Any way to recover this file off of this messed up floppy disk? Please help!

[Metalloid]

I have a floppy disk that I put my most updated Max Payne saved game on before I reformatted my hard drive. Now that I want to get it, it gives me errors. If I try to cut and paste the file from the floppy to my desktop, it gets about half way through the file transfer and then says "Cannot copy Savegame1: The system cannot read from the specified device". Someone please help. About 8 hours worth of game play is on the line here.

 

[dkozloski]

There used to be a DOS Norton Utility that would do a recover on floppy disk data. You might check around to se if you can find it.

 

[WarCon]

It may be possible to do a thorough scandisk on the floppy and recover it. It can mess it up worse though. Is there any available space on the floppy? Scandisk needs to be able to move the files in the bad section. If there was too much corruption of the file then its lost anyway.

 

[DeschutesCore]

Ontrack has a program called Easy Recovery Pro. It will attempt to auto detect the file system and recover it automatically to a folder you choose. ER does not write to the disk, only read, so unless your head ia actually touching the diskette, the possibility of further damage is thin.

DC

 

[Metalloid]

Well at the present state, I can't get the file, so its worth a shot. Anybody got a link to that handy program? And yes, there is 498kb free on the disk. Can someone give me the best course of action please? Would it be best to go ahead and do a scandisk, and then try that program, or just go straight to the program? Thanks guys.

 

[DeschutesCore]

ER is here, but it's not cheap: http://www.ontrack.com/easyrecovery/

I'm a technician at a small mom and pop shop and we happen to have a license, so I use it religiously. Problem is I never realised how expensive it is. Base single user license is $199 (US). Not sure what else to suggest.

DC

 

[Metalloid]

Well considering the fact that I would start from the beginning of the game again if you paid me $200, its not worth it to me. I will try a scandisk and let you know how it goes.

 

[VBboy]

The game is so much fun, you should simply start from the beginning

You can use the shareware version of Norton Utilities (www.Symantec.com) - better than scandisk. I wouldn't bother, though... Just play the game again.

 

[Metalloid]

W00T. Shouts out to WarCon. You saved me hours of playing levels that I have already played. Scandisk did the trick. I ran it and sure enough there were 2 bad clusters, and scandisk fixed them. Thanks everyone.

 

[Metalloid]

NOOOOO! I tried to play the game, but when I loaded that saved game, it gave me an invalid data exception error. Any way to recover from this?

 

[WarCon]

Sorry man...........

I don't think so. You can go back to the way it was if you made the undo file though.

 

[VBboy]

Originally posted by: Metalloid15
W00T. Shouts out to WarCon. You saved me hours of playing levels that I have already played. Scandisk did the trick. I ran it and sure enough there were 2 bad clusters, and scandisk fixed them. Thanks everyone.

It was actually a bad sector, not a cluster. Or a lost cluster. If the disk was actually defective, it would be a bad sector, and there is really no way to fix them. I mean, if data is missing in a certain part of the disk because the disk is defective there, then there is no way to recover it. If some non-critical part of the file happened to be located there, you'd be ok. But in your case, it was something that the game actually needed

Sor-ry.

 

[stevewm]

This is exactlly why you should NEVER rely on floppy drives for ANYTHING.

Make a small partition on your hardrive and backup all your data there, why leave to old and unreliable technology?

 

[VBboy]

A good backup actually consists of making a copy of your data, then taking it and storing offsite, in a remote location, locked up in a secure facility. Because as long as it's in your house, let alone in your computer, it's not safe.

But since we can't afford that, I would use CDRW for backups. They are very fast, cannot be magnetically destroyed, and are fairly shock/scratch proof. And if it *starts* going bad, you usually have a few days to make another backup

 

[Metalloid]

Well this really sucks. Oh well, guess it get to kill Benni Gognitti and play like 3 or 4 more levels all over again.