Caring for Diskettes and Diskette Drives

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

aIf 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.

aDo 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.

cl Remove all diskettes before you turn off the computer.

aKeep diskettes away from dust and dirt. Small particles of dust or dirt can scratch the magnetic surface, destroy data, and ruin the read/write heads in a diskette drive.

aNever wipe, brush, or try to clean diskettes in any way.

aKeep diskettes in a moderate environment. Don’t leave diskettes sitting in the sun or in extreme cold or heat.

aKeep diskettes away from magnetic fields, such as electrical appliances, telephones, and loudspeakers. (Diskettes store information magnetically.)

aDo not place diskettes on top of your monitor or near an external hard disk drive.

cl Always hold a 5%inch diskette by its protective jacket and never touch the magnetic surface (exposed by the read/write slot). The oils on your fingertips can damage it.

1-12 Using Your Computer