Detecting floppy present

Is there a way to detect the presence a 1.44 floppy
without having to open the drive. Opening the A: drive
takes more than a second and I need to detect whether a
folopy is inserted in the drive periodically.

Thanks

David
Fri Aug 01 20:43:21 CDT 2003

This is from a message I posted on NTDEV some time back. Do you ever search
the newsgroups for answers?

We determined that attempting to check the floppy drive for media at 5
second intervals would cause the drive to fail within about 3 months of
normal 9 to 5 usage. It is NOT possible to check the changeline without
spinning up the motor. You don't have to wait for the motor to reach full
speed, but the power surge occurs on the drive. Your users won't like it
if you make them replace their floppy drives several times a year.

"alaa" <alaa@voice4web.com> wrote in message
news:05cc01c3588f$22ebc430$a101280a@phx.gbl...
> Is there a way to detect the presence a 1.44 floppy
> without having to open the drive. Opening the A: drive
> takes more than a second and I need to detect whether a
> folopy is inserted in the drive periodically.
>
> Thanks
>

David
Sat Aug 02 13:27:20 CDT 2003

Why didn't you answer my question? Try researching the hardware and how it
is implemented. Define "open the drive". This is a device driver
newsgroup, so CreateFile() from win32 is not possible. Define
"periodically". Read, re-read, and re-read again my post below.

"alaa" <alaa@voice4web.com> wrote in message
news:05e301c358a0$5f528100$a301280a@phx.gbl...
>
> So are you saying it is impossibe to detect the presence
> of the floppy without opening the drive.
>
>
> >-----Original Message-----
> >This is from a message I posted on NTDEV some time back.
> Do you ever search
> >the newsgroups for answers?
> >
> >We determined that attempting to check the floppy drive
> for media at 5
> >second intervals would cause the drive to fail within
> about 3 months of
> >normal 9 to 5 usage. It is NOT possible to check the
> changeline without
> >spinning up the motor. You don't have to wait for the
> motor to reach full
> >speed, but the power surge occurs on the drive. Your
> users won't like it
> >if you make them replace their floppy drives several
> times a year.
> >
> >"alaa" <alaa@voice4web.com> wrote in message
> >news:05cc01c3588f$22ebc430$a101280a@phx.gbl...
> >> Is there a way to detect the presence a 1.44 floppy
> >> without having to open the drive. Opening the A: drive
> >> takes more than a second and I need to detect whether a
> >> folopy is inserted in the drive periodically.
> >>
> >> Thanks
> >>
> >
> >
> >.
> >

al
Sun Aug 03 08:42:41 CDT 2003


Why dont you just answer the qustion. It is none of your
buissnes where I post. If you know the answer then just
answer it. I did a search in the newsgroup and I did not
find anything about that. I like to check the presence of
the drive from user mode and not from kernel mode.




>-----Original Message-----
>Why didn't you answer my question? Try researching the
hardware and how it
>is implemented. Define "open the drive". This is a
device driver
>newsgroup, so CreateFile() from win32 is not possible.
Define
>"periodically". Read, re-read, and re-read again my post
below.
>
>"alaa" <alaa@voice4web.com> wrote in message
>news:05e301c358a0$5f528100$a301280a@phx.gbl...
>>
>> So are you saying it is impossibe to detect the presence
>> of the floppy without opening the drive.
>>
>>
>> >-----Original Message-----
>> >This is from a message I posted on NTDEV some time
back.
>> Do you ever search
>> >the newsgroups for answers?
>> >
>> >We determined that attempting to check the floppy drive
>> for media at 5
>> >second intervals would cause the drive to fail within
>> about 3 months of
>> >normal 9 to 5 usage. It is NOT possible to check the
>> changeline without
>> >spinning up the motor. You don't have to wait for the
>> motor to reach full
>> >speed, but the power surge occurs on the drive. Your
>> users won't like it
>> >if you make them replace their floppy drives several
>> times a year.
>> >
>> >"alaa" <alaa@voice4web.com> wrote in message
>> >news:05cc01c3588f$22ebc430$a101280a@phx.gbl...
>> >> Is there a way to detect the presence a 1.44 floppy
>> >> without having to open the drive. Opening the A:
drive
>> >> takes more than a second and I need to detect
whether a
>> >> folopy is inserted in the drive periodically.
>> >>
>> >> Thanks
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>> >.
>> >
>
>
>.
>

David
Sun Aug 03 13:49:30 CDT 2003

NO!

"al" <alaa@voice4web.com> wrote in message
news:04a901c359c5$1c963020$a501280a@phx.gbl...
>
> Why dont you just answer the qustion. It is none of your
> buissnes where I post. If you know the answer then just
> answer it. I did a search in the newsgroup and I did not
> find anything about that. I like to check the presence of
> the drive from user mode and not from kernel mode.
>
>
>
>
> >-----Original Message-----
> >Why didn't you answer my question? Try researching the
> hardware and how it
> >is implemented. Define "open the drive". This is a
> device driver
> >newsgroup, so CreateFile() from win32 is not possible.
> Define
> >"periodically". Read, re-read, and re-read again my post
> below.
> >
> >"alaa" <alaa@voice4web.com> wrote in message
> >news:05e301c358a0$5f528100$a301280a@phx.gbl...
> >>
> >> So are you saying it is impossibe to detect the presence
> >> of the floppy without opening the drive.
> >>
> >>
> >> >-----Original Message-----
> >> >This is from a message I posted on NTDEV some time
> back.
> >> Do you ever search
> >> >the newsgroups for answers?
> >> >
> >> >We determined that attempting to check the floppy drive
> >> for media at 5
> >> >second intervals would cause the drive to fail within
> >> about 3 months of
> >> >normal 9 to 5 usage. It is NOT possible to check the
> >> changeline without
> >> >spinning up the motor. You don't have to wait for the
> >> motor to reach full
> >> >speed, but the power surge occurs on the drive. Your
> >> users won't like it
> >> >if you make them replace their floppy drives several
> >> times a year.
> >> >
> >> >"alaa" <alaa@voice4web.com> wrote in message
> >> >news:05cc01c3588f$22ebc430$a101280a@phx.gbl...
> >> >> Is there a way to detect the presence a 1.44 floppy
> >> >> without having to open the drive. Opening the A:
> drive
> >> >> takes more than a second and I need to detect
> whether a
> >> >> folopy is inserted in the drive periodically.
> >> >>
> >> >> Thanks
> >> >>
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >.
> >> >
> >
> >
> >.
> >

CheckAbdoul
Mon Aug 04 15:24:52 CDT 2003

Try writing a dummy file to A:\\ using WritePrivateProfileString() API
on regular intervals. If the API succeeds, you have a floppy inside the
drive. Once that is done use CreateFile(..) to get the BPB in order to
detect if it is a 1.44 floppy or not. You can also use GetDiskFreeSpace() to
calculate the size of the floppy.

--
Cheers
Check Abdoul [ VC++ MVP ]
-----------------------------------

"alaa" <alaa@voice4web.com> wrote in message
news:05cc01c3588f$22ebc430$a101280a@phx.gbl...
> Is there a way to detect the presence a 1.44 floppy
> without having to open the drive. Opening the A: drive
> takes more than a second and I need to detect whether a
> folopy is inserted in the drive periodically.
>
> Thanks
>