Flashback! - LS-120 Imation \

[Jay_77]

Please help!
A few years ago, before using CD disks, DVD's, etc. for storing lots of files,
I bought a dozen or so Superdisks (LS-120 Imation) and loaded them with
files. Since then, I've purchased two newer systems and now am using
Windows XP. I asked the system builder to add my Superdisk drive and
he said the disks were not able to be read so he did not add the drive, which remains in my previous system.
There must be a way for me to resurrect these files from the superdisks and transfer them to the large hard drive on my current system.
Is there some kind of "driver" that's missing or that would make the difference in opening these disks?
I know the superdisks are not defective. For one thing, I hardly played them
back once I put the files on them (mainly JPG's), so I gotta believe the disks
are viable ... but for some reason, nobody I know seems interested or inclined to find a way for me to put all these Superdisks to use!

Please help me out.
If you would, I'd appreciate your sending me an email for your response, as well as this forum.
My email address is: Jayh1956@gmail.com
Thanks much,
Jay Hancock

 

[willard]

First of all, never post your email on a forum. Spambots comb the web for email addresses so they can add you to their list to spam. Also, it's considered quite rude to post on a forum asking for help in a different medium. If you want help from a forum, expect to get help on the forum.

I know the superdisks are not defective. For one thing, I hardly played them
back once I put the files on them (mainly JPG's), so I gotta believe the disks
are viable

That's hardly conclusive proof that the disks are good. Magnetic storage is notoriously unreliable, and can just stop working for no reason. Zip disks did this all the time, but I don't know about any similar issues with superdisks.

It sounds to me like either the disks are bad or your drives are bad. If you had a spare drive and disk to test with to narrow down what's going wrong, that would probably help.

If it's not a hardware problem, I'd say the next most likely culprit would be the lack of a driver for the hardware in Windows XP. Check with the manufacturer of the drives (if they still exist) and see if they can help you get them working in Windows XP.

 

[rkleaman]

Please help!
A few years ago, before using CD disks, DVD's, etc. for storing lots of files,
I bought a dozen or so Superdisks (LS-120 Imation) and loaded them with
files. Since then, I've purchased two newer systems and now am using
Windows XP. I asked the system builder to add my Superdisk drive and
he said the disks were not able to be read so he did not add the drive, which remains in my previous system.
There must be a way for me to resurrect these files from the superdisks and transfer them to the large hard drive on my current system.
Is there some kind of "driver" that's missing or that would make the difference in opening these disks?
I know the superdisks are not defective. For one thing, I hardly played them
back once I put the files on them (mainly JPG's), so I gotta believe the disks
are viable ... but for some reason, nobody I know seems interested or inclined to find a way for me to put all these Superdisks to use!

Please help me out.
If you would, I'd appreciate your sending me an email for your response, as well as this forum.
My email address is: Jayh1956@gmail.com
Thanks much,
Jay Hancock

First, the email address given here is not valid.

I have a Mitsubishi LS-120 internal drive that was manufactured in 1998. It operates perfectly with a SATA to IDE adaptor on a Sata bus. My present OS is WinXP Pro SP3 and it recognized my LS-120 drive after the BIOS was able to recognize it. Also, when I installed the drive, XP recognized it as new hardware and found the correct driver. If you intend to use an adaptor so that your drive operates on a SATA bus, be aware that the drive is very fussy about what type of adaptor is used. In addition, LS-120 drives seem operate well on an IDE bus when there is no other device connected to the IDE cable. My adaptor is a SIIG SC-SA0112-S1 with a red circuit board. This particular adaptor has been discontinued by SIIG and they now supply a similar device with the part number SC-SA0Q12-S1 with a green circuit board. SIIG tells me that the green circuit board devices are the same as the red cicuit board devices. The green circuit board devices DO NOT OPERATE PROPERLY in my system on any of my PATA devices. For your information, the 32bit XP driver is sfloppy.sys and it is found in:

Your boot drive:\windows\system32\drivers

I also have the original 3.5 inch driver floppy that came with the drive. I never used the drive after I bought it in 2000 but I intend to rebuilld my system with a new MBO and a quad core i7 cpu. The new mbo has no provision to support a floppy drive so I thought to experiment with the Mitsubishi to learn if might be used on a SATA bus. I even have the original box that the Mitsubishi came in. It is labeled as a Digital Research drive but Digital Research never produced any LS-120 drives. They simply did a relabel. I'm from the "very old school" and I want a floppy that will read 3.5 inch disks.

In the event that you fail to get your superdrive operational, I offer to transfer your files to a CD or DVD, whatever you prefer. My conditions are that you supply me with the super drive disks, sufficient CD or DVD disk, and return shipping cost to return all to you. I am a retired electrical engineer and I know what it means to lose data. I have no wish to gain anything from the transaction and I promise that I shall not retain any of your information after the transaction. Let ne know if you wish to go further with this.

Regards,

Robert Leaman

 

[fzabkar]

@Robert, I just wanted to congratulate you on your generosity. Kudos.

 

[willard]

While Robert's offer is very generous, the fact remains that this thread has been dead for about six months, the author had only one post and that post basically said "I'm never coming back." Chances of the OP ever seeing that message are statistically insignificant.

 

[rkleaman]

While Robert's offer is very generous, the fact remains that this thread has been dead for about six months, the author had only one post and that post basically said "I'm never coming back." Chances of the OP ever seeing that message are statistically insignificant.

Fine. I made the offer and according to you it will never be accepted.

R. Leaman