Error Messages While Backing Up to Some Floppy Disk Drives

• Microsoft Windows 95
• Microsoft Windows 95 OEM Service Release version 2

SYMPTOMS

When you are using Microsoft Backup to back up data to certain models of floppy disk drives, you may receive the following error messages:

• Warning: Tape needs to be erased before operation can proceed.
• Microsoft Backup unable to read from the disk or network drive. Quit and restart Backup, and then try again.
• Warning: This operation has been canceled by the system.

CAUSE

Some models of floppy disk drives require specific timing and delays between disk operations to work properly. The timing implemented by the Windows 95 floppy disk driver is not sufficient for some of these drives.

MORE INFORMATION

There are two separate timing issues known to relate to this symptom:

• Some floppy disk drives require a specific minimum delay time after a Write operation, before a Step operation can occur.
• Some floppy disk drives require a specific minimum head-settling time between a Seek and subsequent Write operation.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Windows 95. A fix to this problem is in development, but has not been regression tested and may be destabilizing in production environments. Microsoft does not recommend implementing the fix at this time. Contact Microsoft Technical Support for more information about the availability of this fix.