floppy disc - again!

[cameo]

Me again!!
Ref 2 questions below.
my previously ok floppy now won't open at all. It asks me if I want to formatt it.
Do I need to do this, wiil my floppy then open? the documents on it are really important.
I now know I should of saved them to my hard drive.
The documents were originaly done on another system.

i have a very basic knowledge of computers, so if any answers could be kept as simple as possible I would be very grateful.

[mrknowall]

AS far as i a no some floppys are formatted and some are not. If you format it now im sure you will lose all data.
If Ethel is around she should be able to help you.

[vehelpfulguy]

DO NOT FORMAT

You will lose ALL the data on the diskette if you do.

[vehelpfulguy]

A someone else has said, floppy disks are not very reliable.

Also, a diskette created on one computer may not be able to be read on another computer.

Firstly DONT PANIC, and DONT FORMAT the diskkete.

My guess is the data IS still on the diskette, so what you need to do is try it on a few different computers.

If you can take it back to the one you did it on originally that would be best. If not try friends and neighbours PCs till you find one that can read it, or maybe your friendly PC shop may help.

In future store data on a USB key, picture here

http://opensource.bureau-cornavin.com/belkin/u sb-key.jpg

You can buy these in any computer shop and they are very cheap (�10 or so).

You plug them in a USB slot in your computer (most computers now have a USB slot).

It is then very easy to move files from a hard disk to a USB key, or from a USB key to a hard disk.

[vehelpfulguy]

One further thing, you should LOCK the diskette so files cannot be deleted, nor can it be formatted.

Here is a picture of a diskette.

http://www1.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_app rove/1850417/2/istockphoto_1850417_diskette_4. jpg

If you look carefully at that picture you see a small square in the bottom right.

This square can slide so a "hole" appears in the diskette (you can see through it).

If the hole is showing the diskette CAN be formatted and files deleted.

Make sure the hole DOES NOT show

Leave it like this (hole NOT showing) and then you cant accidently delete any files off it or format it.

[cameo]

Thankyou very much for your answers.
I tried it on a neighbours computer, but no luck.
Will have to wait until people get home tonight to try it on some others.
I hope I can get it to work or i'm going to be in the s**t!