Roxy's Tip of the Week

Ok - so you mastered the download thing last week - now you have about a 100 midi files in a folder to listen to while you work, or put in your E-mail ... thing is, your friend wants them and you don't remember where you downloaded them from. How do you get them next door? On a FLOPPY DISK is one answer. But how do you do that?

I'm going to address this as if everyone has WINDOWS '95/'98 because most of our patrons use these operating systems - if you need help trying this on an Mac let me know and I'll get you the information - should be about the same principle though ...

1. Floppys are a great way to save/transfer data - but be careful ... they can also put a virus from other peoples computer on yours! Always - ALWAYS .. scan the floppy for trouble before using one that you didn't make or didn't come from a brand new (unopened) program box! If your friend/family is smart - they'll scan yours, even if you are their very best friend in the whole wide world!!

Use your virus program to scan your floppy drive (with the disk in it) or the free scan at http://housecall.antivirus.com/ to do this .. keeps peace in the family and your computer clean!!

2. Floppy disks are NOT infalable ... remember: always format the disk before you use it even if it's new. There could be a bad disk in the box you bought - using it would just make your life miserable when you try to get the data back off.

3. They're also prone to being abused - dropping, sitting on, leaving in your hot car, dog chewing, and children are just some of the many things that can make a a floppy fail .. always make a second copy of the data if it's important - you can never be to safe!!

4. A floppy disk only holds 1.44Mb of data - don't try to put more on it or you'll just end up with a headache - you can learn later how to zip a file to make it fit - but for now just remember to check the size of the file or folder before attempting to put it on a disk.

[First - make sure that the original format of the disk is the right one for your computer (it says IBM or MACINTOSH on the disk & the box) - sometimes we get them home only to realize (when the computer refuses to use it) that we picked up the wrong box! Take them back and exchange them for the correct kind ... :-) ]

Put the floppy in the drive - that's the smaller slot that's usually just under where you put the CD in.

Open MY COMPUTER on your desktop by double left clicking it - double left click the A: (this could be a different letter so choose the one that says 3 ½ FLOPPY) ... this opens a window that lets you see if there's anything on the disk - this is especially important if it's not a new floppy so you don't send the stuff on the disk into hyperspace forever. Close this when you're done viewing the list of files or you find out that the floppy is blank. If you have files already on the disk use the little arrow on the little folder or the BACK button at the top to go back to MY COMPUTER - right click the A: and go down to properties - see how much space is still available ... AND - DON'T FORMAT THIS DISK - FORMATTING ERASES EVERYTHING ON IT - unless of course, you no longer need or want the information.

If you closed it - open "MY COMPUTER" again - HIGHLIGHT with a single left click the A: ( or what ever letter your floppy drive is).

-- IMPORTANT!!-- MAKE SURE THAT YOU HIGHLIGHT THE RIGHT DRIVE - DON'T CHOOSE ANYTHING OTHER THAN YOUR FLOPPY DRIVE!! WATCH WHAT YOU'RE DOING!

Now - go to FILE at the top of the box and click - about half way down the drop down menu select FORMAT ... a box will pop up that tells you that you are going to ---format - 3 ½ floppy (A:) --- then shows you how large the disk is in the capacity box ---1.44 Mb (3.5") --- now you need to make a decision on the "format type", just put a dot in the QUICK untill you understand the difference ... put a checkmark in the DISPLAY SUMMARY WHEN FINISHED box so that you can see the details of the format when it's done (this will also give you an option to format another disk too!) ... Now click START ...

Ok - so far so good .. your summary came back clean with no errors (If not -- THROW THE DISK OUT!! Don't risk using it!) - now you're ready to put your .midi's on it!

On the desktop - right click on the folder that you have your music in .. go down to properties ... look at the "size", make sure it's 1.44Mb or less (if it's more just make a second folder and move some of the midis to it - put that folder on a different floppy). Close this box after getting the information.

Here's the hardest part - right click the folder again .. go about half way down the box till you get to SEND TO.. that opens another little box that lets you choose 3 ½ floppy .... CLICK THAT! Now your computer's making some strange noises and the light is on by the floppy drive - it's COPYING the information to your disk!! That means that you can take the disk to your friends house and show off a little!

IMPORTANT - don't press the eject button untill the light by the drive goes out - you will ruin your transfer and possibly screw up your computer!!

Oh - one more thing ... you can copy any data file to a floppy - if you're writing a letter, homework, etc. in WORKS or WORD (or other word processor programs) you can save your work directly to the floppy - just go to FILE - then to SAVE AS - choose the floppy drive, add a name for the file and it puts a copy of what you just wrote right on the disk - you won't even have to save it to your hard drive to keep a copy!

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