eXtended density Format

Updated: 11/16/2019 by Computer Hope

The eXtended density Format, or XDF, is a type of formatting for high density 3½" and 5¼" floppy disks that increases data storage capacity. Using XDF, a 3½" disk can store 1860 kilobytes of data and a 5¼" disk, 1540 kilobytes.

XDF is natively supported by PC DOS versions 7 and 2000, and OS/2 Warp 3 and higher. Floppy disks using XDF can only be read in floppy disk drives directly connected to a computer using a floppy disk controller. This condition means USB (Universal Serial Bus) floppy disk drives are not capable of reading an XDF disk. The first cylinder of an XDF disk uses FAT12 formatting for operating systems that do not support XDF to read. This first cylinder can store a readme file or XDF drivers.

Computer abbreviations, Floppy disk, Floppy drive terms, TLA