Floppy disks - Formatting & read/write settings

When you purchase new disks they are blank and unformatted, so they must be formatted before MS-DOS is able to use them. Formatting structures a diskette so that MS-DOS can find and store information on it. It also checks for defective areas (for example,. where the disk may have been scratched).

Obviously you can use disk formatting to delete data on 'old' disks, and clear all old files and directories.

• Formatting;
  • Divides the disk into sectors and tracks
  • Creates a File allocation table (index of where the files are to be stored)
  • Can create a boot record

Using Laser alignment of the read/write heads, the capacity of a floppy disk may be increased (currently at 21Mbytes - 1993). This floppy has been coined the "Floptical".

[Rev 14/06/99] 3/12/97 © 1997-99 V/2-Com (Verhaart), P O Box 8415, Havelock North, New Zealand.