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| Author | unreadable error, floppy drive 4400/200 (Read 5416 times) | ||||||||||||||||||
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fictionmusic
4 MB  Posts: 4 
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on: February 03, 2009, 08:09
I'm not sure this is the place for this question so forgive me if it isn't, but I have a newly purchased 4400/200 computer I am trying to install some old software on. Unfortunately every floppy I put in it gets the same message: "this disk is unreadable by this macintosh, do you want to initialize this disc". I have searched around extensively and have found several solutions as far as CD-Rom errors of the same nature are concerned (almost always extensions missing or conflicting it seems), but I have found none about the floppy. I have tried formatting a disk and then loading that in and it works fine, so I don't think it is the drive itself. I have re-installed the OS from the original disk (7.5.3) as well as upgraded to 7.6.1 and am still getting the same error. As the stuff I am trying to access is the reason I bought the machine in the first place ($50.00 so hardly a real problem if I can't solve it) I'd really like to get this figured out. Right now I am taking very convoluted steps to get info into the machine (reading the floppies on an old PC with software that reads mac disks), burning a mac CD that won't open up into the 4400/200 (another related problem, but one at a time right now) but will in my G5. From there I burn an ISO 9600 disk that WILL work on the 4400, and from there I install. That works but I have so much stuff on floppies and disks that apparently won't work I don't really want to go that route each time. Surely there must be a simpler more obvious solution? Anybody? |
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wove
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1024 MB Posts: 1363
Reply #1 on: February 03, 2009, 22:47
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Floppy drives are now pretty old hardware. I think you will find that a great many of them do not work any longer. You most often find them full of dirt and gunk because the systems fan tend to use the drive slot as an air intake. The top cover can be easily removed from most of them. A good cleaning out with compressed air often is helpful. Wiping the tracks the heads move on with a rag and a little sewing machine oil will also often help. If all else fails there are lots and lots of unused ones around and you can probably pick up a working Mac floppy drive for a very small investment. bill
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fictionmusic
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4 MB Posts: 4
Reply #2 on: February 04, 2009, 01:54
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Hi Bill, thanks for replying. You are most likely right, the only thing I find odd is that it can format a floppy and subsequently, always seem to read THAT back. It seems like it is more a software problem than a mechanical one. I thought there might be some missing drivers. I will clean it out though and see what that does. If worst comes to worst it won't be a big problem to get a new one. Cheers.
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wove
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1024 MB Posts: 1363
Reply #3 on: February 04, 2009, 04:50
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If a floppy drive can format disks and read those disks, while being unable to read floppies created on another drive, it is probably do to a head alignment problem. In that case it would be best to get another drive. bill
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fictionmusic
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4 MB Posts: 4
Reply #4 on: February 04, 2009, 06:37
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ahh...I get it. Because the alignment is probably out, it refuses to read other floppies, but is it still able to write and read its own. Makes sense. Thanks for the reply.
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