3½-inch drive/diskette compatibility

Drive type

Diskette types it can read from and write to

 

 

 

720KB

720KB

 

 

 

 

1.44MB

1.44MB,

720KB

 

 

 

Because of these incompatibilities, always indicate the diskette type and density when you label your diskettes. (Usually this information appears on the manufacturer’s label.)

If you have any combination of the above drives (1.44 MB, 1.2MB, 720KB, or 360KB), you can copy files from one drive to another-using COPY or XCOPY–as long as the correct diskette type is in each drive. You can also use these commands to copy files between a hard disk and any type of diskette. However, you cannot use the MS-DOS DISKCOPY command to copy from one diskette drive to another if the two drives are not the same type. For more about copying files and diskettes, see your MS-DOS Reference Manual.

Caring for Diskettes and Diskette Drives

Follow these basic precautions to protect your diskettes and avoid losing data:

❏If you have a diskette that contains data you don’t want to accidentally write over or erase, be sure you write-protect it. This is especially important for your operating system and application program diskettes. See “Write-protecting Diskettes,” below, for more details.

❏Do not remove a diskette from the diskette drive or reset or turn off the computer while the drive light is on. This light indicates that the computer is copying data to or from a diskette. If you interrupt this process, you can destroy data.

❏Remove all diskettes before you turn off the computer.

3-14 Using Your Computer