How do I completely erase a floppy disk?

Pancake asked:

I’m new at this - how do I reformat the disk. Thanks to anyone.

travelmaster Says:
February 1st, 2010 at 8:20 pm
reformat it that should erase the disk
Pantera Lover Says:
February 2nd, 2010 at 1:32 am
put the disk in. go to my computer. right click on the floppy drive and click reformat. then go from there
Elsa R Says:
February 3rd, 2010 at 7:17 pm
just put it in the computer and open the floppy and erase everything saved on it.
LordStormDragon Says:
February 3rd, 2010 at 9:58 pm
Put it in the microwave for 30 seconds. It will be erased completely.
Indicator Veritatis Says:
February 6th, 2010 at 8:33 am
Reformatting the disk will keep most people from being able to read it. But if you are really worried about someone using sophisticated equipment and willing to spend over $5000 to read your floppy, then you should look for a secure erase utility, such as Erase or cipher.exe.

They are designed and advertised for hard disks, but they are equally effective on floppies: just much slower.

Alternatively, if you heat it hot enough, you can also make it very difficult to read, even if you don’t reach the Curie point, just be warping the substrate. But I am not sure how to do this without releasing possibly toxic fumes; I would not, for example, toss it into a fire.

There are rumors of people using degaussers meant for bulk magnetic tape erasure, but this is not reliable.

So I would settle for:

1) run a secure erase utility
2) then format the disk
3) physically tear it up/warp it just to discourage would be readers a bit more.

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Disk Wipe