Now that you have created all of the partitions for your hard drive, it is now time to format them. To format a master hard disk, you will use the format command. Formatting prepares a hard drive for use by organizing its storage space into addresses that can be recognized and accessed.
Below are the complete instructions to walk you through the process of formatting partitions on your hard drive.
1.) Restart your computer with the Startup/Boot disk in the floppy disk drive.
**NOTE:**If you are using a Windows 95 Startup disk, a command prompt is displayed and you can skip to step 2. If you are using a Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, or Windows Me Startup disk, select the Start computer without CD-ROM support menu option when the Windows 98 Startup menu is displayed.
2.) When a command prompt is displayed, type format c: /s, and then press ENTER. This command transfers the system files and should only be used when you format drive C (or your "active" drive). **NOTE** (If you are formatting with an Windows ME boot disk you cannot use the /s switch. Windows ME will not let you transfer system files to a disk without an operating system already present.) For all other partitions, type format drive: (where drive is the letter of the partition that you want to format).
3.) When you successfully run the format tool, you receive the following message:
WARNING, ALL DATA ON NON-REMOVABLE DISK DRIVE C: WILL BE LOST!Proceed with Format?
4.) Press Y, and then press ENTER to format drive C.
5.) After the format procedure is finished, you receive the following message:
Volume label (11 characters, ENTER for none)?
**NOTE:**This is an optional feature that you can use to type a name for the drive. You can either type an 11-character name for the drive, or you can leave it blank by pressing Enter.
6.) Reboot. You are now ready to install your operating system.
Source:
Publish date: 28th July 2005Written by: TheoranAudience intended for: Windows ME Users, Windows 98 Users, Windows 95 Users
http://www.cybertechhelp.com/tutorial/article/how-to-format-a-partition
FORMAT
Type: External (1.0 and later)
Syntax:
FORMAT d:[/1][/4][/8][/F:(size)] [/N:(sectors)] [/T:(tracks)]
[/B|/S][/C]
[/V:(label)] [/Q][/U][/V]
Purpose: Formats a disk to accept DOS files.
Discussion
Formats the disk in the specified drive to accept DOS files, analyzing the
entire disk for defects.
Initializes the directory and file allocation tables. Can be used to
format both diskettes and fixed disks.
NOTE:
In some earlier versions of DOS, the drive designation letter was
optional. If you are using one of these versions, you can format a
diskette or a FIXED DISK if you enter FORMAT while working in that drive.
For more information on using the FORMAT command, refer to Chapter 2,
Using Common DOS Commands.
Options
/1 - Format for single-sided use, regardless of the drive type.
/4 - Formats a double-density diskette in a high-density type disk drive.
Files written to a double-sided disk using a high-density drive may not be
reliable.
/8 - Formats at 8 sectors per track. If /8 is not specified, FORMAT
defaults to 9 or 15 sectors per track, depending upon the disk drive type.
The /V option cannot be used with the /8 option.
/F:(size) - Formats disks to specific sizes. You can specify the target
disk to be a size value from 160Kb to 2.88Mb. Do not format a floppy disk
at a size higher than it was designed for.
/N:(sectors) - Specifies the number of sectors per track on the disk.
Used to format a 3.5 inch disk with the number of sectors per track
specified using this option. For 720 K-byte disks, this value should be
entered as ÒN:9.Ó
/T:(tracks) - Specifies the number of tracks on the disk. Used to format
a 3.5 inch disk with the number of tracks specified using this option.
For both 720 K-byte disks and 1.44 K-byte disks, this value should be
entered as T:80.
/B - Formats a disk reserving room on the disk to later copy the DOS
system files.
/S - Copies the operating system files to the disk after formatting.
These system files are hidden files and will not appear in a directory
listing. Using some versions of DOS, this must be the last option
entered.
/C - Causes FORMAT to retest badclusters, otherwise FORMAT will mark the
clusters as bad but will not retest them. (In DOS versions before
Version 6, FORMAT always retested any bad clusters.)
/V:(label) - Causes FORMAT to prompt for a volume label after the disk is
formatted. The label can be of 1 to 11 characters. The same characters
acceptable in filenames are acceptable in the volume label (however, you
cannot add a filename extension). The /8 option cannot be used with the
/V option. DOS Version 5 automatically assigns Label as the disk label and
creates a unique serial number in the boot sector of the disk. The serial
number is displayed at the end of the formatting process.
/Q - Provides a quick way to format a disk . This option erases the file
allocation table and the root directory, but does not identify bad
sectors.
/U - Completely erases all data on the target disk making it impossible to
perform an UNFORMAT later.
/V - Displays a prompt so that a volume label can be entered.
Example
If you want to format a floppy disk as a double-density disk in a 1.2M
drive, you should enter the following:
format a:/4
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