Floppy disk repair

[Tefler]

One of my floppy disks has developed an error.  When I try to open it, I get the message 'Unknown format'.  With Windows 98, I knew how to do a scandisk and repair on such a disk.  Now I'm using Windows XP I have no idea.  Can anybody help?

[chinadoll]

there was an answer to your problem a few months ago...solved by downloading a small prog (free) and was praised afterwards as a great fix....sorry cant remember the name of the prog....perhaps if you were to sift back thru the AB files or even ask another similar Q and when the "this question may already have been answered" screen comes up scroll down and you might get lucky.

[trish1234567]

Probably nothing wrong with your floppy. Windows 95/98/2000/Me versions are not compatible with XP. That's been my experience.  I've had to overcome this problem myself by scannng, printing and then transferring to hard-disk. Sorry can't be of much help. Trish.

[Tefler]

Thanks for the suggestions.  Actually, the disk was created on the computer I'm trying to use it with, but it seems to have become corrupted somehow, so now says that it's an 'unknown format'. 

A trawl through the archives has shown that right clicking on the A drive in Windows Explorer and then going to Properties and then Tools will produce an error check.  This has revealed no errors, so I'm not sure what to try next. 

[trish1234567]

Tefler - just a thought, are you confusing the format of a floppy with the file format of a document or photograph, e.g. jpeg, mpeg, gif, bmp, eml, etc? in which case the format would need converting?  How can a floppy disk be repaired. Surely, one can only repair the c-drive by scandisk. You need only rightclick on a-drive to format. Sorry if I'm telling you something you obviously know.

[Tefler]

Thanks again, Trish - and never fear about telling me things I already know, it's very unlikely in the sphere of computers!

I actually found what I needed somewhere (can't remember where the info came from).  To repair a floppy with Windows XP, you need to open Windows Explorer and go to click on the floppy drive.  Then, right click the floppy drive in the folders menu.  Next, click on properties, then tools.  This gives an 'error checking' option, which does the job nicely.

It was less faff to do this with Windows 98, but at least it's still possible.