format

[jadison]

need to know how to format a hard drive from DOS, I need to know the exact line of code you type in, in DOS.

need to know promptly!!!!


-=jd=-

[hd581]

If it's newly partitioned:
format c:

If it has already been formatted once:
format c:/q

Did I read your question wrong? Seems pretty straightforward...

[This message has been edited by hd581 (edited 06-15-2000).]

[yaroa]

Hi HD, just curious, what does the switch /q do.
The reason that I ask is because I just reformated mine, but I did not know about this switch, so I just used "format c:"

[jadison]

Thanks, HD
I was working on a customers computer and since I hadn't performed a format in a while that's why i asked.
I remembered that if ur installing Win98SE and uv already created a partition, u just use the WIN98SE CD, go to the CD-ROM drive prompt, then u type: format c: /s
that will format your whole HD, besides this person only has a 10.1 GB hard drive so I didnt need to create a partiition larger than a primary

Once again thanks.

[Win_98]

Just do format /?
and it will tell you what all those letter mean.
/Q is very fast and doesnt format your entire
drive it just wipe your content clean.
format c:
would do a full format which take alot longer
but only use to verify if you have any bad sectors.

[OuTpaTienT]

That's a good tip to point out Win_98. For those of you lucky enough to never have had the pleasure of dealing with DOS as the sole operating system for so many years, the tip Win_98 mentions is easy to remember and will almost always help when dealing with DOS commands.

That is, just add /? after the command and 99% of the time you will get a list of avialible switchs (options) for that command, their function, and how to use them.

If using /? doesn't work, you can also try using -?, /help, -help.

[yaroa]

Tks. W98, I was typing format ?, without the / http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif