Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!psuvax1!psuvm!jah4
From: JAH4@PSUVM.BITNET (JEFFREY A. HAMMAN)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Need help for a sick floppy disk
Message-ID: <89334.195301JAH4@PSUVM.BITNET>
Date: 1 Dec 89 00:53:01 GMT
References: <874@pmafire.UUCP>
Organization: Penn State University
Lines: 87

In article <874@pmafire.UUCP>, geoff@pmafire.UUCP (Geoff Allen) says:
>
>The other day, I was working on a HyperCard stack which I was keeping on
>a floppy.  When I quit HyperCard, I got a System Error (don't recall the
>number) and restarted.  I didn't reinsert the floppy at that time.
>
>Well, last night I went to work on my stack.   When I inserted the
>floppy disk, the Finder greeted me with a dialog box stating that the
>disk needed "minor repairs" and asking me if I wanted it to repair the
>disk.  If I cancelled, I was informed that the disk was unreadable and
>the disk was ejected.  If I said to repair the disk, the mac churned for
>a while and reported back that the disk was unable to be repaired.
>
>
>MacTools brings up a window for the disk.  No files appear in the
>window.  But MacTools *is* able to tell me that the disk has 360K used
>and 440K available (or whatever the actual numbers are).
>
         I have had this problem in the past.  It says the files
         are there by the room that it says is taken up.  Try the
         product "1st Aid HFS" by 1st Aid Software in Boston. You
         can only order this through the company though.  I spoke
         with the company owner at MacWorld/Boston/89 and complemented
         her on a very well made & thought out product.  It definately
         does what it is supposed to do..recover files off of floppy
         disks.  It works on Hard Disks also...but I tend to use
         Symantec Utilities. The cost is $99.00 (but pays for itself)
         and can be ordered at:

                    1st AID SOFTWARE, Inc.
                    42 Radnor Road
                    Boston, MA 02135

                    1-800-THE-FIXR

>"Verify Disk" using MacTools gives me several errors, all with an ID of
>-72.
>
          I have always taken this to mean in laymans terms
          "physical damage".  The manual makes reference to
          a somewhat technical explaination, but I have found
          that you should never use these disks again.  I have
          formatted them succesfully, but they never verify
          as OK afterward.

>If I examine the disk using the "View Edit" command, it appears that the
>files are still there.
>
>It seems at some time or another, a message flashed by that the Desktop
>file was corrupted or missing or something.
>Now for the question:  Is there any hope for this disk?  At least one of
>the files represents a bit of work I was doing.  (I do have another
>copy, but it's outdated).  Any and all help would certainly be
>appreciated.
>
>Thanks,
>Geoff
>
>--
>Geoff Allen                  \  WINCO doesn't believe in Macs,
>{uunet|bigtex}!pmafire!geoff  \  so of course these are my views.
>ucdavis!egg-id!pmafire!geoff   \

    You may be in luck if the file in question is not
    stored on a bad sector and only the directory information
    is damaged.  You can copy a file over and it will "zero
    out" bad sectors if it happens to be on any bad ones, but
    recovery isn't too good for database files of any kind.
    You are usually going to do better with word processing
    files as you can extract the text.    1st Aid HFS has always
    done a good job for me on a tremendous amount of floppy disks,
    and I am not saying that cause I have any stock in the company,
    No affiliation.

    If you are looking for a no-cost way of recovering this file,
    I have not found a way with the particular symptoms that you
    have just descibed.  Copying the disk over and working off of
    the copy may give you some relief, but I doubt it as I have
    only gotten copies that show zero files but disk space taken
    up.  Find a persom with 1st Aid HFS and get him to do it for
    you.....I know I always hate people giving me the solution that
    upgrading or buying something new will take care of everything.

                                    Jeffrey A. Hamman
                                    Microcomputer Systems Consultant
                                    Coordinator, Student Support
                                    The Pennsylvania State University