Hard Drive Formatting Options

[ragtop]

I've used the standard "format" command many times to wipe a hard drive clean before reinstalling an operating system.

Lately I've been reading a lot of posts that talk about "low level format", "format /mbr" and possibly a few other formatting types and options. Can someone give me a quick overview, or point me to a web site that explains the various formatting options and format command switches, as well as what each one does and when you would use it??

Thanks

[NDC]

Lately I've been reading a lot of posts that talk about "low level format", "format /mbr"


That would be fdisk /mbr.... to correct errors on te MBR (Master Boot Record) without losing existing data....


A "Low-Level Format" is different from what most people think as in formatting a disk. A low-level format would be deleting a partition (writing 0's) to the disk. New hard drives come this way....


1) Standard Format = format c: = basic format (without altering the partition)


2) Quick Format - format c: /q = Doesn't actually format drive, just deletes all data.


3) Format & make disk bootable - format c: /s = formats the drive and also makes drive bootable by copying system files after the format is completed

4) Specify cluster size - format /a = you can specify the cluster size depending on the disk capacity, 512, 1024, 1048, 4096, 8192, 16K, etc...

5) Fix MBR - Fdisk /mbr = corrects the MBR, Master Boot Record.

There are other switches such as FS, V, C, X, F, T, N, etc.... but rarely have uses for them.....


[This message has been edited by NDC (edited 02-23-2001).]

[NDC]

Also I thought /q doesn't remove data, but just clears the flags in the FAT that specifies when clusters are used or free.

That is what I meant for the /q option.. looks like you put that in clearer terms! http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif

[ragtop]

Thanks for the explanations