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How do I format a real floppy using this application?

Applies to: RIDE 1.7 and later

  1. Be sure to have the necessary driver for one of supported controllers installed.
  2. Click on Disk → New to show the New image dialog.
  3. Select the Disk Operating System (DOS, Alt+D) of your choice to show containers that are compatible with the selection. If the selected DOS supports floppies, one of the containers (Alt+C) will be Compatible physical device (shown usually as the last item in the list) – select it.

  4. Press the OK button. The application tries to find any of supported devices connected locally to the computer (which may take a while), and lists them in the Real devices dialog, with the most recently used device pre-selected.

  5. Press the OK button. A new Format cylinders dialog pops up.

  6. In the Medium combo-box (Alt+M) confirm the type of floppy that is inserted in the drive selected in the Real devices dialog.
  7. In the Encoding combo-box (Alt+E) confirm the data encoding that will be used throughout the formatting. The latest encoding supported by selected DOS is always pre-selected, and you typically don't have to change it.
  8. In the Format combo-box (Alt+F) optionally select one of the predefined track layouts, or adjust the layout manually by modifying the format-related information fields (remainder of the dialog).
  9. Tick the Report on low-level formatting checkbox (Alt+O) to be informed on bad sectors (optional but recommended). As the Add newly formatted tracks to FAT checkbox (Alt+W) is ticked by default, all newly formatted sectors will be added to the file allocation structure – their verification depends on the floppy drive access options, explained in a moment.
  10. Click on the OK button. A warning on deletion of the whole disk is shown. Click on Yes.
  11. This step depends on the device you selected in the Real devices dialog:
  12. If no problems are encountered, the drive starts working with the floppy. When done, you eventually will be informed on bad sectors (see figure below) and the formatted floppy will be opened by the DOS you selected earlier.