A floppy disk where everything on it has been removed / deleted, to clean it up for new stuff.
In order to format a floppy, you need to write blank tracks onto it, each containing the necessary sectors, sector headers, and inter-sector and intra-sector gaps. This is done using a special command of the floppy controller which writes a full track at a time.
You then need to write data to the floppy to provide the logical file system. In the FAT 12 file system, that consists of the boot record, the file allocation table, and the root directory.
If you intend to boot from the floppy, then you need to write the rest of the boot record, and the required operating system files, usually IBMBIO.SYS, IBMDOS.SYS, and COMMAND.COM.
If the floppy has been previously formatted, it is possible to skip the physical format part where you write the tracks - just rewrite the file allocation table and the root directory, and the system files if needed, and you will delete all of the files and directories on the floppy.
Often, however, it is better to do the complete format, particularly if you are using the floppy in a different drive.
Most floppy disks will come pre-formatted. All floppy disks need to be formatted to be usable.
Before use it..
adasa namaan
Formatted
formatted
RAW is unformatted and unreadable so a floppy which is not formatted is in the raw format
The actual floppy drive itself is not formatted. The drive only spins the floppy disk or diskette. One can format a disk or diskette from the computer control panel. Right click on Drive A (for example), then select format and follow the screen prompts.
Under Windows, a floppy drive is always formatted using the FAT 12 file system.
1.44 MB
root directory
Yes you can. Unix understands both FAT32 and NTFS file systems.
No, it will not be in a compatible format. Floppy disks must be formatted in FAT in order for a PC to read them. There may however be Linux tools that will be able to read the data.