to format or not 3 1/2 disks

  • Thread starter Thread starter RustyM
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RustyM

Hi- I used to have an old pc & I recently found the 3 1/2 disks for some of
the stuff copied on there. I inserted the 3 1/2 disk in my drive and when I
click to open it, it asks that:

"the disk is not formatted, do I want to format now"??

First of all, I do not do fancy stuff with 3 1/2 disks. just copy stuff to
them and open them in my home pc and vise versa. So I dont know what it
means to format, how to do it , WHy & what for. Can someone explain please-
I was afraid to click 'yes' to format it cause the disks are from my old
late 80's model Mac apple computor(got it second hand)-Yes an oldie that the
monitor does not light up. But the disks are universal, arent they??? If I
try to format it and open it in this winows xp machine I am now using, will
it affect it. Actually, all I want to do is open the files so I can delete
them and free up the disk so that I may use them now. HOpe you can help
 
If you have no info on the disks that is required, then accept the format
when asked.. the disks were originally formatted to work on a Mac, and to be
of any use on a Windows pc, they will need to be formatted to Windows/X86
conventions..
 
Floppies are not "universal" especially old floppies like those you are
describing. It is possible that these are only 720MB disks which XP can't
format anyway. Over time the milar in a floppy will break down. You might as
well purchase new ones as bother with ones that are nearly 20 years old.
They are very inexpensive these days.
 
The disks were probably formatted for a MAC, so, you won't
be able to read them on your PC. If you don't need the
files tell it to "format now" when asked.
 
In
RustyM said:
Hi- I used to have an old pc & I recently found the 3 1/2 disks for
some of the stuff copied on there. I inserted the 3 1/2 disk in my
drive and when I click to open it, it asks that:

"the disk is not formatted, do I want to format now"??

First of all, I do not do fancy stuff with 3 1/2 disks. just copy
stuff to them and open them in my home pc and vise versa. So I dont
know what it means to format, how to do it , WHy & what for. Can
someone explain please- I was afraid to click 'yes' to format it
cause the disks are from my old late 80's model Mac apple
computor(got it second hand)-Yes an oldie that the monitor does not
light up. But the disks are universal, arent they???
Click to expand...


Take what I say with a grain of salt, since I know very little
about the Macintosh. But my understanding is that the macintosh
format for diskettes is different from that used on PCs, and
that's why you can't read them.

If I try to
format it and open it in this winows xp machine I am now using, will
it affect it.
Click to expand...


Affect what? You can't hurt anything but the diskettes, and if
there's nothing on those diskettes you want to keep, there's
nothing to hurt.

Actually, all I want to do is open the files so I can
delete them and free up the disk so that I may use them now.
Click to expand...


That's essentially what formatting does. If that's your intent,
go ahead and format them.
 
-----Original Message-----
Floppies are not "universal" especially old floppies like those you are
describing. It is possible that these are only 720MB disks which XP can't
format anyway. Over time the milar in a floppy will break down. You might as
well purchase new ones as bother with ones that are nearly 20 years old.
They are very inexpensive these days.
Click to expand...

WTF is "milar"?
 
|Hi- I used to have an old pc & I recently found the 3 1/2 disks for some of
|the stuff copied on there. I inserted the 3 1/2 disk in my drive and when I
|click to open it, it asks that:
|
|"the disk is not formatted, do I want to format now"??
|
|First of all, I do not do fancy stuff with 3 1/2 disks. just copy stuff to
|them and open them in my home pc and vise versa. So I dont know what it
|means to format, how to do it , WHy & what for. Can someone explain please-
|I was afraid to click 'yes' to format it cause the disks are from my old
|late 80's model Mac apple computor(got it second hand)-Yes an oldie that the
|monitor does not light up. But the disks are universal, arent they??? If I
|try to format it and open it in this winows xp machine I am now using, will
|it affect it. Actually, all I want to do is open the files so I can delete
|them and free up the disk so that I may use them now. HOpe you can help
|
|

The disks are not universal - the 'format" of the data is different from an
"old Mac" than Windows or DOS, so Windows does not recognize the data on the
disks, and assumes that it is not formatted. Newer Macs can use the same
format as Windows does for floppy disks.
Formatting erases any data on the disk, and prepares the disk to be used.
If you format the disks, you will lose any files currently on the disks.
If you just want to re-use the disks, you could do this, but if you still want
any of the files on the disks, you would have to read them on a Mac (or I
think that there may be programs available for Windows that will allow you to
read Mac disks).

It could also be that either your floppy drive is malfunctioning, or some of
the disks have become corrupted/damaged/erased. If your drive can still read
some other (newer?) floppies, then it is probably ok. The floppy disks
themselves can lose the data on them, through damage/dust/dirt/magnetic
fields/or just age.
 
THanks to all that answered & helped- I benefited from all- Now I know that
I can erase them if I want to- There are about 20 or more of these 3 1/2
disks- Some are copies made by the previous owner of his files & misc. And
some are labeled with the logo Macintosh from the manufacture. All look
exactly like the blank 3 1/2 disks one can buy anywhere, and are the same
size. I would only erase ones that have misc files not the ones with those
of Mac logo that probably have to do with the pc operating system.
Note* I know this is a pc that is almost 20 years old-I dont know if its
worth anything-I think not-Maybe $ 1 if that. Or maybe hundreds. Anyone know
where I can find this out before I decide to trash it-

--
Thanks so very much for your help-! ! ! !
 
One thing I want to add here is that back in the old days, I'm talking
DOS even, I got a whole bunch of free Apple formatted (factory made
stuff on them) disks and reformatted them. A lot of them would work
for my PC, but later I couldn't access the info anymore. & some of
them never "took" from the get-go, & I just tossed them. I can't
explain why unless they are actually different, or the starting track
was in a weird spot & it mattered for a DOS re-format.
 
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