cannot write to or delete from floppy

[Yokum]

I cannot write files to diskette or delete files from it. It "looks" like it is working but it isn't:

I have a diskette loaded full with files (let's just call them 'JUNK files'). I delete them all (using Windows Explorer or from the DOS command prompt with >del *.*). Refresh (or >dir) => It shows nothing is on the floppy, full disk capacity available (total file size 0KB). So far so good. Then I copy files from the hard drive to the diskette until it's full again. If the old files were still on there, it would tell me that the disk is full and it cannot perform the operation, right? Right. After that I open the new files from the floppy and look at them. Works. It even shows the path (e.g., "A:\test.jpg&quot. O.k.? O.k.! I take the diskette out. Put it back in. Refresh. Guess what? There are my old 'JUNK files' again!!!! No new files anywhere.

What's the problem? What is the reason for this?

 

[blavergne]

I'm curious, does this happen to all disks or just one? Also have you tried another floppy disk drive (maybe the read/right on your current is broken)?

-Barry

 

[hotfusion]

Strange one, this! Try formatting it to see if that removes everything. Any fault, I would have thought, would then become obvious through error messages. My suggestions are what I would try myself. If incorrect, I welcome corrections to my rather limited knowledge. Andy.

 

[Yokum]

Thanks for the suggestions. Unfortunately it doesn't work. I tried several floppies ("fresh" ones with data copied onto them on another PC).

I just clean installed Win2K again, because I thought it maybe had something to do with faulty/incomplete software installs (i.e., Norton Antivirus). Nope, guess again.

I tried to format the diskette. In Windows Explorer it just tells me that formatting was unsuccessful. From the command prompt it says: "Invalid media or Track 0 bad - disk unusable." The floppies I have and the new ones I got cannot all be bad!!

 

[JohnS9051]

You may have a virus. Track 0 contains the boot sector and FAT (File Allocation Table). Boot sector viruses can infect the boot sector and FAT and make the disk unusable.
Get the latest virus pattern for Norton Antivirus and scan the system, including the boot sector, memory, and floppy disk.
If you have a virus, create a clean emergency boot disk using Norton on another computer that is not infected.
Once these viruses get into memory they will infect any disk you try to read. So do not use any of your disks in another computer until you clean them.
Use the emergency boot disk in your computer and try to clean the virus from your system and any floppies you used.
Some of these viruses are really nasty and you may have to delete all partitions on your hard drive and reformat.
If you had Norton Antivirus installed and setup correctly, you probably do not have a virus but check anyway. New viruses come out all the time.
If you don't have a virus:
Can you read the disks in another computer?
Utilities like Norton Disk Doctor can sometimes be used to repair floppy disks.
You say you're having problems with all your disks so it probably is a floppy drive problem. The read/write head in floppy drives gets misaligned and then it can't read or write the tracks correctly including updating the FAT. That's probably why you couldn't get rid of the files. It was reading the FAT associated with the old files. The only recourse is to replace the drive.
Let me know what you find.
Hope this helps. Good luck.

John

 

[Yokum]

John:
Turns out it was the drive. I bought a new one, put it in, works fine. Thanks for your suggestions.

Yokum