format floppy disk

conlee560 · 18th July 2003

To format a floppy disk I have a couple of choices (or three).

If I choose Quick Erase instaed of Full will it do the job?

Please enlighten me.

Thanks.

**Bmoore1129** · 18th July 2003

Quick erase doesn't get rid of the data. It makes it possible for the next use of the disk to overwrite data that is still there.

Full format erases (by overwriting) what data is there. Takes longer to do but also finds any bad places on the disk.

I never use quick erase and never keep a disk that windows says is not pristine. Disks are too cheap to introduce the possibility of something going wrong by getting in a hurry. It only takes a few minutes to full format.

I usually save them up 'til I have several to do and put some George Jones on the player while I'm formating.

conlee560 · 18th July 2003

Bmoore:
Thanks for your quick reply.

I will heed your advice, even to the George Jones!

BillyBob · 18th July 2003

Quote:

I never use quick erase and never keep a disk that windows says is not pristine.

I will 2nd, 3rd and 4th that motion.

I now use CR-Rs instead. May be more inital cost but being more reliable and longer lasting makes up for it.

I even have my Win98 Statup disk and Windows setup files on a CD-R now. Works just fine. And MUCH faster.

BillyBob

hawk22 · 21st July 2003

Thanks Billy Bob what a splendit Idea, to put it on CD, just one Question how exactly do you go about to make Windows Boot from CD rather than the old Floppy.
You would have to change the BIOS to look there first.
Or would copying all the files from Boot Disk to CD do the trick??
hawk22