Apple 145 manual Initialize a disk, Read the message on your screen, Another dialog box appears

Initialize a disk

Every new disk needs to be prepared for use. Preparing a new disk is called initializing it. In the same way that lines are drawn on a newly paved parking lot to mark off parking spaces, the initializing process creates organized areas on the disk where the computer can store information. Your computer’s hard disk was initialized at the factory, but you need to initialize any new floppy disks you want to use.

1.Read the message on your screen.

The computer requests information from you or warns you about the consequences of an action by presenting a message in the form of a dialog box.

If you inserted a high-density disk, this dialog box appears:

If you inserted a double-sided disk, this dialog box appears:

2.If you inserted a high-density disk, click Initialize. If you inserted a double-sided disk, click Two-Sided.

Another dialog box appears:

This dialog box appears because you can initialize old disks as well as new ones—and the computer doesn’t know whether the disk in the drive is old or new. Initializing erases all information on a disk. In this case, because the floppy disk is new, there is no information on it to erase.

72 Chapter 4: Working With Disks