-tictech message:
Dear Folks,
>
> Here's a problem we are having. Any ideas?
>
> We put a floppy disk into one of our new Dell student
> computers, and it says
> that the disk is not formatted-- would you like to format it
> now?
Is it just doing this on one student computer (you only mention one)? If
so, you could have a computer with a malfunctioning floppy drive. What
happens if you put the disk into other student computers?
Virginia has touched on an issue that has been the source of some problems
in my area through the years, namely: use and misuse of floppy disks. Some
general thoughts on how one might approach floppy disk difficulties:
I have found that floppy disks will sometimes give an error in some
computers and not in others. Assuming that the computers themselves do not
have problems, I usually assume that the disk is going bad when this
happens, and make sure that I copy all the contents of the disk onto
whichever computer I can get to work to save the data from loss.
If, when you try to transfer files from a floppy to a computer and one of
the files won't copy, it generally indicates a corrupted file. At that
point, you might try Scandisk or a Norton's disk utility to repair it - but
be prepared to spend some significant time with dubious results. Given
these two factors, your first question to the student will probably be
whether they have a backup and do they think an attempt at disk repair is
important. I often let the student babysit the process of disk repair if I
am short on time.
We have had lots and lots of problems with students saving their only copy
of valuable data on floppies which they then toss into their purses or
backpacks: often with sad results. I counsel students to put their floppy
disks in disk holders before transporting the disk, and always to save to
the harddrive before saving to a floppy or printing.
These days, I try to avoid floppy disks whenever possible, favoring instead
USB flash pen drives, CD burners or shared folders from a server.
Hope this is useful for some...
*** tony
Tony Hand
tghand@seattleschools.org
This is a
> disk that has been used successfully in the CWS machines, and in my
> librarian's laptop. What could be the reason that the student
> computers
> can't read it?
> Thanks!
>
> Virginia Allemann
> Librarian
> Salmon Bay School (formerly COHO*NOMS)
> (206) 252-1737
> vaallemann@seattleschools.org
>
>
>
>
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>
>
Mark Ahlness
mlahlness@seattleschools.org
www.earthdaybags.org/mahlness.htm
Arbor Heights Elementary School
www.arborheights.com
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