What you need
Just as you need paper to make copies of important documents, you need floppy disks to make copies of the information on your hard disk. You can probably buy the floppy disks at the same place you bought your computer.
Floppy disks come in a variety of sizes and capacities. The ones you need for backing up your hard disk are called
have two holes...
...and they have this symbol.
Even though these disks have a hard plastic casing, they are called “floppy disks” because the disk inside the casing is floppy.
Before you start making your disks, you’ll need to decide if you want to make a full set or a minimum set of disks. When you make a full set, you’ll make disks for your system software and most of the other software that comes on your computer. When you make a minimum set, you’ll make just the core system software disks. It is best to make a full set (at least two dozen disks), so you’ll have installer disks for your system software and most of the other software that comes on your computer. However, making a full set requires more disks and more time than making a minimum set (at least one dozen disks). At the very least, make a minimum set of disks now. If you choose to make a minimum set, you can make disks for the other software later.
If you don’t have disks on hand, you can skip these instructions for the moment. But the sooner you make the system software disks, the better. Buy the disks as soon as possible, then return to this section and follow these instructions.
IMPORTANT Be sure you make at least a minimum set of disks as soon as possible, in case you need to reinstall your system software.
