# Windows 7 is corrupting all of my floppies.



## blackbird307 (Nov 19, 2010)

I can read floppies perfectly fine. But when I right to them, the files simply don't show up after reinserting them. Yet space is still occupied. I tried the floppy in my friends computer and he couldn't see it either. But he is using xp. I figured it was the drive, so I tried a new one. Same problem. I know I hooked them up correctly.  What is going on? 

Oh and get this I tried it on a different computer, different board, same os. Guess what happens. 3 floppys that no longer work, one of them being a rare 720k. Absolutely fantastic  I am suspecting it's another one of microsofts infamous driver issue. The thing is, nobody uses floppys anymore and microsoft probably couldn't care to take notice. Can someone help?

I am trying to restore an deskpro 386 20 compaq, which needs a 720k diagnostics disk to do anything.

Normal Floppy 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





720k Floppy


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## caleb (Nov 19, 2010)

Whats a floppy ? Can you post an image or something ?





What do you need that 1 for ?


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## caleb (Nov 19, 2010)

There is a setting in Bios for type of floppy drive. Think there was 720k setting.


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## 95Viper (Nov 19, 2010)

1. Check and make sure you are using the latest bios for your motherboard.

2. In the bios settings, I believe under "power management setup" options, DISABLE HPET (high precision event timer) (page 52 & 53 of the manual)

Now, try your floppy format and file copying tests.

You can re-enable the HPET when you are finished... if, you wish to.


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## Beertintedgoggles (Nov 19, 2010)

I can't remember but isn't it possible to just format a 1.44MB floppy as a 720KB floppy?  I know that's not what you're asking but it'd make those rare 720K floppies easier to find.


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## W1zzard (Nov 19, 2010)

start using usb sticks and throw out old stuff ... 386 .. omg .. $1 on ebay will get you faster


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## NdMk2o1o (Nov 19, 2010)

blackbird307 said:


> I am trying to restore an deskpro 386 20 compaq


 :shadedshu oh dear, why oh why?


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## Munki (Nov 19, 2010)

Its probably corrupting all your floppies because it thinks your trying to drive rape it with some unknown floppy........disk.


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## newtekie1 (Nov 19, 2010)

I had similar issues with an internal floppy and Win7.  I have to use them once in a while to re-install Server 2003 on some servers I maintain.  I had to use a USB floppy to finally get it to work properly and write the files.


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## qubit (Nov 19, 2010)

@blackbird307

Oh god, floppies!  Those were sh!t in their day and often didn't work straight out of the packet. Man I hated them.

Rather than trying to troubleshoot floppy issues on 7, I think you'd be much better off just finding an XP machine and using that. Microsoft left floppy support in 7 purely as legacy support and "Windows 8" is likely to remove all support for floppies anyway.

Finally, why are you trying to restore such an ancient PC in the first place? Is it for a museum exhibit perhaps? This is 1980s technology and I can't think of any other use for it.


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## douglatins (Nov 19, 2010)

yo dawg win7 is corrupting all of my floppies.

Thats epic funny


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## robn (Nov 19, 2010)

blackbird307 said:


> ...Guess what happens. 3 floppys that no longer work...





qubit said:


> @blackbird307
> Oh god, floppies!  Those were sh!t in their day and often didn't work straight out of the packet...



Not trying to be an ass blackbird, but are you *sure* they weren't just too old to write successfully? I mean reading a disk is one thing, but writing would highlight disk damage.

Edit: Actually, after a quick check, what 95Viper said above in post #4 is apparently the answer.


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## Super Sarge (Nov 19, 2010)

I have a floppy drive on the machine I have connected to TV. It was part of the card reader combo when I purchased thee machine. I never use it. My main machine has no floppy I have disabled it in BIOS so I now have A as a Drive letter for my use with any of the 5  thumb drives or 4 flash cards I have. I see no need for a floppy.


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## TheMailMan78 (Nov 19, 2010)

douglatins said:


> yo dawg win7 is corrupting all of my floppies.
> 
> Thats epic funny



It is pretty funny if you think about it. Yo dawg whats up with Win7 and my punch cards? It don't read em yo!


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## HalfAHertz (Nov 19, 2010)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4SCSGRVAQE Star wars floppy


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## Wrigleyvillain (Nov 19, 2010)

Bah my 2011 Mustang won't run on WW2-era British Petrol. Another of Ford's infamous engine issues!

For the love of God, at least explain why you still require floppies.


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## robn (Nov 19, 2010)

Hey, play nice people. He says he is trying to repair a "Compaq deskpro" 386. Could be a critical piece of equipment where he works, industrial control, or something like that. A need is a valid need.


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## Munki (Nov 19, 2010)

Wrigleyvillain said:


> Bah my 2011 Mustang won't run on WW2-era British Petrol. Another of Ford's infamous engine issues!
> 
> For the love of God, at least explain why you still require floppies.



Read your avatar....


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## brandonwh64 (Nov 19, 2010)

I believe the Op would be better off not using windows 7 to do stuff with floppies cause of the newer hardware. Install VMware or MS Virtual Machine and then install DOS 6.22 WHICH IS FREE BTW! and that would be closer to your 386 than windows 7


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## Wrigleyvillain (Nov 19, 2010)

^ Great advice


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## Easy Rhino (Nov 19, 2010)

well i think the OP has been sufficiently trolled...


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## Wrigleyvillain (Nov 19, 2010)

Or did the OP sufficiently troll _us_?


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## Steevo (Nov 19, 2010)

With your overclock the bus speed could be corrupting the data. Try it at stock speeds.


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## 95Viper (Nov 19, 2010)

blackbird307 said:


> I am trying to restore an deskpro 386 20 compaq, which needs a 720k diagnostics disk to do anything.



The OP, sorta, explains the reasoning.

The trolling is not the least bit helpful.  

To those that posted usefully... You have my Thank You.

@blackbird307> Please let us know how it is going.


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## qubit (Nov 20, 2010)

And blackbird307, I really do want to know what you're using that old PC for; I get really curious about stuff like this.

Don't worry, I have plenty of old junk accumulated at my place, so I understand. 

Unfortunately, people are making joke comments, because floppies are so obsolete that most people don't have much knowledge about them and they were always slow and awful which attracted ridicule.

Here's a factoid: the read speed of a HD floppy drive is just enough to stream full CD quality sound off a 1.44MB disc... of course, at just over a megabyte long, the clip would be really short. 

And there's lots more geeky factoids over at Wikipedia. Really, the techy stuff is still interesting.


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## Polaris573 (Nov 20, 2010)

W1zzard said:


> start using usb sticks and throw out old stuff ... 386 .. omg .. $1 on ebay will get you faster



The lab I worked for at one time needed ancient hardware to control one of their mass spectrometers.  Throw out a $1 computer and you can invalidate a $50,000 piece of still useful equipment.


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## qubit (Nov 20, 2010)

Polaris573 said:


> The lab I worked for at one time needed ancient hardware to control one of their mass spectrometers.  Throw out a $1 computer and you can invalidate a $50,000 piece of still useful equipment.



That's just scary.


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## Easy Rhino (Nov 20, 2010)

qubit said:


> That's just scary.



hehe that happens all the time. especially in old machine factories where they still can use a 20 year old computer to create mass amounts of money.


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## DailymotionGamer (Nov 20, 2010)

Munki said:


> Its probably corrupting all your floppies because it thinks your trying to drive rape it with some unknown floppy........disk.



rofl


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## Steevo (Nov 20, 2010)

I once found a 486DX machine that was running the frame relay over Ethernet to twinax conversion. A comparable adapter today costs upwards of a grand.


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