happened? There's no way I accidentally cleared every file off the first disk and then copied and pasted all the files from the 2nd onto the 1st...what the hell just happened??

I've tried rebooting and looking at the disks on a coworkers computer and it's the same story...what gives?

 

[edfair]

Yeah. Has to do with the drive not being implemented correctly in the hardware to know that the diskette had been changed.
The directory structure and FAT from one was written to the other along with the file. This also successfully trashed the diskette unless you are good a floppy recovery.



Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[AccipiterQ]

uuuuuuuuugh I had a list of jobs i wanted to call back about interviews, my record of invoices for places I've done business with recently too....the thing is I have to replace the mobo on my home computer so I can't get to the backups for a few weeks.

 

[bcastner]

I vote with Ed Fair on this one.

 

[BrucesXP]

Elsewhere you may see posts from people reporting that their CD/DVD drives do not update their contents when the disks are changed - These symptoms sound a bit like your description. (If so, Try removing DVD burning software, musicmatch jukebox, norton antivirus or all your hair by pulling hard. . . )

SO . . . Before giving up try each disk as the first disk to be inserted after boot up and see if you see any different results

Hope so

 

[AccipiterQ]

hmm I think i will try that, and on on my computer at home

 

[edfair]

You can always do some recovery. Just do it with a disk created by sector duplication rather than file copying to protect your original. And a good sector editor will be invaluable.

Although the directory and fat table have been wiped out by being overwritten, the files associated with the fat entries before the corrupted area should be OK.

When you get done you'll know more about the FAT tables than you ever thought you would.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[AccipiterQ]

anyone know of a freeware sector editor?? THe ones I find only go up to 200kb for replication of sectors

 

[AccipiterQ]

I'm probably going to need to be walked through this...cause I have no idea what I"m doing...I donwloaded diskprobe...but I don't know what the hell to do with it...ugh

 

[franklin97355]

If it's really important data take it to someone that does know what they are doing. If not then someone here might help.

 

[KenB]

I once saw something like this happen with a floppy drive. If you put in disk 1 first then switched to disk 2 you still could see the files from disk 1. Then reboot. Put in disk 2 first then switch to disk 1 and you see the files from disk 2. What is happening is Windows holds the directory of the first disk that it reads in memory. When it reads the change disk signal it should flush memory and reload the new disk info. In my case I changed the floppy cable and it was fixed, but it could have been a defective drive or a virus as well as a mobo chip. Try that test and troubleshoot the results.

HTH
Ken

 

[CobolKid]

One thing I would do promptly; move that diskette's write-protect slide to its read only position. At this point, any write operation to the diskette will most likely be fatal to recoverable data. Ed's right on the mark.
With the valid directory and fat gone, each files starting cluster and chains (of clusters) are unknown. To restore a file, you will need to find each 512 byte sector (1.44 diskette; 1 cluster == 1 sector) that belonged to the file by content, "re-chain" them in proper order via a file allocation table and, rebuild the files detail in a directory file. Actually the latter two "need2s"are not difficult, identifying the content and it's order is usually the hard part. If the diskette was relatively unfragmented, this will be somewhat simpler. A good disk editor is necessary. A trick that’s served me well; As you identify each sector, copy it to a newly formatted, empty diskette, use one diskette per file to be recovered. Then, when ready to reconstruct the file, do it on the copy. It simplifies the remaining tasks to work with an empty fat & directory.


Steve

 

[kiddpete]

Try getbackdata for fat disks. It's not free, but it will probably recover your data.