Format 720kb floppy?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Lee Shipman
  • Start date Start date
L

Lee Shipman

This is the first time I've wanted to format a 720kb floppy since installing
WinXP Home, and discovered it isn't supported. Is there any workaround to
this? Seems dumb to toss those floppies when there's no need to.

Thanks.....Lee
 
Lee Shipman said:
This is the first time I've wanted to format a 720kb floppy since installing
WinXP Home, and discovered it isn't supported. Is there any workaround to
this? Seems dumb to toss those floppies when there's no need to.

Thanks.....Lee
Click to expand...
At the command prompt type:
format a: /n:9/ t:80
Bear in mind that those disks must be pretty old now and all
magnetic media degrade with age so don't put anything on them
you can't afford to lose. New 1.44s are cheap.
John
 
John said:
At the command prompt type:
format a: /n:9/ t:80
Bear in mind that those disks must be pretty old now and all
magnetic media degrade with age so don't put anything on them
you can't afford to lose. New 1.44s are cheap.
John
Click to expand...
It may or may not be possible to do this, depending on your hardware and
the drivers you have installed. Here's what MS says:

"Windows XP supports formatting only the 1.44MB disk format. Three-mode
floppy drives (drives that are capable of reading/writing with 720KB,
1.2MB and 1.44MB 3.5" disks) requires special driver support, and
support for this feature is not included in Windows XP."

"Some 3mode FD drivers may be installed on PCs with Windows XP by OEMs,
although Microsoft does not provide the end-user support for 3mode
drivers. Please contact your OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) if
you have any questions on 3mode drivers."

See
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;309623&Product=winxp
and
http://tinyurl.com/r3y1
 
Thanks to those who responded. I found that at the command prompt
(<start><run>cmd) I can just type "format a:" and it will automatically
recognize & correctly format a 720kb floppy.

Thanks again......Lee
 
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