'A:\' is not accessable. The disk media is not recognized.

[Alyssa]

I have a few disks that I work with every day; documents that I'm constantly
working on for one reason or another. But today, I opened Word, clicked on
open, and proceeded to try and open the file under 3 1/2 Floppy (A - as I
always do - but a message popped up saying: " 'A:\' is not accessable. The
disk media is not recognized. It may not be formatted."

I had just been working on the disk moments before, but I was also working
with another disk. During the transaction, the files were switched. One
disk's files showed up on the opposite disk, and the other disk's files
dissapeared completely. Where did they go and can I get them back?

 

[macropod]

Hi Alyssa,

Working with files on floppy disks is not a good idea. They often just don't
have enough room to store both the document and the temporary files Word
places in the same folder. Swapping floppy disks during a Word session is
even worse, since Word will immediately lose track of where its temporary
files are. Either or both will end in grief.

If you close Word, without saving any more files to the floppy disks, you
*may* be able to recover your files. Copy any files you find onto your hard
disk, and change their extensions to '.doc'. Then open them in Word. With
any luck, you'll find one or more copies of each.

Cheers

 

[Stefan Blom]

I'm afraid there's a good chance you've lost both the Word document
and the floppy disk. :-(

The reason is that floppies don't have enough space for the temporary
files created by Word during editing.

To prevent this from happening in the future, make sure never to open
a Word document directly from a floppy. Instead, copy it to the hard
disk. When editing is complete, you can copy the Word document to the
floppy disk.

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP


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