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 diskette 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.

 

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Wr;eiprotect

 

Figure 2-4. Write-protect notchTo unwrite-protect a 5% ” diskette, remove the write-protect tab.

On a 31/2” 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.

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