3.5 Inch Floppy Drive Problems

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I am currently having a problem with my 3.5" Diskette drive. It doesn't seem to want to write to a disk after a certain point, and I've gotten everything from a 'sector not found' error to a 'file permission' error. I've tried a number of diskettes, so I am pretty sure the disks aren't the problem. Is the drive dirty? Worn out?

Thanks so much!

- John

could be either. They used to make disk cleaners, not sure you can still find them (but ask around). Was more prevalent in the 90s.

Could be the floppy. I think you can still find them, they're not all that expensive.

Actually, floppies are almost completely gone; most major companies don't even provide a space for them (motherboards on desktops might, but laptops? gone with the wind...

You can pick up a USB that holds dozens of times more info, for just a few dollars more...

The drives can get gunked up easily. Take a cotton swap with isopropyl alcohol and clean the heads *carefully*. There are countless guides on the web that show you how to do it - it's a very simple process.

Part of the Drive might be jammed too.

It seems to be doing just fine now. For a few various reasons I keep my floppy drive around (The price of disks are next to absolute nothing.) I do have a USB thumb drive however.

I found a few cleaning kits on eBay. They’re upwards of $5, with shipping. Think that’s a good deal?

Thanks so much for helping me out!

I second that. I use this method all the time with my Commodore cassette players and it works just fine with floppy disk drives (PC, Amiga/ST, 1541 et al.)

if it's a question of economics; it's much cheaper to go per cost vs capacity to a memory stick (or as they call them at work, 'jump drives')

Out of curiosity, why are you still using floppy drives?

I got a cleaning kit off eBay for next to nothing and it fixed the drive just fine. Thank you!

I continue to use floppies, even though I have a USB memory drive and a Zip Drive, simply because I can buy floppy disks for literally pennies.

I think it would be also that some people just like old technology in some way. Which does have its uses.

However I went through my family's old floppies, and there wasn't much backup or anything much on them at all lololol

OK, just so you know, Zip drives have also been obsolete for years now... I do remember when my family first got a Zip drive. It was glorious. All of a sudden storage space was no constraint.

You say the floppies are cheap. I would be curious to see a comparison of cost per megabyte of storage space against a USB external HD. You can pretty easily pick up a terabyte hard drive for $100 or less nowadays. By my calculations that's less than 10¢/gigabyte*. The best floppies they had (in 3.5inch) never held more than a quarter of a gigabyte. So even if you're paying 2¢/floppy, you're getting the worse end of the deal, especially considering slower transfer speeds and the inconvenience of floppy drives.

*Side note: Holy s**t, we can buy storage space for under 10¢/gigabyte now? The future is here, and it is freaking awesome.

I didn't know floppies were in use anymore. Been using a USB Flash Drive since 7th grade back in 2004.

I do have to respectfully ask that this is a bit of a sore issue to be totally honest. I actually thought of placing this in The Haven.

There is nothing wrong with using 3.5" floppy disks or any old computer equipment for that matter. I still use 5.25" floppy disks on my Commodore VIC 20. There is a tremendous amount of fun to be had with old computer gear.

I am certainly sorry; I hope my sensitivty hasn't offended anyone. Of course, I trust that people on WP more than anywhere understand such hangups for otherwise non-issues. I feel really strange about using floppies for some reason; I hope I didn't insult anyone with my behavior. Please forgive me.

I have not used a floppy drive in years.