Floppy Size Not Being Read Properly?? 4

[Wullie]

Hi,

The problem I am having is that my computer is telling me that a floppy disk is only 1.38MB instead of the 1.44MB it really is.

When I single click on the floppy drive, I get the chart telling me the capacity is only 1.38MB.

I thought windows was maybe wrongly reading the drive but I can`t save a file larger than 1.38MB

I have tried this on various disks(new and old) but still have the same problem.

I have formatted the disk in dos but still the same.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for any help,
Wullie

http://www.survivorhelp.co.uk

 

[Eguy]

Hi Wullie;

This has always been an area of confusion. Disk manufacturers always define a decimal megabyte as 1,000,000 bytes. (10^6). However in Windows (and all other OS's) a binary megabyte is defined as 1,048,576 bytes. (2^20)

Is that as clear as mud?

Ed Please let me know if the sugestion(s) I provide are helpful to you.
Sometimes your the windshield... Sometimes your the bug.

 

[Wullie]

Thanks for the VERY prompt reply.

Just thought there was maybe some way to remedy the situation.

Thanks again
Wullie

http://www.survivorhelp.co.uk

 

[edfair]

Should report as 1.44, especially as freshly formatted.
There are virus infections that will take capacity down.
Format a floppy on another drive for 1.44. Then get the report on your machine. Should be 1.44. then format on your machine. Should still report as 1.44. Anything less says that the drive is bad, or something is corrupting the formatting. Ed Fair
efair@atlnet.com

Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply.

Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[Wullie]

Thanks EDFAIR.

That is what I thought but I wasn`t sure as when I phoned the technical support for the company I bought the machine from and they said this was normal and there was nothing to worry about.

I just wanted an opinion from someone who wasn`t involved. What it comes down to is, they are going to tell me that if it save them money because the machine is under warranty.

The machine is only 10 months old.

The drive used to show 1.44 but it is just recently that it has started showing 1.38MB.

I have run a full virus scan on the machine so I can`t see that being the problem.

I am going to phone support again and tell them I want someone to look it over.

Thanks a lot

Wullie

http://www.survivorhelp.co.uk

 

[edfair]

Try chkdsk and scandisk. Both should give you good info. Scandisk particularly should show you all available clusters. Ed Fair
efair@atlnet.com

Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply.

Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[mooby]

I heard that if you use a floppy over and over (include formatting)the Memory capacity decreases through wear and tear.
;-)

 

[edfair]

Depends on the quality of the floppy and the quality of the drive. Some fail on first reformat, some fail after 300 reformats. Some never fail. Chkdsk or scandisk will show what problems are encountered. Bad sectors locked out from use are not an indication of a bad floppy. they are still usable even at reduced capacity.
They should still indicate 1.44 mb with unuseable space. Ed Fair
efair@atlnet.com

Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply.

Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[cnthomp]

1.38MB is the standard amount of space Windows will report on any freshly formatted 1.44MB floppy. Again, as Eguy said, it is a matter of Windows interpreting the amount of free space on the drive. Sadly, I am afraid nothing is wrong with the drive.

 

[Eguy]

Hi everyone;

If scandisk reports Total Disk Space of 1,457,664 bytes, it is at full capacity.


I found this chart perhaps it can explain it better than I.
:-I

http://www.pcguide.com/ref/fdd/formatSummary-c.html

Ed Please let me know if the sugestion(s) I provide are helpful to you.
Sometimes your the windshield... Sometimes your the bug.

 

[Wullie]

Thanks everyone.

Scandisk is reporting 1,457,664.

Guess you are right then!!

CNTHOMP - What do you mean sadly?
I don`t want anything to be wrong with the drive..

You have all saved me a lot of hassle, thanks

Wullie

http://www.survivorhelp.co.uk

 

[edfair]

Can I get a clarification from various posters.
I just formatted a 3.5 under W95a and the reporting was of a capacity of 1.44 and total space of 1,457,664.
The scandisk, chkdisk, and properties all reported the same.
I don't remember ever seeing 1.38 reported by any version I support, but who pays attention.
So what versions report 1.38?
An inquiring mind wants to know. Ed Fair
efair@atlnet.com

Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply.

Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[Eguy]

Hi Ed;

I am using Windows 98 v 4.10 (NOT SE)

I see 1.38 mb on a floppy w/1,457,664 bytes.

Just for the @#$% of it my Linux box says 1423 1K blocks

BTW, Congratulations to me! I start my new job Monday. :

Ed Please let me know if the sugestion(s) I provide are helpful to you.
Sometimes your the windshield... Sometimes your the bug.

 

[Wullie]

Hi,

I am running ME on my machine at present.

Wullie

http://www.survivorhelp.co.uk

 

[edfair]

Dumb me. Left side of the page reports 1.4+ , right side reports 1.38. Guess this will be one of the 63,000 bugs carried over to XP.
Ed Fair
efair@atlnet.com

Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply.

Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[Wullie]

Hi,

Sorry about this but I am having another problem, though this one seems more serious.

I am trying to save some files(A backup for a web site) to some floppies but I keep on getting errors when I try to save certain files.

The problem files seem to be different on each floppy.
For example: I can save one file to the first floppy without a problem but then I get an error when I try to save the same file to another floppy.

The errors I am getting are as follows:

"CANNOT CREATE OR REPLACE WEB: THE DIRECTORY OR FILE CANNOT BE CREATED"


UNABLE TO CREATE THE FOLDER `IMAGES`. ACCESS IS DENIED.

The disk is only at half capacity and the files are only approx 15KB each so I can`t see that being the problem.

The disks are not write protected so that shold not be the problem either.

Any help appreciated

Thanks in advance
Wullie

http://www.survivorhelp.co.uk

 

[edfair]

This may or may not help.
There are situations where replacing the floppy with a new one doesn't lead to the new directory loading into the OS. This was common with the 720K floppies as they didn't have one signal available that indicated a new floppy. The solution in dos was to log onto the new floppy, which forced the new directory to read in.
You may want to try that prior to trying to copy files. It may help. Ed Fair
efair@atlnet.com

Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply.

Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[Wullie]

No change mate, Still the same errors.

Any other ideas?

Thanks in advance
Wullie

http://www.survivorhelp.co.uk

 

[edfair]

You might want to verify that the disk is spinning. Move the disk drive slot toward the shutter, insert, then remove. Drive slot should have moved.
Some drives get cranky with age and won't engage the disk.
You might also try to format first. That should clean the directory. A pain I know but with your problems it may be the only solution. Ed Fair
efair@atlnet.com

Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply.

Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[Wullie]

Hi mate,

The disk is turning and I have tried formatting but still get the same error.

I have just got a different error, the screen went blue and it said DISK WRITE ERROR. FILES MAY BE LOST. But then it continued to copy the files.

It seems to work fine until there is between 5 and 10 seconds left to copy then the error appears.

Thanks again mate.

Wullie

http://www.survivorhelp.co.uk