Before the computer formats the disc it will ask you to confirm your choice:
Format drive :0 ?
to which you must. respond by typing 'YES' at the keyboard to allow formatting
to take place; typing anything else will abort the process.
If the write-protect tab is set to prevent writing then the error:
Disc protected
will appear, and you should move the write-protect tab and issue the
formatting command again.
Once the disc has been formatted the ADFS will verify the disc to ensure that
formatting has been completed successfully. This process checks each track and
displays a '?' if any problems occur. Discs which produce transient or 'soft'
errors, indicated by one or more '?'s should be re-formatted, but if the disc
contains true defects or 'hard' errors then the program will indicate this, e.g.:
Disc error 08 at 000201
and the disc should be discarded. You can use the command *VERIFY to verify
a disc at any time, for example if you are unsure about the reliability of a disc.
As a rule discs which generate 'hard' verify errors should be discarded.
Disc safety
Even though floppy discs are fairly reliable, external circustances such as
power failures or inquisitive children with sticky fingers can sometimes
damage discs and cause loss of information. To guard against this it is good
practice to make 'safety' or backup copies of discs containing important
information; invariably the cost of losing information far outweighs the cost of
a few more floppy discs. The ADFS provides the *BACKUP command for
exactly this purpose, and if you have not already done so you should make a
backup copy of the Welcome disc as soon as possible. The syntax of the
*BACKUP command is:
*BACKUP 0 0
The two numbers that follow it are the number of the 'source' drive and that of
the 'destination' drive, respectively. If you have only one drive then the two
numbers will be the same, as they are in the example, and the ADFS will ask
you to swap discs as necessary during the copying process. Of course the
destination disc should always be a freshly formatted one, otherwise you could
erase valuable information, but it is also good practice to set the write-protect
tab on the disc you are copying just to make sure it is not altered. The computer
asks you to confirm that you want to overwrite the destination disc by asking:
Backup drive :0 to :0
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