Partition Magic Software Partition magic software for Windows Server 2000/2003/2008/2008 R2/2012/2012 R2, Windows XP/Vista/7/8/8.1/10, etc.
Formatting Hard Disks
- Within each of the partitions information has to be organized in a way understandable for the operating system that uses the partition. This organization is the file system. Format and location of information (the logical structure of a partition) for MS-DOS and Windows is created by the FORMAT program.
FORMAT program performs the following functions:
• It creates the boot record
• It creates the file allocation table (FAT)
• It marks bad clusters so they are not ever used afterwards
After formatting logical disks created by the FDISK program are organized as follows:
• Logical disks start with the boot sector
• One or several copies of file allocation table (FAT) are placed after the boot sector
• Next goes the root folder
• Next goes the data area
Each logical disk has to be formatted with FORMAT separately.
Formatting a partition is done by issuing a DOS command:
FORMAT C:
To create a system (bootable) logical disk, it has to be formatted with FORMAT with /S parameter:
FORMAT C: /S
Another way is to transfer the system to the partition that has been formatted with /B parameter is booting the computer from a system diskette and issuing the command
SYS C:
IO.SYS, MSDOS.SYS, COMMAND.COM files that are necessary for the operating system to be booted are copied from the diskette to the disk. Initial loader code is written to the boot sector.
Note
• Other operating systems provide hard disk formatting means to create file systems that are recognizable by these OSes.
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