Formatting Hard Drive in DOS
Formatting a hard drive in dos is easy to do, if you know what you are doing. For example, to format the drive C:, with a clean erase, you would enter the following at the DOS command prompt: format c: /U. The /U means for DOS to format the drive "unconditionally", in other words, leave to trace behind and wipe the drive clean. This format type takes a while, get a good book to read. If you're in a hurry, you can use the /Q switch: format c: /Q. This will use the "quick" format method, which is akin to deleting the table of contents, of a book, keep the rest of the pages in tact, later to be overwritten by new pages. The /Q switch essentially erases the FAT ( File Allocation Table ) on your hard drive, allowing Windows to overwrite any data, or old files, with new data, or new files. Visit http://www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/Hardware_Software/2005/harddrive_format.asp.
Posted by MikeWill on 8/23/2009
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Format a Computer Hard Drive or Disc Drive; Web Tech Support: A brand new hard drive cannot be used until it has been formatted. Formatting places magnetic markers on the drive surface to define the sectors in which data is stored. ... The Steps for Formatting The C Drive in DOS:
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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. See here for more details on this. ... This is done in almost the same way as formatting the primary DOS partition, except that you leave off the "/s".
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You first need to decide what operating system you intend to load after formatting the hard drive. ... This indicates that the files required to boot your computer from the hard drive have been copied from the floppy to the hard drive. The computer can now boot from the hard drive without a boot disk in the floppy drive.
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A forum thread for topic Formatting a Hard disc drive in DOS ... afterdawn.com > forums > pc hardware > other pc hardware > formatting a hard disc drive in dos...
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A forum thread for topic Formatting Hard Drive In Windows XP ... afterdawn.com > forums > general discussion > all other topics > formatting hard drive in windows xp ... try restarting in DOS mode and format C: or whatever.
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This would erase all the contents of your C: hard disk drive. In other words, unless you wish to erase all ... Additional information about formatting your computer hard disk drive and starting over can be found on document CH000186. ... Help with formatting a floppy diskette in MS-DOS can be found on document CH000727.
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This guide explains how to prepare a hard drive when setting up a new drive, partitioning an existing drive or preparing for a new operating system. Some of the processes are quite involved and need an ... Drive formatting utilities such as FDISK, FORMAT (DOS) or third party utility such as 'Partition Magic'.
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Preparing and Formatting a Hard Drive - Before you Start ... You should also choose the file system that is best for the size of the hard drive allocated space (Volume) that you are installing. ... FAT16 - Volumes between 16Mb and 2Gb; Available through MS-DOS, all versions of Windows, and OS/2.
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1. Select DOS partitions or Logical DOS drive (select this first); 2. Create Primary DOS partition first; 3. Create Extended DOS partition next; 4. Create Logical DOS Drive in the Extended DOS partition; 5. Set active partition (usually the Primary DOS partition)
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Format is a Microsoft DOS command. It's a command line you can run to remove information from a computer disk, floppy disk or hard disk. It is an external command found in many of the Windows Operating systems. ... Hard drive formatting is done in three steps: (1) Low-level formatting creates the physical structure on...
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