I have a quite important file on a 3.5" floppy disk that cannot be read. I've tried other disks in my drive and they work, and I've tried the bad disk in another computer and it didn't work, so I know it's definitely the disk. When I put the disk in the drive and attempt to open the file it makes a bad noise, and eventually I get a "the device is busy" message. I can't email myself the file, I can't move it or copy it to another folder on my hard drive. I was wondering if anyone knew of anything I can do to RETRIEVE the file myself. I have a Compaq Presario 1800T laptop and run XP Pro. The info is fairly important, so I want to make the effort to save the file, but not so important that I want to pay someone else to do what I might be ABLE to. Any ideas?Sarah:

Are you able to view the floppy disk in My Computer? Try right-clicking on it and choosing Properties from the context menu. Does My Computer display the properties of the floppy disk and indicate the file system is FAT? If it does, try choosing the Tools tab in the Properties DIALOG box and clicking the Check Now button under Error Checking. In the Check Disk dialog box that opens, check Automatically Fix File System Error and check Scan For And Attempt RECOVERY Of Bad Sectors, and then click Start. Windows will attempt to fix the errors on the diskette so you may then access your files.

Let us know how it goes,
DocIt didn't work. It got partway through "phase 2" and then I got an "unable to COMPLETE" message. Also, now I can't open the A drive at all, nor can I right-click it for that menu. I get a (not responding). Any other ideas or am I totally screwed now?Yes, I got it out of my computer and then restarted, then put it in a disk I know works and made sure the A drive is ok. Which it is. It's just this one dumb disk.