Recipe 3.4. Formatting a VolumeProblemYou want to reformat an existing volume or initialize a new one. SolutionUsing a graphical user interface
Using a command-line interfaceThe following command formats the D: drive using NTFS and sets the volume label to Data: > format D: /fs:ntfs /v:Data You will be prompted to enter the current label of the D: drive. Type it in and press Enter. Then you'll be asked for confirmation to continue by typing Y and pressing Enter. Add the /q option to the previous command line to perform a quick format and add the /c option to enable compression on the volume. You can use the /x option to force a dismount in case someone has a handle open on the volume. Using VBScript' This code formats a volume. ' The Win32_Volume class is new in Windows Server 2003. ' ------ SCRIPT CONFIGURATION ------ strComputer = "<Server>" strDrive = "<Drive>" ' e.g., D: strFS = "NTFS" boolQuick = False intClusterSize = 4096 strLabel = "Data" boolCompress = False ' ------ END CONFIGURATION --------- set objWMI = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2") set colVol = objWMI.ExecQuery("select * from Win32_Volume where Name = '" & _ strDrive & "\\'") if colVol.Count <> 1 then WScript.Echo "Error: Volume not found." else for each objVol in colVol intRC = objVol.Format(strFS,boolQuick,intClusterSize, _ strLabel,boolCompress) if intRC <> 0 then WScript.Echo "Error formatting volume: " & intRC else WScript.Echo "Successfully set formatted volume." end if next end if DiscussionBefore you can use a volume, you first need to format it with a filesystem. On Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003, you can format a volume with FAT, FAT32, or NTFS. Unless you have a good reason, you should use NTFS due to its increased security features. Another option when formatting a volume is whether to perform a quick format or normal format. Both options erase the table that tracks file locations on the filesystem. The difference is that a normal format will scan the entire volume for bad sectors. This scan is responsible for most of the time required to do a format. A quick format bypasses this, so you should only use it when the volume has been previously formatted with a filesystem and you are confident the disk isn't damaged. You can also enable compression on a newly formatted volume. See Recipe 3.9 for more on the effects of compression. See AlsoMS KB 140365 (Default Cluster Size for FAT and NTFS) and MS KB 313348 (How to partition and format a hard disk in Windows XP) |