Recovering Lost Data

Can't get that file to open? Here's how to get that data back!

SpinRite is you're first resort.
SpinRite is designed to recover unreadable data from hard and floppy disks. It will never make things worse, unlike Norton Disk Doctor, which will permanently damage disks under particular circumstances.
  1. First, take the Floppy Disk and the SpinRite Boot Disk to a known good computer.
  2. Insert the SpinRite Boot Disk into the Floppy Disk Drive and reboot the computer.
  3. Wait while the computer boots off of the SpinRite Boot Disk and begins SpinRite.
  4. SpinRite will begin with a blue and yellow screen. Watch the pretty colors, then press "j" four times until SpinRite reports "Running Integrity Checks."
  5. When SpinRite is finished checking, remove the SpinRite Boot Disk.
  6. Write-enable (unlock) the user's Floppy Disk and insert it in the Floppy Disk Drive (A:).
  7. Choose option 1, "Begin SpinRite."
  8. Follow the directions to select the A drive and exclude other drives from SpinRite Operations. Then press ENTER.
  9. At "About to Begin," press ENTER.

  10. Let SpinRite run. When it is finished, you will see the green "SpinRite has concluded all operations" window. Press the space bar.
  11. Choose "Detailed Technical Log," and press ENTER.

    Use the arrow keys to review the log in full. This will tell you if anything was wrong and what SpinRite did about it.
  12. When you understand what SpinRite did, Press ESC to return to the Main Menu.
  13. Choose "Exit" and press ENTER.

Once you have tried SpinRite, there still may be problems. Norton Disk Doctor is excellent at fixing broken file systems (i.e. cross linked files, corrupt FAT, and lost allocation units).

  1. (See Lab Assistant Manual)