Comments on: Rectangular peg in larger rectangular hole

Question: Rectangular peg in larger rectangular hole

picklebird — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 10:37:31 -0800

AACK! Accidentally, put old 3 1/2" floppy disk into the zip disk drive on my desktop. I can't get it out and the clicking sound is making me crazy.

Yes, I am an idiot. I am moving offices and cleaning everything out. I had a stack of old 3 1/2" floppies that I wanted to be sure didn't have anything important on them. I was speeding my way through and then accidentally fed one of them into the zip disk drive that is right below the floppy drive. I cannot seem to pry it out (although I don't have any tools, e.g., pliers, here at work) and the drive reader WILL NOT STOP driving to read the disk, making the most annoying clickity-click sound. Please help me before I have to tell my department administrator who will berate me endlessly before helping. Taking suggestions for how to either: 1) get disk out or 2) stop computer from trying to read it. (I never use the zip drive, obviously.)

By: picklebird

picklebird — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 10:43:18 -0800

Well, I wasted my weekly question. . . I managed to pry it out using a heavy-duty paper clip. Phew.

By: The Deej

The Deej — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 10:56:15 -0800

Mark yourself Best Answer. And if you have a life-threatening situation and need to borrow my question this week, just holler.

And if you use the borrowed question to ask what to name your cat, I swear by all that is holy I will track you down, kill you, revive you, kill you again, then hurt you.

By: mendel

mendel — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 11:03:51 -0800

For next time: The answer to (2) is "Shut down computer".

By: kables

kables — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 11:53:48 -0800

For future floppiers: I've had success with tweezers.

By: IronLizard

IronLizard — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 13:40:50 -0800

I like needle nose pliers, personally.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 13:44:59 -0800

Yeah, i was just going to say "Pull really hard"

By: anaelith

anaelith — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 17:20:34 -0800

Scissors function as pliers in a non-toolkit-available emergency, and the pointed tips are often easier to insert into tight spaces anyway. I did exactly this once. (Who decided it would be a good idea to put a zip drive there anyway?!)

By: The Deej

The Deej — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 19:00:43 -0800

What's a Zip drive???????

(just kidding)

By: FuManchu

FuManchu — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 12:39:35 -0800

I would guess there are some good suggestions on Usenet.

My first thought when I read this question was "Is it 1999 again?"

By: misterbrandt

misterbrandt — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 12:57:39 -0800

Pop the case open and pull the plug on the zip drive