Information Strategy and Technology Services
Return to: ISTS FAQ Home > Pools and barns
Floppy/CD/DVD disks are prone to errors for a number of reasons particularly that the drives used to read/write to them are highly precise devices and are thus prone to slight damage or even general wear and tear.
It is important in the first instance to try to read the disk/CD/DVD on the same PC that was used to write the disk/CD/DVD. This is the best chance of retrieving work as if that drive is somewhat faulty it may be able to read its own disks. If you do recover files remember to back them up to a different medium.
We recommend students use USB/flash drives as they are a lot more reliable than optical or magnetic media. They use flash memory meaning no moving parts. You can get large capacity USB drives for around $30.
