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3.5 Floppy Disk Not Turning?

15 years ago

Yep, this is one of those "I should have known better problems.". For years I planned to retrieve some picture from a couple of old computers in the basement. Now that I've started working at getting pictures I have big trouble. I was able to get a few to transfer to some 3.5s but that's it. Now, the pictures won't transfer. I hear a three click sound about every three seconds inside the 3.5 drive. This is true even though I went to Radio Shack and got some fresh disks.

I had a 3.5 drive put on current computer but I still hear the same three click sound even on it when inserting 3.5s. I know the floppys are subject to humidity but even the new ones from RS are doing it. Can a 3.5 with data be brought back to life? Thanks, Gene

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Comments (4)

kudzu9
15 years ago
I'm a little confused. Are you trying to transfer photos from a computer hard drive to 3.5" floppy discs? Or are you trying to transfer photos off of floppy discs onto something else? Or what?

If you are trying to move photos to 3.5" floppy discs, that's not a good idea. That is almost an extinct technology and storing photos on them should only be viewed as a temporary measure, particularly given their limited storage capacity and the inherent instability of that medium for long term storage. You should be moving photos onto CDs or DVDs. If you don't have a burner on the old computers, transfer the photos to a thumb drive first.

In any case, can you clarify a little more just what exactly you are trying to accomplish?
candler
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks for your reply, kudzu9. Old, old hard drive to a 3.5 floppy. Yep, I knew better. Here's the situation. It appeared some picture files were being transferred to a floppy since it had the blue (I think) indicator bar showing progress. But, when I tried to run it on a newer floppy it would only make the previously referred to sound. So, I'm wondering if the picture files are there but the floppy is humidity heavy? dust? whatever? Tomorrow I'm taking both computers to a shop. I talked with them and they'll be hooking everything to new stuff to see what happens. I thought I'd post this just to see if anyone might have tried making a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Thanks, Gene
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grandms
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Gene, I had a bunch of pictures on floppies because that's what my old Sony camera used for storage. Neither computer I have now has a floppy drive, so I bought an external floppy drive at W-M so that I could transfer the pictures OFF the floppies onto the hard drive on my computer. I have since backed these up on an external hard drive and should also make copies of all of them on DVDs just to make sure I don't lose them. Good to have copies in several places.
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Insert the floppy, go to Windows Explorer - right click Start, click Explore - now click on the A drive in the left side of the screen. Two things should happen, the light on the floppy drive should come on and the familiar ticking noise should be heard as the data is being read. Do both of these things happen? If it is working you will see the data on the right side of the split screen.

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