How to Format a Floppy Drive

While floppy drives have largely disappeared from use, some users might still have a few drives sitting around and with those drives they might want to format any confidential information from their floppy disks. Thankfully, some things never change --- formatting a floppy disk is just as simple as formatting any other standard drive.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Computer with floppy disk drive
• Floppy disc

Formatting a Floppy Drive From the My Computer Screen

1. Insert the floppy disk into the floppy drive.

2. Click on the "My Computer" icon on your desktop. If the icon does not appear on your desktop you can also click on the "Windows Start Button" and then click the "My Computer" icon from within the choices presented. Wait for the My Computer window to open.

3. Right click on the Floppy Drive option that appears in My Computer and then left click one time on "Format." You will be asked to verify that you want to format the drive: click "Yes." You will also be asked to name the formatted floppy disk, name the drive and then allow the process to complete.

4. Verify that the format was successful by double clicking on the drive through My Computer and allow the drive to open. If no files are present, the formatting was a success.

Format a Floppy Disk Using MS-DOS

5. Open the MS-DOS Window. In Windows XP go to the "Windows Start Button" followed by "Run" and type in "CMD" without the quotation marks and hit "OK" and the DOS prompt will appear. For Windows Vista, go to the "Windows Start Button" and click on "Accessories," followed by "System Tools," and then choose the "MS DOS Prompt."

6. Type in the following command at the DOS Prompt: "format a:/" while replacing "a:/" with the drive letter for your floppy drive.

7. Click "Y" when asked if you are sure you want to format the drive. Clicking "N" for no will abort the process. You will also be asked to name the drive, give the floppy disk a name and allow the process to complete.

8. Type in "a:/" or the floppy drive letter after the process is complete. When you see the A:/ prompt type "Dir" without the quotation marks and press enter. If none of the original files display, your floppy drive is formatted.

References

• PC Tech - Formatting A Hard Drive
• Tech Faq - How Do I Format A Hard Drive