What happens exactly when we format a floppy?

Question

apart from lost of data....give the technical explanation plz

Answer 1

The floppy is being prepared for use, beause sometime ago before you use a floppy you first have to format it (prepare it) for use and the other hand a Mac format floppy will not work on an IBM PC, so formatting id just a type of preparation.

Answer 2

As with all questions the only correct answer is: It depends.

If the floppy has never been used before, the computer will write a basic File allocation Table (FAT) assuming windows on it which will keep track of the location of files as they are copied.

If the floppy is full of data and you don't use quick format, the FAT will be destroyed and a new one created with no pointers. All magnetic bits will be set to 0 on the rest of the space.

If the floppy is formatted for windows already and you quick format it, windows just blows away the FAT and creates a new blank one. Does not technically delete the files, but recovery would be difficult at best.

Mac and other operating systems do pretty much the same thing, but have their own format. Most other OS's can read FAT disks though nowadays.

Note to others: There is no officially support NTFS floppy from microsoft: "Floppy disks can use only the FAT file system."
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/format.mspx?mfr=true

Answer 3

When you format a floppy disk you are just getting it ready to be accepted by your operating system. Like for example you can get formats like this.......

FAT used in older systems like windows 95, 98

FAT 32 used for systems like windows 2000, XP

NTFS used for systems like XP and Server

NTFS is supposed to be the most secured encryption available for Windows. If your system is encrypted with FAT you cannot take a floppy disk to a different system like NTFS

I hope this gives you an idea.

Answer 4

formatting a floppy disc erases the data portion of the disk and creates a new FAT (File Allocation Table) which in essence is the "filing cabinet" system the computer uses to store data on the disc.

Answer 5

Disk formatting is the only process of preparing a hard disk or other storage medium for use with the file system (FAT, NTFS, UFS, etc.) of an operating system. A variety of utilities and programs exist for this task; pictured to the right is the iconic FORMAT.COM of MS-DOS and PC-DOS.

A very beautifull explaination about disk formatting can be found at:

Answer 6

Formatting diskettes is a process that needs to be done before you can save any information to them. The formatting process is generally only completed one time as it completely erases all information on the diskette.

Format Type

Quick: Format the diskette to prepare it for saving files. The Quick format does not scan the diskette for bad sectors.


Full: Format the diskette to prepare it for saving files and check for bad sectors.


Copy System Files Only: Copies the files required to create a system diskette. Does not format the diskette so existing information is not lost.

Answer 7

The datas inside the floppy will get deleted and u can use it for storing new data.

Answer 8

when you format anything, you are clearing the written data off of the disk which in turn gives you a clean slate or a blank disk to use. think of it as only having one piece of paper and that paper has something wrote on it. so you erase whatever is on that paper and use it for whatever you choose. ;)

Answer 9

It writes over all the information on the disk to make it compatible with the computer, I'm thinking.

Answer 10

hi there
check this out hoope it helps
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/floppy-disk-drive.htm


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regards
islam inamdar
inamdarinfotech.com