Managing Files on Floppy Disks
Here is a basic tutor to managing files to and from a floppy disk:
In the beginning, the only way to get files from your computer to another computer was by the lowly floppy disk (usually spelt with a "k" as oposed to CD discs spelt with a "c").
Nowadays, we have a much larger variety of ways to transfer files from one computer to another including: Recordable CD and DVD for much more reliable and safe storage and small USB Flash drives that can hold anything from 64MB to over 4GB. The last few computers that I have sold, I haven't even included this drive as it is rapidly becoming redundant, including the mountain of floppy discs that I have gathering dust in the corner of my workshop.
If you have an old accounting program that you haven't updated for a few years it may insist on backing up to the floppy drive, or you merely wish to copy the odd letter or a few small versions of photos to a friend, then you could conceivably get by with a floppy disk. Embroidery files from your favorite Web site can also fit snuggly on to a floppy.
Be careful with floppy disks, they can suffer from data loss if held too close to a magnetic source; and yes this includes most CRT monitors and even the computer box itself (favorite resting place).
To successfully copy files to and from a floppy disk, you need to go through Windows Explorer. To transfer a file to floppy, open Explorer (hold the Windows Logo Key down and press "E" for a quick shortcut).
Shown below is the left hand pane of the Explorer Window with the "My Computer" part opened up by clicking the + key:
The first drive letter listed is always the good old 31/2" Floppy which is again always designated drive "A:" Drive letters on a computer are designated by colon after the drive letter.
Clicking on this drive letter (with a floppy disc in the drive) will show you in the right hand pane the list of files and/or folders on the floppy disc. If you wish to copy files from the floppy disc to a folder on your computer, you must first select the files showing in the right hand pane by using a standard Windows selection method such as single clicking with the left mouse button on one of the files and selecting other files by holding the Ctrl key down and clicking on further files. The selected files will be highlighted blue to show that they have been tagged.
Then right click on any one of the selected blue tagged files and a menu will pop up. Run the mouse down the list until you get to "Copy". Left click this option. Then simply navigate to the desired location on your hard drive using Explorer and in the right hand pane of the destination folder (in a white blank area) right click again and this time select "Paste" from the menu. Your files will be copied from the floppy disc to the hard drive.
To copy a file from your hard drive to a floppy disk, use Explorer again to navigate to where your files are. In the right hand pane where the files are listed, select the files to transfer to the floppy disk (by using the method described above). While you are doing this, you will need to keep an eye on the total size that the selected files amount to so that you don't exceed the limited space on your floppy disk. This information is dispayed on the information bar at the bottom of the Explorer window. If you can't see the information here, click on the "View" menu along the top of the Explorer window and make sure that the "Status bar" option has a tick next to it. If it doesn't, click this option and you will see some useful information diplayed along the bottom of the Explorer window. As you select multiple files, the total size is displayed along to the bottom right of the Explorer status bar. You can't go over 1.4MB otherwise they won't all fit on your poor old floppy.
Shown below sre my selected 3 files and the status bar tells me that they total 681KB
Once you have made your selection, right click on one of the blue tagged files and choose "Send To" and then "31/2" Floppy (A:) from the list (making sure that you have a floppy disc in the drive with enough spare space on it). See below...
When you click this option you may still come to grief. You may get a raspberry from Explorer saying that the disk in Drive A: is "write protected" and cannot be written to. If this happens, you will need to remove the disk from the drive and move the little write protect lug in the upper left corner of the disk to the opposite position where it is now. Replace the disk in the drive and repeat all the above.
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