On 17 May 2002, at 16:14, AMD950 wrote:

> At 03:47 PM 5/17/2002 -0400, Doug Replied:
>
> >This can happen when the "Detect Disk Change" sensor is not working on the
> >floppy.  The index of a floppy is read into cache memory when a disk is
> >first accessed and subsequent accesses to the floppy use the cached
> >index.
> >Doug
>
> Thanks for the reply Doug.  You hit it right on the button for
> PC1.  But, recall that after reading original offending bootdisk
> disk on PC2, ( btw, the FD seems to be fine; unless it's something
> intermittent), the cached data appeared to have been written to
> another floppy disk (which contained much needed files).  I say
> appeared because when opening up any file on the needed floppy, the
> data seems either corrupted, or could actually be the db files that
> were orignally on this floppy.  BTW, tried reading said files with
> various originally associated apps, all to no avail.
>
> Ian Carmichael

  The key phrase is

> ... subsequent accesses to the floppy use the cached index.

  These "subsequent accesses" don't just include READs.  They include
WRITING the updated index when a change is made to a file on the
disk. The OS assumes that the cached index info is correct, and that
it can allocate new files/blocks and update the index on the disk,
based on that cached info.
  Even though MOST of the data blocks of your old files are probably
still on the drive, the information which linked them together as
files has been written over with the FAT info for another diskette.

  It's possible that a professional "data recovery" outfit could
help, especially if you're willing to give them lots of money.

David Gillett

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