Formatting old 3.5 floppies in XP....

Umma Gumma

Is it possible to format and use an older 720K floppy in XP?

M.I.5¾

"Umma Gumma" <Itstotallyinvalid@invalid.ca> wrote in message
news:uPh6qQrzHHA.4824@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> Is it possible to format and use an older 720K floppy in XP?
>

I was about to say, 'yes', but then I thought, "Why is he asking this
question". So I checked and indeed 720k is not offered as an option on the
floppy disk format screen. I can only suggest having a look at:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/140060/en-us

I should add that I didn't have a 720k floppy to hand when I looked at this.

Helge Haensel

Am 25.07.2007, 15:37 Uhr, schrieb M.I.5¾ <no.one@no.where.NO_SPAM.co.uk>:

>
> "Umma Gumma" <Itstotallyinvalid@invalid.ca> wrote in message
> news:uPh6qQrzHHA.4824@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>> Is it possible to format and use an older 720K floppy in XP?
>>
>
> I was about to say, 'yes', but then I thought, "Why is he asking this
> question". So I checked and indeed 720k is not offered as an option on
> the
> floppy disk format screen. I can only suggest having a look at:
>
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/140060/en-us
>
> I should add that I didn't have a 720k floppy to hand when I looked at
> this.
>
Hi, try Start/Run, type cmd.exe, OK
Enter: format /?, format /F:720 or .../F1.44
Good luck!
Helge
>

Bob I

Use

format A: /t:80 /n:9

Umma Gumma wrote:

> Is it possible to format and use an older 720K floppy in XP?
>
>
>

Bob I

M.I.5¾ wrote:

> "Umma Gumma" <Itstotallyinvalid@invalid.ca> wrote in message
> news:uPh6qQrzHHA.4824@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>
>>Is it possible to format and use an older 720K floppy in XP?
>>
>
>
> I was about to say, 'yes', but then I thought, "Why is he asking this
> question". So I checked and indeed 720k is not offered as an option on the
> floppy disk format screen. I can only suggest having a look at:
>
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/140060/en-us
>
> I should add that I didn't have a 720k floppy to hand when I looked at this.

Piece of cake, see my reply to OP. Want to play? Take a 1.44 and tape
over the other hole, the one opposite the write protect tab, and have a
go at it.

Umma Gumma

"Helge Haensel" <dj1wm@nurfuerspam.de> wrote in message
newsp.tv0w6fdasjedh2@hhh...
> Am 25.07.2007, 15:37 Uhr, schrieb M.I.5¾ <no.one@no.where.NO_SPAM.co.uk>:
>
>>
>> "Umma Gumma" <Itstotallyinvalid@invalid.ca> wrote in message
>> news:uPh6qQrzHHA.4824@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>>> Is it possible to format and use an older 720K floppy in XP?
>>>
>>
>> I was about to say, 'yes', but then I thought, "Why is he asking this
>> question". So I checked and indeed 720k is not offered as an option on
>> the
>> floppy disk format screen. I can only suggest having a look at:
>>
>> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/140060/en-us
>>
>> I should add that I didn't have a 720k floppy to hand when I looked at
>> this.
>>
> Hi, try Start/Run, type cmd.exe, OK
> Enter: format /?, format /F:720 or .../F1.44
> Good luck!
> Helge
>>

I thought of that. Thanks. However, with a floppy in the drive the drive
hung/hanged. (Was suspended). And to abort I had to reboot for fear of
burning out the drive.

Umma Gumma

"Bob I" <birelan@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:uBjQCjszHHA.4276@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>
>
> M.I.5¾ wrote:
>
>> "Umma Gumma" <Itstotallyinvalid@invalid.ca> wrote in message
>> news:uPh6qQrzHHA.4824@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>>
>>>Is it possible to format and use an older 720K floppy in XP?
>>>
>>
>>
>> I was about to say, 'yes', but then I thought, "Why is he asking this
>> question". So I checked and indeed 720k is not offered as an option on
>> the floppy disk format screen. I can only suggest having a look at:
>>
>> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/140060/en-us
>>
>> I should add that I didn't have a 720k floppy to hand when I looked at
>> this.
>
> Piece of cake, see my reply to OP. Want to play? Take a 1.44 and tape over
> the other hole, the one opposite the write protect tab, and have a go at
> it.

Yeah, and I hear tell you can punch a hole opposite to the write protect tab
and turn a small one into a 1.44.

Bob I

Umma Gumma wrote:

> "Helge Haensel" <dj1wm@nurfuerspam.de> wrote in message
> newsp.tv0w6fdasjedh2@hhh...
>
>>Am 25.07.2007, 15:37 Uhr, schrieb M.I.5¾ <no.one@no.where.NO_SPAM.co.uk>:
>>
>>
>>>"Umma Gumma" <Itstotallyinvalid@invalid.ca> wrote in message
>>>news:uPh6qQrzHHA.4824@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>>>
>>>>Is it possible to format and use an older 720K floppy in XP?
>>>>
>>>
>>>I was about to say, 'yes', but then I thought, "Why is he asking this
>>>question". So I checked and indeed 720k is not offered as an option on
>>>the
>>>floppy disk format screen. I can only suggest having a look at:
>>>
>>>http://support.microsoft.com/kb/140060/en-us
>>>
>>>I should add that I didn't have a 720k floppy to hand when I looked at
>>>this.
>>>
>>
>>Hi, try Start/Run, type cmd.exe, OK
>>Enter: format /?, format /F:720 or .../F1.44
>>Good luck!
>>Helge
>>
>
> I thought of that. Thanks. However, with a floppy in the drive the drive
> hung/hanged. (Was suspended). And to abort I had to reboot for fear of
> burning out the drive.
>
>

the /F:720 won't work, not supported.

Bob I

Umma Gumma wrote:

> "Bob I" <birelan@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:uBjQCjszHHA.4276@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>
>>
>>M.I.5¾ wrote:
>>
>>
>>>"Umma Gumma" <Itstotallyinvalid@invalid.ca> wrote in message
>>>news:uPh6qQrzHHA.4824@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>>>
>>>
>>>>Is it possible to format and use an older 720K floppy in XP?
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>I was about to say, 'yes', but then I thought, "Why is he asking this
>>>question". So I checked and indeed 720k is not offered as an option on
>>>the floppy disk format screen. I can only suggest having a look at:
>>>
>>>http://support.microsoft.com/kb/140060/en-us
>>>
>>>I should add that I didn't have a 720k floppy to hand when I looked at
>>>this.
>>
>>Piece of cake, see my reply to OP. Want to play? Take a 1.44 and tape over
>>the other hole, the one opposite the write protect tab, and have a go at
>>it.
>
>
> Yeah, and I hear tell you can punch a hole opposite to the write protect tab
> and turn a small one into a 1.44.
>
>
I wouldn't bother, the 720k disks are usually junk. But, actually we did
something similar back when we had only 5 1/4 SS floppy drives. You
would notch the DS floppy disks so you could flip them over and write to
both sides that way. But you wouldn't want to do it with the SS floppy
disks as only one side was intended to be written to.

Ken Blake, MVP

On Wed, 25 Jul 2007 16:00:05 +0200, "Helge Haensel"
<dj1wm@nurfuerspam.de> wrote:

> Am 25.07.2007, 15:37 Uhr, schrieb M.I.5Ÿ <no.one@no.where.NO_SPAM.co.uk>:
>
> >
> > "Umma Gumma" <Itstotallyinvalid@invalid.ca> wrote in message
> > news:uPh6qQrzHHA.4824@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> >> Is it possible to format and use an older 720K floppy in XP?
> >>
> >
> > I was about to say, 'yes', but then I thought, "Why is he asking this
> > question". So I checked and indeed 720k is not offered as an option on
> > the
> > floppy disk format screen. I can only suggest having a look at:
> >
> > http://support.microsoft.com/kb/140060/en-us
> >
> > I should add that I didn't have a 720k floppy to hand when I looked at
> > this.
> >
> Hi, try Start/Run, type cmd.exe, OK
> Enter: format /?, format /F:720 or .../F1.44


Nope. Read here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/302113

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
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