Hard Disk Partitioning and Formatting Procedure
Software Required:
BootDisk containing the FDISK.EXE and FORMAT.COM programs.
The 'F' in FDISK stands for Fixed.
Time to Perform: 5 to 20 minutes, depending on the size and speed of the hard disks. Preparation / Warnings:
- To be safe, always run FDISK from DOS only.
- Be extremely careful when using the FDISK program, as one incorrect keystroke can result in major data loss. In particular, in a system with multiple hard disk drive be careful to make sure you are working on the right physical disk or you may accidentally end up disturbing the contents of the wrong drive. Beware that DOS drive letters can change after creating or deleting partitions, and that with multiple hard disks the partitions may be lettered in an unexpected sequence.
- Do not perform this procedure until the system is in good working order. Resolve any hardware conflicts or other issues before commencing.
- I assume that the system has been turned on and booted from the floppy disk
- FDISK uses binary megabytes when displaying drive and partition sizes, not decimal megabytes.
- All commands in DOS or within FDISK require you to press {Enter} to select them; I'm not going to repeat it a zillion times within the procedure below
Procedure Steps:
- Check Version Number: At the DOS prompt, enter the following command: "ver". The system will respond with the version of DOS/Windows you have booted. Make sure that this matches whatever you want to install on the hard disk. For Windows 95 OEM SR2 the version number will be "4.00.1111".
- Plan Partitions: Decide how you want to partition your hard disk. In particular, for large hard disks under Windows 95 OSR2, decide if you want to set up your hard disk with a single large FAT32 partition, or several smaller FAT16 partitions. (You can of course mix these). I provide instructions for doing either of these, but cannot tell you how to set up your system. You must decide based on what makes sense for you. For assistance in making this decision, and more general information on partitioning, cluster sizes and related issues, refer to this section. Most people today prefer to set up a new system using a single FAT32 partition.
- Run FDISK.EXE: From the command prompt, enter the command "fdisk". If you have a disk large enough to warrant the use of FAT32, you will be asked if you want to enable "large disk support". Enter "Y" if you want to enable FAT32, or "N" if you do not want to enable FAT32. If you do enable this, any partitions over 500 MB that you create will be FAT32. Note that if you do not enable FAT32, you will not be able to put your entire hard disk into one partition if it is greater than 2 GB in size.
If you decided to place your entire hard disk into a single partition, then follow this step:
- Partition Hard Disk (Single Partition): Follow these steps to set up your hard disk:
- Select from the FDISK menu "1. Create DOS partition or
- Select "1. Create Primary DOS Partition". FDISK will verify drive integrity. Then it will ask if you want to use the maximum available size of the disk for the primary partition and set it active. Enter "Y". The system will allocate the whole disk to the partition, and that's that.
- Press {Esc} to exit FDISK.
If instead you want to set up your hard disk with multiple partitions (or if you don't have Windows 95 OEM SR2), follow this step. In order to make the process easier to follow, I am going to use an example below. In the example, a 3.1GB hard disk is being partitioned into four partitions of 10GB, 8 GB, 7 GB and 6GB respectively:
- Partition Hard Disk (Multiple Partitions): Follow these steps to set up your hard disk:
- Select from the FDISK menu "1. Create DOS partition or
- Select "1. Create Primary DOS Partition". FDISK will verify drive integrity. Then it will ask if you want to use the maximum available size of the disk for the primary partition and set it active. Enter "N". The system will show the size of the entire disk in MB.
- Enter the size of the primary partition. In our example, this would mean entering "100000"(10GB). The system will tell you that it has created the primary partition, and will assign it the drive letter "C:".
- Press {Esc} to return to the FDISK menu.
- Select "2. Set active partition". Select partition 1. FDISK will report that it has set partition 1 active.
- Press {Esc} to return to the FDISK menu.
- Select from the FDISK menu "1. Create DOS partition or
- Select "2. Create Extended DOS Partition".
- When prompted, press {Enter} to select the entire remaining area of the disk for the extended DOS partition. FDISK will report that it has created the extended DOS partition.
- Press {Esc}. FDISK will automatically prompt you to create your first logical DOS volume within the extended DOS partition.
- Enter the size of the first logical partition (the second partition overall). In our example you would enter "800". FDISK will create the partition, label it "D:", and then say "
- Repeat the previous step for the remaining partitions (in our example there would be two more partitions to create, the 70000 MB(7GB) and 60000 MB(6GB) ones). When all of the partitions have been created, FDISK will report "All available space in the Extended DOS Partition is assigned to logical drives".( Plz understand the values are rounded to nearest one, ie 1 Mb=1024 Kb not 1000)
- Press {Esc} to exit FDISK.
Continue with the procedure:
- Reboot: Reboot the system using either the Reset button or the "three-fingered salute" ({Ctrl}+{Alt}+{Delete}). Make sure the floppy disk is in its drive, since you still need it. Note that you may get "Invalid media type reading drive C" errors while rebooting. This is normal at this stage.
- Format Primary Partition: From the "A:" DOS prompt, issue the following command: "format c:/s". Do not forget the "/s", as this is what will make your C: drive bootable. You will get a "scary" warning message such as "WARNING, ALL DATA ON NON-REMOVABLE DISK DRIVE C: WILL BE LOST. Proceed with Format (Y/N)?". Since of course there is no data presently on drive C:, just enter "Y" and the system will format the hard disk. The program will show you its progress as it formats and at the end will prompt you for a volume label. Enter one if you wish.
- Format Additional Partitions (if necessary): If you set up multiple partitions, format the additional partitions now. This is done in almost the same way as formatting the primary DOS partition, except that you leave off the "/s". So normally you would be entering "format d:", "format e:" and so on, until all the partitions have been formatted. The prompts should be the same as in the preceding step.
Yahoo! MailWarning: If you have a second hard disk in the system and it has a primary DOS partition, that partition is probably assigned D: because DOS assigns letters to all primary partitions before any logical partitions. Be careful of what you format.
- Remove Boot Floppy: Eject the boot floppy from the floppy disk.
- Reboot: Reboot the system using either the Reset button or {Ctrl}+{Alt}+{Delete}. The system should boot up from the hard disk this time, and stop at the "C:" prompt. Note that if you get an error such as "NO ROM BASIC, SYSTEM HALTED" or "No boot device found" at this stage, this means you forgot to set the primary DOS partition "active". Reboot from the floppy, run FDISK again and use option 2 to set the primary partition active, then reboot. If you get an error like "No operating system", this means you probably forgot the "/s" parameter when formatting the C: drive. Put the floppy disk back in the drive and then return to step 5.
Some more ponits...
- Create Partitions: FDISK allows you to create a primary partition or logical volumes. To create a logical volume you must of course first create an extended DOS partition , since the logicals are contained within the extended partition.
- Set Active Partition: You can use FDISK to set the primary partition on your boot disk active, so that it can boot. It's quite silly that FDISK doesn't do this automatically when you create the boot primary partition (since there can only be one enabled primary DOS partition anyway), but in fact you must do this manually in many cases. (At least FDISK warns you when no disk is set active, via a message at the bottom of the screen.)
- Delete Partitions: FDISK will let you delete partitions as well. This is the only way to change the size of a partition in FDISK: delete the old one and create a new one with the new size. If you want to change the size of the primary DOS partition using FDISK you must delete every FAT partition on the disk and start over... This is one reason why third-party partitioning programs have been so successful.
- Display Partition Information: The last basic option that FDISK gives is to display the partition information for the system. It will first show the primary and extended partitions and then ask you if you want to see the logical drives within the extended partition. In fact, if you want to see this information, you can just do "FDISK /STATUS" from a DOS command line or Windows DOS box. This will show you the partition information without actually taking you into FDISK, and therefore, you run no risk of accidentally doing something you'll wish you hadn't.
Some important points that you should keep in mind when using FDISK:
- Be Careful: With just a few keystrokes, FDISK can wipe out part or all of your hard disk. Generally speaking, don't use FDISK unless you need to, and make sure you understand what you are doing before you begin.
- Run It From DOS: Windows 9x allows you to run FDISK direct from the graphical user interface, and even use it while other applications are open and running. Since FDISK alters critical disk structures at a very low level, running it while files are open and other applications are using the disk is asking for trouble. To be safe, always exit to DOS ("Restart the computer in MS-DOS mode") before using FDISK (except for using "FDISK /STATUS", will work safely from within a DOS box, as mentioned above).
- FAT32 Support: The version of FDISK that comes with newer versions of Windows supports the creation of partitions that use the FAT32 enhanced file system for larger volumes. Some genius at Microsoft, however, decided not to call it FAT32 within this program. Instead, when you run FDISK on a system that has FAT32 support, and a hard disk over 512 MB (the minimum for using FAT32), you will receive a message asking you if you want to "enable large disk support". If you answer "Y" then any new partitions created in that session will be FAT32 partitions. If you accidentally hit "N" or don't understand the question, FAT32 will be disabled (which routinely causes confusion on the part of many newer PC users...)
Yahoo! Mail
Introductory page to the Windows 9x FDISK program, displayed when FAT32
is supported. Be sure to change the "N" to "Y" before proceeding
The rules that govern partition setup are as follows:
- A maximum of four partitions can be placed on any hard disk. These are sometimes called primary partitions. The limitation of four is one that is imposed on the system by the way that the master boot record is structured.
- Only one partition may be designated, at any given time, as active. That partition will be used for booting the system.
- DOS (and the operating systems that depend on it for booting, which includes all consumer Windows operating systems) will only recognize the active primary partition. Any other primary partitions will be ignored.
- One of the four partitions may be designated as an extended DOS partition. This partition may then be subdivided into multiple logical partitions. This is the way that two or more logical DOS volumes can be placed on a single hard disk.
Yahoo! Mail
After creating all partitions you have to format all drives
FORMAT : SYNTAX
Microsoft Windows 95, 98, ME syntax
Formats a disk for use with MS-DOS.
FORMAT drive: [/V[:label]] [/Q] [/F:size] [/B | /S] [/C]
FORMAT drive: [/V[:label]] [/Q] [/T:tracks /N:sectors] [/B | /S] [/C]
FORMAT drive: [/V[:label]] [/Q] [/1] [/4] [/B | /S] [/C]
FORMAT drive: [/Q] [/1] [/4] [/8] [/B | /S] [/C]
/V[:label] Specifies the volume label./QPerforms a quick format./F:sizeSpecifies the size of the floppy disk to format (such as 160, 180, 320, 360, 720, 1.2, 1.44, 2.88)./B Allocates space on the formatted disk for system files./SCopies system files to the formatted disk./T:tracksSpecifies the number of tracks per disk side./N:sectorsSpecifies the number of sectors per track./1Formats a single side of a floppy disk./4Formats a 5.25-inch 360K floppy disk in a high-density drive./8Formats eight sectors per track./CTests clusters that are currently marked "bad."
Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows XP syntax
Formats a disk for use with Windows 2000.
FORMAT volume [/FS:file-system] [/V:label] [/Q] [/A:size] [/C] [/X]
FORMAT volume [/V:label] [/Q] [/F:size]
FORMAT volume [/V:label] [/Q] [/T:tracks /N:sectors]
FORMAT volume [/V:label] [/Q] [/1] [/4]
FORMAT volume [/Q] [/1] [/4] [/8]
volumeSpecifies the drive letter (followed by a colon), mount point, or volume name./FS:filesystem Specifies the type of the file system (FAT, FAT32, or NTFS)./V:labelSpecifies the volume label./QPerforms a quick format./CFiles created on the new volume will be compressed by default./XForces the volume to dismount first if necessary. All opened handles to the volume would no longer be valid./A:sizeOverrides the default allocation unit size. Default settings are strongly recommended for general use.
NTFS supports 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16K, 32K, 64K.
FAT supports 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16K, 32K, 64K, (128K, 256K for sector size > 512 bytes).
FAT32 supports 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16K, 32K, 64K, (128K, 256K for sector size > 512 bytes). Note that the FAT and FAT32 files systems impose the below restrictions on the number of clusters on a volume:
FAT: Number of clusters <= 65526 FAT32: 65526 < Number of clusters < 268435446
Format will immediately stop processing if it decides that the above requirements cannot be met using the specified cluster size.
NTFS compression is not supported for allocation unit sizes above 4096.
/F:sizeSpecifies the size of the floppy disk to format (160,
180, 320, 360, 640, 720, 1.2, 1.23, 1.44, 2.88, or 20.8)./T:tracksSpecifies the number of tracks per disk side./N:sectorsSpecifies the number of sectors per track./1Formats a single side of a floppy disk./4Formats a 5.25-inch 360K floppy disk in a high-density drive./8Formats eight sectors per track.
Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows XP recovery console syntax
Formats a disk for use with Windows 2000.
format [drive:] [/q] [/fs:file-system]
drive:Specifies the drive to format./qPerforms a quick format./fs:file-systemSpecifies the file system to use (FAT, FAT32, or NTFS)
EXAMPLES
When using the format command, remember all information on the drive you wish to format will be completely erased.
format a: - Would erase all the contents off a disk. Commonly used on a diskette that has not been formatted or on a diskette you wish to erase.
format a: /q - Quickly erases all the contents of a floppy diskette. Commonly used to quickly erase all information on the diskette.
format c: - This would erase all the contents of your C: hard disk drive. In other words, unless you wish to erase all your computer's information, this command should not be done unless you're planning to start over.
Examples:-
- look at the current partition table
- Remove all existing partitions one-by-one
- Delete DOS Partition or
Current fixed disk drive: 1
Choose one of the following:
1. Delete Primary DOS Partition
2. Delete Extended DOS Partition
3. Delete Logical
4. Delete Non-DOS Partition
Enter choice: [ ]
Press Esc to return to FDISK Options
- Create a single Primary DOS partition
- Create Primary DOS Partition
Current fixed disk drive: 1
Total disk space is 8032 Mbytes (1 Mbyte = 1048576 bytes)
Maximum space available for partition is 8032 Mbytes (100%)
Enter partition size in Mbytes or percent of disk space
to
create Primary DOS Partition ..................................: [4000]
No partitions defined
Press Esc to return to FDISK Options
- leave the rest of the disk empty (>4 GB of empty space are recommended)
- make the newly created partition "active"
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