When you purchase a disc you will often find that it has been pre-formatted for use with PC computers. If you do use the wrong format for the type of disc it might initially appear OK but your data may not be safe and the disc may not read in another machine. Most computers will not allow you to format a disc wrongly, but some models of RISC OS computers will let you override this and use an inappropriate format, so do check first. Double density discs should only be used for formats less than 1 Mb. High density discs (sometimes referred to as 'hi density') should only be used for formats greater than 1 Mb. A high density disc can be distinguished by the letters 'HD' either written or etched into the plastic beside the slider and it will have a square hole on the opposite side to the write protect slider.
There are two types of disc in common usage, Double Density and High Density. Remember that if you can see through the write protect slider then you will not be able to save or write onto the disc. Usually you would not wish your discs to be write protected as you may wish to save work you have done for future use. The terms read and write will appear often, so it is important to understand the difference. If the disc is write protected you will not be able to save anything onto it but you will be able to load programs and files into the computer. In computer terms when you write to a disc you put or record something onto it, in other words you save something. If you can see through the hole then the disc is write protected this means that information can only be read from the disc and not written to it. The disc has a write protect slider which works like the tabs you can break off music or video cassettes to prevent accidental over-recording or erasure. Don't force it or you will damage the drive. If you try to insert a disc wrongly it won't go into the drive fully. Insert the edge with the metal slider into the drive with the arrow on the front of the disc to the left and the 'cut off' corner to the right. The disc will only fit into the drive one way. Keep the discs away from magnetic forces and power cables.Do not touch the inner part of the disc which you can expose by opening the metal slider.
Always treat your discs with respect and handle them carefully.For machines running VirtualAcorn products this section only applies to computers that have an internal IDE floppy drive, it does not apply to machines with an external USB floppy drive as these cannot read RISC OS discs.Īlthough floppy discs are very robust they do need some care: Note that the A9 computer does not have a floppy disc drive. RISC OS computers which have a floppy disc drive make use of 3½ inch discs. RISC OS 6 User Documentation - RISC OS 6 User Guide
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