Files & Folders:
Format Floppy

 Title: Jan's Illustrated Computer Literacy 101

Formatting your first disk is a bit scary and a bit risky, if you are not careful.

WarningIt is quite easy to erase your whole hard disk by choosing the wrong drive.

The menu command  Format  is not on the  File  menu unless you have selected a drive in a My Computer window.

Icon: Win98In Win98,  the Format command is not on the  File  menu of an Explorer window at all. It is on the popup menu if you right click a drive. Just a bit odd!

The lesson that follows walks you through how to format a floppy disk for your class documents. Some steps direct you to do things that cause an error message to appear. This is on purpose! You need to see some of the error messages you can encounter while working on a computer. Some of the messages are quite useful.

WarningDO NOT format a USB drive unless you are sure that it is necessary to so do!! They do not always cooperate with this process.

You need:  Icon: Floppy disk Icon: Floppy disk at least 2 floppy disks (or the equivalent space on other media) for storing your documents for the lessons in Jan's Illustrated Computer Literacy 101. If you like to keep things forever and you work through more than just Working with Windows, you'll need a lot more than 2.

WarningDisks formatted for one operating system may not work in a computer using a different operating system. In particular, DOS and Windows can't read a disk formatted for an Apple or Macintosh computer. You would have to reformat a disk to use a Mac-formatted disk in a DOS or Windows computer. This will erase any data on the disk! Be careful when you buy disks to check what operating system they are formatted for. Macs are friendlier and will happily read your DOS or Windows disks and write to them.

WarningBe SURE you have chosen the correct drive (!!!!) and that you really, really, really, want to format it. Always check your disk's contents before formatting to be sure you've put the right one in the drive!!

 


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Icon Step-by-Step 

Step-by-Step: Format a Floppy Disk

  Icon Step-by-Step
What you will learn: to format a floppy disk
 

Start with:Desktop, Class disk

You should not need to format other kinds of removable disks unless a data tragedy has occurred.

  1. Floppy disk- holes openEject the floppy and check that the write-protect slide on the disk is open. There should be two holes open at the top of the disk. (Yes, this will keep you from formatting the disk. Don't worry about it yet!)

    If you are using 5¼" disks, you must cover the write protect notch on the side of the disk. Tape will do just fine though the disks come with prettier stickers for this purpose.
     

  2. Insert the floppy in the drive. (Right side up!)
     
  3. Left click Click on the original My Computer window to make it the active window.
     
  4. Left click Click once on the icon for drive A to select it.
     
  5. Open the  File  menu and click on the command  Format . (This command is not even shown unless a drive has been selected!) You will see the Format dialog box.
    Icon: WinXP In WinXP choose  File  >  3 ½ Floppy(A:)  >  Format .
    My Computer menu - File | Format
    Win98    		 Menu: File | Drive A | Format in WinXP
    WinXP

    TipCheck that you are about to format the floppy drive and not one of the hard drives. You will be VERY unhappy with the results of formatting a hard drive unexpectedly!!! So will your teacher or network administrator!

  6. Select the proper capacity for your disk, which is most likely 1.44 MB.  
    Dialog: Format Drive A (Win98/98)
    Win98    		 Dialog: Format drive A: (WinXP)
    WinXP
  7. Icon: Win98Select Full in the Format type options box.
    Icon: WinXP WinXP assumes you want a Full format.
     
  8. Left click Click in the Label/Volume Label textbox. Type a name for your disk. You can only use 11 letters and/or numbers.

    This name will show in this dialog box if you format the disk again later. It doesn't show in either My Computer or Explorer but does in the Properties dialog.

    A combination of your name and the class can help identify disks accidentally left behind in the drive after you finish. (a VERY common event!!) For example, you could use something like JSmithComp1 for the first disk and JSmithComp2 for the second one, which you will format later. (Use your own name, of course!)
     

  9. Icon: Win98Left click Click on the checkbox for Display summary when finished.
     
  10. Left click Click the Start button in the dialog box to begin the format process.

    Error message - Cannot format because disk is write-protected

    You may get a warning message first that tells you that formatting will erase everything on the disk.

    Error: You should next get an error message pointing out that the disk is write protected. You opened the slide just so you could see this message.
     

  11. Eject the floppy disk from the drive, close the write-protect slide, reinsert the disk.

    Icon: Win98Left click Click on Retry.
    Icon: WinXPLeft click Click on OK to close the message box and then on Start again..

    Full formatting seems to take forever! The time is really measured in minutes. Time the process so you'll be reassured on those days when time seems to stand still while you wait!

    Format results - Drive AIcon: Win98When the process is done, the Format Results window appears.

    This information is useful when bad sectors are actually found. Bad sectors are caused by physical damage and by failure of the magnetic media. The format process can mark where bad sectors are so the computer won't try to put data there. That reduces the total amount of space available to use on the disk. If much of the floppy disk has gone bad, all you can do is throw it away.
     

  12. Remove the disk from the drive.