Recovery from floppy disk

Using PhotoRec to recover lost data
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NissanCedric
Posts: 2
Joined: 07 May 2025, 03:42

Recovery from floppy disk

#1 Post by NissanCedric »

Hi.
I have a number of floppy disks and some files are unreadable. I have the latest version of TestDisk but it does not see the external FDD (connected via USB). It does see the internal and external HDs, SD card and USB memory stick, but not the FDD.

I tried your instructions:

Run cmd.exe
Use the cd to change directory to photorec_win.exe location
cd testdisk-6.10\win
Run PhotoRec
photorec_win.exe \\.\a:

All that occurs is a new command line box appears and immediately disappears. Can you advise me, please? Thank you.
recuperation
Posts: 3026
Joined: 04 Jan 2019, 09:48
Location: Hannover, Deutschland (Germany, Allemagne)

Re: Recovery from floppy disk

#2 Post by recuperation »

Try to use linux to access the floppy device /dev/fda and use ddrescue to rescue its content into a file. Continue working on the file instead of the floppy source.
If that fails, look into the BIOS of your computer. As far as I remember there are floppy related USB settings like floppy emulation during boot time.

If everything fails, buy a used floppy drive (not an USB one) and connect it to an old machine with a connector for flopp drives.
Run an older linux version with lower physical memory requirements if necessary.
NissanCedric
Posts: 2
Joined: 07 May 2025, 03:42

Re: Recovery from floppy disk

#3 Post by NissanCedric »

Thank you for those suggestions.

I would first like to try TestDisk to recover the files from the floppies.

Why does TestDisk not recognise the FDD?
recuperation
Posts: 3026
Joined: 04 Jan 2019, 09:48
Location: Hannover, Deutschland (Germany, Allemagne)

Re: Recovery from floppy disk

#4 Post by recuperation »

I don't know.
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