Hack #51. Format Your Disk

Lay down some awesome data tracks on diskettes, hard drives, Zip disks, or LS-120 cartridges with FORMAT.

Logical drives and drive letters are created by the process of formatting a partition so that it is ready to accept files. Formatting is done by either the DOS FORMAT program, within the Windows 9x-2003 setup processes, or within the Disk Management console in Windows NT-2003. FORMAT provides limited options: it either creates nonbootable disk space, creates a bootable disk, or it can quick-format (erase) a diskette. For hard drives, FORMAT will lay out either NTFS, FAT-16, or FAT-32 file structures, depending on the filesystem of the partition. For 3.5" diskettes, Zip, and LS-120 media, the filesystem will always be FAT-16.

Tip

FORMAT also establishes a single partition for portable media such as diskettes, Zip (100 and 250), and LS-120 media because they have limited storage capacity well below 512 MB.

In the process, FORMAT also establishes the logical drives or drive lettering scheme we use to refer to our drives. Although the FORMAT program has more options applicable to various diskette capacities, it is also a very powerful utility when applied to hard drives.

To use all of the features of the FORMAT program, you need to be at a DOS or command prompt. Then follow these steps:

  1. Boot with DOS or a startup diskette, boot CD, or bootable USB FLASH drive or hard drive containing the version of the operating system you wish to repair. A Windows 98 or ...

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