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From: kwallich@hpsmtc1.HP.COM (Ken Wallich)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: How to make an unitialized disk
Message-ID: <11540030@hpsmtc1.HP.COM>
Date: Fri, 23-Oct-87 11:23:21 EST
Article-I.D.: hpsmtc1.11540030
Posted: Fri Oct 23 11:23:21 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 25-Oct-87 22:57:33 EST
References: <464@aucs.UUCP>
Organization: Hewlett Packard, Cupertino
Lines: 15

/ peter@aucs.UUCP (Peter Steele) /  7:35 am  Oct 21, 1987 /

>Does anyone know of a quick and dirty way to do this? I.e., does
>anyone know of a way to "unformat" a disk quickly (or a portion of a disk).
>Any ideas would be appreciated.

Well, I have a method that works.  I don't think it has any adverse affects,
but if anyone knows otherwise, feel free to correct me.  The method I use
is to take a moderatley powerful magnet, and run it across the disc (yes,
magnatism passes through the plastic).  The theory behind this is that a
Floppy disc is just like a cassette tape, but different.  The information
as to what is "formatted" and what isn't is just a series of ordered
electrons on the surface of the disc.  Using a magnet scrambles the electrons
and it now is "unformatted".  I have been doing this since my CP/M days
and haven't lost a floppy yet.