How to format a 720KB Double Density Floppy Disk - WINDOWS 10 - 2024

" The 720k is what’s known as a double density diskette, or DD for short. It’s called that because it can encode roughly twice the as many bits per time unit compared to single density. The way it accomplishes this is through a line coding scheme called Modified Frequency Modulation or MFM for short." Bing Search

It's 2024 and I've decided to format floppy disks - especially as I have a Roland W-30 Sampler and Roland MC500 midi sequencer that uses them.

Is you have the correct USB floppy drive ( older the better) then you can issue the following commands...


FORMAT A: /T:80 /N:9 

C:\Windows\system32>format a: /t:80 /n:9
Insert new disk for drive A:
and press ENTER when ready...

The type of the file system is RAW.
The new file system is FAT.
Verifying 720 KB
Invalid media or Track 0 bad - disk unusable.
Format failed.

FORMAT A: /F:720

C:\Windows\system32>format a: /t:80 /n:9
Insert new disk for drive A:
and press ENTER when ready...

The type of the file system is RAW.
The new file system is FAT.
Verifying 720 KB
Invalid media or Track 0 bad - disk unusable.

Format failed. 

OK the above was with a bad floppy - I wish I knew if it was possible to fix.

However with the right combination of drive and floppy you get..

C:\Windows\system32>FORMAT A: /F:720

Insert new disk for drive A:

and press ENTER when ready...

The type of the file system is RAW.

The new file system is FAT.

Verifying 720 KB

18 percent completed.

99 percent completed.

Initializing the File Allocation Table (FAT)...

Volume label (11 characters, ENTER for none)? LIVE

Format complete.

     713.0 KB total disk space.

       62,464 bytes in bad sectors.

     652.0 KB are available.

        1,024 bytes in each allocation unit.

          652 allocation units available on disk.

           12 bits in each FAT entry.

Volume Serial Number is 8ED3-5ABF

Format another (Y/N)?

So yes format 720KB floppy works in windows 10.