LESSON FOUR - DISK AND FILE MANAGEMENT

4.1 - Formatting Floppy Disk

Before you can store files on a disk, it has to be formatted however, most floppy disks now days are pre-formatted. Formatting a disk divides the surface of the disk in to tracks and sectors. Tracks are like concentric rings on the surface and sectors divide the surface into segments.

Note: Most of floppy disks nowadays are preformatted. You don’t need to format a disk if it is already formatted. You can only format a disk that contains unwanted files, which you want to reuse. Do not format disk that contains important files because formatting it will erase all the files existing in it.

Now we will go through how you can format a 3 ½ Floppy (A).

1. Now insert your floppy disk into the drive
2. Double click on my computer and right click 3 ½ floppy (A)
3. Select format from the drop down menu, you should have format dialogue box.
4. On the dialogue box put a tick where it say Quick format and click start.
5. Note, you will have warning message appear, click Ok your formatting will begin until complete Pop up message will appear click Ok and Close.

4.2 - Caring for a floppy disks

Since data on floppy disks can easily be erased or corrupted, proper care must be taken of them. Here are some of the precautions that you need to take to care for your disks.

1. Do not touch the exposed surface of the diskette.
2. Avoid placing the diskette near possible heat sources (like on top of the monitor).
3. Keep the diskette away from magnetic fields, (power supplies, fans, magnets, monitors).
4. Do not write on the diskette except with a soft felt pen.
5. Do not remove or insert diskette into the drive if the light is on.
6. Do not bend the disk, or leave the diskette lying on the desktop area.

4.3 - Creating Folders

Computer files are kept in folders on a disk, CD_ROM or other storage medium. Folders are also referred to as subdirectories. You should create a folder for each group of related files.

We will go through two ways of creating folders on my document on your computer.

• Double Click on my document icon on the desktop.
• Now click on the file on the menu bar, click new then click folder. You should now see the new folder icon with the word “New folder”.
• Press delete key to erase the name and type your new name “Practical” and then press enter.
• Again we want to create another folder using another way. Right-click on the area below your practical folder, and from the shortcut menu, click New and click Folder. Name your folder “Test”.

4.4 - Copying & Moving a File

Once a file is saved on disk, you can make copies of it, move to another directory of disk, change its name and delete it when it is no longer useful. Now we want to copy the file that we have created on Lesson 3 exercise to the Practical folder we created on my document.

1. Double Click on my document icon.
2. You should now see the Practical folder, open this folder by double click on it
3. Now minimize Practical folder for a while.
4. On your desktop you should see “Training 1” file.
5. Right-click on this file and click the copy option on the shortcut menu.
6. Now to Copy to your Practical folder, restore your Practical folder on the taskbar.
7. Point your mouse pointer into the Practical Folder. Right Click and select Paste on the shortcut menu. A copy of Training 1 file is now stored on the Practical folder.

Note: When you copy or cut a file, the file is stored temporarily in a memory location called the clipboard. When paste it, you transfer the file from the clipboard to your new location.

Moving the file can also be done by dragging the file from the desktop to the Practical folder or cut and paste from desktop to Practical folder.

4.5 - Renaming a File/folder

Now we want to rename the file on the Practical folder to a different name.

1. Right click on “Training 1 file”. We want to rename this filename to “My first file”. Click Rename on the shortcut menu.
2. Now it allows you to delete the first filename and type in your new filename, my first file.
3. Press Enter after you finish.

4.6 - Deleting a file or folder.

1. To delete file/folder right click on the file/folder the select delete on the shortcut menu. Another way is to highlight the file and press the delete key on your keyboard.
2. To delete more than one file at the same time, hold down the Ctrl key while you click to highlight all the files that you want to delete. Right-click on the mouse and select delete option on the menu.