How to format a floppy diskette

How to format a floppy diskette

Document number: 39038

Before you use a diskette to store data from your Windows 2000 machine you must make sure it is properly formatted. Windows 2000 will format and read disks in a couple different formats. Your hard drive is formatted as NTFS. The appropriate format for smaller disks, such as the floppy diskette is usually FAT. By default Windows 2000 will format a floppy diskette in the FAT file system. This is usually what you want as NTFS is not readable by many other systems. To see how to check the current format of a disk, click here.

To format a diskette:

Make sure there is nothing on the diskette that you want to save. Formatting will destroy any data on the diskette.
Insert the diskette into the A: drive.
Double-click on the My Computer icon to open it.
Select the a: drive by single-clicking its icon. Do not double-click to open it because you can't format it if it is open.
Open the File menu, click on For mat.
Click on Start. You will get a warning that all data on the disk will be erased. Click on OK to continue.
When it is done click OK, then click on Close.

Putting the proper formatting on the diskette should enable Windows 2000 to read the diskette and to store files on it.

How to check the file format of a disk.

Open either My Computer or Windows Explorer.
Select the drive you want to check by single clicking its icon. Make sure there is a disk in the drive.
Right click on the drive icon, then select P roperties, click on the General tab.

The file system type will be shown near the top.
Click on Close.