Note: You need to format your blank diskettes before you can use them with your operating system. Refer to your MS-DOS or other operating system manual for instructions on how to format your blank diskettes.
There are two ways to avoid losing the valuable information stored on your disks; write-protect your diskettes and make backup copies. Both of these methods are described below.
Write-protecting diskettes
You can write-protect a diskette to prevent its data from being altered. When a dikette is write-protected, you can copy data from it, but you cannot store new data on the diskette or delete any files it contains. If you try to change data stored on a write-protected diskette, an error message displays.
To write-protect a 5%” diskette, cover the small, rectangular notch- shown in Figure 2-4, with an adhesive write-protect tab. Write-protect tabs usually come with new 5%” diskettes when you buy them.
Figure 2-4. Write-protect notchTo unwrite-protect a 5¼” diskette, remove the write-protect tab.On a 3½” diskette, the write-protect device is a small switch on the lower-right corner on the back, shown in Figure 2-5. To write-protect this diskette, slide the switch down toward the edge, of the diskette so there is a hole where the switch used to be.