Acorn Computers Limited A4000 Welcome Manual page 46

Formatting a floppy disc
Your computer can also format discs for filing systems other than ADFS, as shown in
the following table. To ensure reliability, only format discs in accordance with this
table
*Note: The formatting information takes up some space on a disc, so the formatted
size is slightly less. The following section describes how to format a disc.
Formatting a floppy disc
Before you can use a new floppy disc, you need to format it. Formatting a disc prepares
it to receive information from the computer. This is rather like drawing straight lines on
a blank piece of paper before you start writing on it. It tells the computer where to put
the information — it writes along the lines (called tracks). Formatting also tells the
computer how much information a floppy disc can hold.
Warning!: When you format a disc, any information that was previously stored on
it is permanently lost. So, don't reformat a disc unless you are certain that you no
longer require the information stored on it.
1 Make sure the disc is NOT write-protected
2 Insert the disc in the floppy disc drive
3 Display the Format dialogue box
Move the pointer over the floppy disc drive icon
on the icon bar and click Menu.
Unformatted size* Filing system Formatted size
1MB ADFS
2MB ADFS
1MB ADFS
2MB DOS
1MB DOS
1MB Atari
1MB Atari
Density
800KB double
1.6MB high
640KB double
1.44MB high
720KB double
720KB double
360KB double
DD
HD
DD
HD
DD
DD
DD