Follow these simple precautions to safeguard your data and lengthen the life of your diskettes:
qAvoid leaving diskettes near magnetic fields that can erase the data, such as those generated by electric appliances or cordless telephones. Never place a diskette on top of your monitor or near the hard disk drive.
qSmall particles of dust or dirt can scratch the magnetic surface, destroy data, and ruin the read/write heads in a diskette drive, so store diskettes in a diskette container away from dust and dirt.
qExtreme changes in temperature can also destroy data. Keep diskettes out of direct sunlight or extreme cold.
See your diskette packaging for other guidelines.
Using a Hard Disk DriveUsing a hard disk is similar to using a diskette. However, the hard disk provides several advantages:
qA hard disk can store many times more data than a diskette.
qYour computer can perform all hard disk operations faster.
qYou can store frequently used programs and data files on the hard disk, eliminating the inconvenience of swapping diskettes to access different files.
The added storage capacity makes it easy to move back and forth between different programs and data files. However, because it is so easy to add programs and files to your hard disk, you may find yourself trying to organize hundreds of files.