Format | \ windows \system32\format.com |
Before data can be stored on a floppy disk, hard disk, or any of a variety of removable media disks (such as Zip disks), the disk must be formatted. This process creates various low-level data structures on the disk, such as the filesystem (FAT, FAT32, NTFS, etc.). It also tests the disk surface for errors and stores bad sectors in a table that will keep them from being used. If there's any data on the disk, it will be erased. The options for Format are:
format volume [/q] [/c] [/x] [/v: label ] [/fs: filesystem ]
Option | Description |
---|---|
volume | The drive letter, followed by a colon , containing the media to be formatted. Example: format a:. |
/q | Performs a "quick" format (only wipes out the file table). |
/c | Compress all files by default (NTFS volumes only). |
/x | Forces the volume to dismount first if necessary. |
/v: label | Specifies the volume label, an arbitrary title you assign to any disk. It can be up to 11 characters and can include spaces. |
/fs: filesystem | Specifies the filesystem; can be fat, fat32, or ntfs. |