How do I format a disk without erasing its contents?

J

jkilmins

Is there any way to either format a disk without erasing its contents, or
some other way to retrieve a file from a disk that my computer won't open
because the disk is not formatted?
 
G

Gyorgy Moldova [MCSE+I, MVP]

if Windows says the disk is unformatted it can mean that it can't recognize
its filesystem, possible because it is corrupted or a type, which windows
can't manage. The answer is no, you can't "format" a partition without
erasing its contents.

hth
g
 
J

jkilmins

Is there any way to access the file I saved on this disk then? And how could
a disk that I've been using, opening and saving on using the same computer,
become unopenable or unformatted?
 
J

jkilmins

I've tried using several but on all of them it says that the a drive is not
accessible because the disk is not formatted. Is there anything else I can do?
 
G

Gyorgy Moldova [MCSE+I, MVP]

is it a cd or a harddrive?

if its a HDD (I guess so) it could become corrupted for a various number of
reasons such as improper shutdowns, etc. Certain recovery tools exist to
deal with HDDs like yours (though success, as always, not guaranteed...)

I'd do a search on google for "disk recovery"

hth
g
 
M

Mary Sauer

When my floppy drive died this was the error I consistently received. You can buy a
floppy drive at about five bucks. Go to your local thrift store and you may buy one
for 50 cents.
 
B

Bob I

May want to see if you can find a Windows 98 or ME computer and try it
there. They are a lot less critical about reading diskettes. If you do
get it to read it, save the contents to the hard-drive and then copy
them back to a diskette that was formatted on the other computer. If you
already are using Win 98 computers, then you will need to use a diskette
utility program to get the data off.
 
O

Opinicus

jkilmins said:
Is there any way to either format a disk
Click to expand...
By "disk" do you mean 3.5 inch floppy?
without erasing its contents, or
some other way to retrieve a file from a disk that my
computer won't open
because the disk is not formatted?
Click to expand...

If you do and if you've been opening and saving files to it
directly from Office programs like Word, you're probably
screwed.
 
C

cck

Hi, nice to meet you jkilmins.
my name is ck, i also have the problem as same as yours ,untill now i still
cant find the way to settle it. may i know did you got the way? could you
please tech me.
 
D

DL

Nothing to do with Office, post to the group that supports your o/s
Formatting erases the contents
 
V

Val

Find a computer still running Win98. Copy the file to some other media, or
email it, or access via network.

Win XP has sucky drivers for floppy disks. It's a crap shoot to use
floppies any more.


Hi, nice to meet you jkilmins.
my name is ck, i also have the problem as same as yours ,untill now i still
cant find the way to settle it. may i know did you got the way? could you
please tech me.
 
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