Formating floppies

I'm not really sure whether it'll give you a warning or not but if you format them from a command prompt you'll be given a summary. Sorry, but that's the best I can do for now.

 

Another thing that may be useful is to run Chkdsk on the floppy. It'll give you a full report of the condition. I do that sometimes just to see if the disk is in good shape. It's much faster than formatting it again just to verify it.

 

Yes, that's the correct syntax for the command. chkdsk a:

You'll have to do it from the command prompt of course since XP is so frugal with the command window when accessed from the "Run" utility.

 

Mine too!

BTW, you can also invoke switches to do other things and get different reports with chkdsk. I use the /r many times:

C:\>chkdsk/?
Checks a disk and displays a status report.


CHKDSK [volume[[path]filename]]] [/F] [/V] [/R] [/X] [/I] [/C] [/L[:size]]


volume Specifies the drive letter (followed by a colon),
mount point, or volume name.
filename FAT/FAT32 only: Specifies the files to check for fragmentation.
/F Fixes errors on the disk.
/V On FAT/FAT32: Displays the full path and name of every file
on the disk.
On NTFS: Displays cleanup messages if any.
/R Locates bad sectors and recovers readable information
(implies /F).
/L:size NTFS only: Changes the log file size to the specified number
of kilobytes. If size is not specified, displays current
size.
/X Forces the volume to dismount first if necessary.
All opened handles to the volume would then be invalid
(implies /F).
/I NTFS only: Performs a less vigorous check of index entries.
/C NTFS only: Skips checking of cycles within the folder
structure.

The /I or /C switch reduces the amount of time required to run Chkdsk by
skipping certain checks of the volume.

 

I think if you use chkdsk to check the floppy, you'll want to use the /r switch. If you just use chkdsk a: it only checks the file system and from what I understand, you want to know if there's any bad sectors on the disk. Chkdsk a: won't do a physical check of the disk. You'll need the /r switch for this. Only problem is, it won't be any faster running this way than using the format command. It may be a bit shorter or it may be a bit longer. Don't know, I've never timed it.

 

I guess you're right. FWIW, I just ran both of them on the same floppy. Format a: took 1 minute 40 seconds. Chkdsk a: /r took about 40 seconds. I always thought chkdsk took just as long as format but I've never really timed the two commands to see. Guess I know better now.