Why is it necessary to format a magnetic disk. What is this information?

Question

anonymous · Answer

Its necessary to format a magnetic disk so that whatever software is reading from it might understand a structure to read from

anonymous · Answer

A magnetic disk (or reel to reel or casette tape) is a mylar plastic sheet with ferromagnetic "ink" bonded to it. That ink has the possibility to take a localized magnetic change that can be inperpreted as a bit of recorded sound, or a logic bit, or a special code indicating the next beat of a MIDI sequencer. The devil is in the details of how the information you want is arranged on this blank magnetic slate if you will. A "format" provides a standardized logical arrangement of physical places on the disc. Without the format, it is just a blank slate. The device using the magnetiic media wouldn't be able to "find" the information it is seeking. By organizing the places where data can be recorded, a floppy disk drive, or magnetic card reader, or reel to reel tape player can translate what has been phycsically recorded into the media into the data or sound (the logical data).