If you want to format your disk, here is a freeware named Partition Resizer that can let you format your hard disk directly on a working PC. It also has a bootable edition that you can use its bootable iso and burn it onto dvd/cd/usb to get the disk formatted. Make Bootable Format Tool with Freeware Partition Resizer Step 1: Download the freeware. Disk Utility will automatically choose the format for you. This may be APFS, or it may be Mac OS Extended (Journaled) depending on how the drive is currently formatted and whether you using macOS. To implement this, you can enter the fdisk command. Once a partition is created, you can use the 'mkfs.ext4' command to format the disk. Here's a simple solution to format a disk on a Linux system. Step 1: Create a partition of the disk. This is the Command Prompt window. From the command prompt, type diskpart and press Enter. The diskpart prompt will open. From the diskpart prompt, type list disk and press Enter. A list of disks will appear in a text format. You will return to the diskpart prompt. Step one verified that Disk 1 is the 3TB drive.
- How To Format Hard Disk From Dos Disk
- How To Format Hard Disk From Dos
- Dos Format Hard Drive
- Format In Dos
Formatting a hard disk in DOS requires a few more tasks and careful thinking compared to formatting a floppy. Typically there are 3 programs you need to run to format a hard disk:
1) Run a 'Low-level format' program
2) Run FDISK.exe to create partitions
3) Run FORMAT.exe to 'high-level format' the disk.
2) Run FDISK.exe to create partitions
3) Run FORMAT.exe to 'high-level format' the disk.
Step 1) Low-Level Format
Low-level formatting a hard disk actually physically formats it - it actually lays down tracks and sectors and it wipes all data off the drive. This step is *only* needed if you have an extremely old MFM or RLL hard disk drive. If you're wanting to format an IDE or SCSI hard disk these come from the factory already low-level formatted, so jump straight to step 2.
Again, to be clear: WARNING: DO NOT LOW-LEVEL FORMAT AN IDE DRIVE! They have special hidden areas of the drive that store information about its capacity which is wiped out if low-level formatted. Hence permanent damage can (and probably will) occur if you do this!
For old MFM or RLL hard disk drives, each hard disk manufacturer would provide instructions on how to low-level format the drive - this typically involved using the DOS DEBUG.COM program to communicate directly with the hard disk controller card and send it an instruction to low-level format the hard disk (these hard disk controllers had a 'ROM BIOS extension' with a low-level format program built-in). There are exceptions though, such as the original IBM PC XT 10MB hard disk which came with the IBM Advanced Diagnostics diskette. This contained a convenient program to perform the low-level format. On Zenith PCs there was a Zenith DOS command called PREP. If you know you need to use the DEBUG.COM utility, follow these steps:
After booting your PC using a floppy disk, at the A: prompt type:
A:>debug
You will get a '-' prompt. Now type one of the following commands, depending on your hard disk controller manufacturer:
It's worth mentioning that not all MFM/RLL hard disk controllers have a ROM BIOS with a formatter embedded within. If you have no luck with DEBUG, or you know your hard disk controller doesn't have a low-level format utility stored in a ROM, you can use a utility called Segate Disk Manager.
Step 2) Run FDISK
FDISK.exe is an external DOS command which is used to 'partition' the hard disk after it's been low-level formatted. Even if you only want a single drive letter, say C:, for the entire drive, you must still run FDISK and define a partition. Depending on the DOS version you are using there are limits to the size of hard disk it supports:
DOS v3.3 supports hard disks up to 32 MB formatted capacity.
DOS v4.0 supports hard disks up to 512 MB formatted capacity.
DOS v5.0 supports hard disks up to 2 GB formatted capacity.
DOS v4.0 supports hard disks up to 512 MB formatted capacity.
DOS v5.0 supports hard disks up to 2 GB formatted capacity.
Since you probably don't have a hard disk already setup on your PC, you firstly need to boot into DOS using a bootable floppy disk which also contains FDISK.EXE. Once booted and you're at the A: prompt, type:
A:>fdisk
Within FDISK, drives are not letters yet - they are numbered starting from 1.
If you choose option 4 it will display all the current partitions on your drive. There will initially be none.
Go back to the main menu and choose option 1 to create a DOS partition. This is where you choose whether you want the full capacity of the drive to be a single drive letter or not.
Go back to the main menu and choose option 1 to create a DOS partition. This is where you choose whether you want the full capacity of the drive to be a single drive letter or not.
You need to create a 'primary' DOS partition before anything else.
Subsequent partitions (should you want to create them) are called 'extended DOS partitions', and for these to have a drive letter you then create a 'logical DOS drive' within the 'extended DOS partition'. Confusing, I know, but this is due to design limitations laid out by the original IBM PC.
The last step to perform within FDISK is to set one of the partitions to be the 'active' one - this basically means the one the system will use to boot from.
After you've done all of the above FDISK steps, go back to option 4 from the main menu to see your partitions setup. Exiting FDISK will prompt you to restart your computer.
Subsequent partitions (should you want to create them) are called 'extended DOS partitions', and for these to have a drive letter you then create a 'logical DOS drive' within the 'extended DOS partition'. Confusing, I know, but this is due to design limitations laid out by the original IBM PC.
The last step to perform within FDISK is to set one of the partitions to be the 'active' one - this basically means the one the system will use to boot from.
After you've done all of the above FDISK steps, go back to option 4 from the main menu to see your partitions setup. Exiting FDISK will prompt you to restart your computer.
Step 3) High-Level Format
Now that you have defined the physical partitions and logical drives you need to do a 'high-level format' of these drive letters. To do so following a reboot, at the A: prompt type:
How To Format Hard Disk From Dos Disk
A:>format c: /s
This will format the C: drive and copy the operating system (the /s argument) files from the floppy disk to the hard disk's C: drive, making it bootable. If you chose a different drive letter to be the 'active' partition, choose this drive letter instead of C:.
Once the format has completed, you bill be able to restart your computer without a floppy disk in the drive and it will boot from the active partition on the hard disk instead.
The format command is used to erase information from a computer diskette or fixed drive.
TipAlthough the information appears to be erased, it is still possible for software recovery programs to recover information from a formatted drive. If you want to make sure no information can be recovered from a drive, use a software utility to make sure all data is erased and overwritten. See: How to make sure all data is erased on a computer hard drive.
Availability
Format is an external command that is available for the following Microsoft operating systems as format.com.
Format syntax
Windows Vista and later syntax
volume | Specifies the drive letter (followed by a colon), mount point, or volume name. |
/FS:filesystem | Specifies the file system (FAT, FAT32, exFAT, NTFS, UDF, ReFS). |
/V:label | Specifies the volume label. |
/Q | Performs a quick format. Note that this switch overrides /P. |
/C | NTFS only: Files created on the new volume will be compressed by default. |
/X | Forces the volume to dismount first if necessary. All opened handles to the volume would no longer be valid. |
/R:revision | UDF only: Forces the format to a specific UDF version (1.02, 1.50, 2.00, 2.01, 2.50). The default revision is 2.01. |
/D | UDF 2.50 only: Metadata will be duplicated. |
/L | NTFS Only: Use large size file records. By default, the volume will be formatted with small size file records. |
/A:size | Overrides the default allocation unit size. Default settings are strongly recommended for general use. ReFS supports 64 K. NTFS supports 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16 K, 32 K, 64 K. FAT supports 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16 K, 32 K, 64 K, (128 K, 256 K for sector size > 512 bytes). FAT32 supports 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16 K, 32 K, 64 K, (128 K, 256 K for sector size > 512 bytes). exFAT supports 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16 K, 32 K, 64 K, 128 K, 256 K, 512 K, 1 M, 2 M, 4 M, 8 M, 16 M, 32 M. Note that the FAT and FAT32 files systems impose the following restrictions on the number of clusters on a volume: FAT: Number of clusters <= 65526 FAT32: 65526 < Number of clusters < 4177918 Format will immediately stop processing if it decides that the above requirements cannot be met using the specified cluster size. NTFS compression is not supported for allocation unit sizes above 4096. |
/F:size | Specifies the size of the floppy disk to format (1.44). |
/T:tracks | Specifies the number of tracks per disk side. |
/N:sectors | Specifies the number of sectors per track. |
/P:count | Zero every sector on the volume. After that, the volume will be overwritten 'count' times using a different random number each time. If 'count' is zero, no additional overwrites are made after zeroing every sector. This switch is ignored when /Q is specified. |
/S:state | Specifies support for short file names (enable, disable). Short names are disabled by default. |
/I:state | ReFS only: Specifies whether integrity should be enabled on the new volume. The 'state' is either 'enable' or 'disable' Integrity is enabled on storage that supports data redundancy by default. |
Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows XP syntax
volume | Specifies the drive letter (followed by a colon), mount point, or volume name. |
/FS:filesystem | Specifies the file system (FAT, FAT32, or NTFS). |
/V:label | Specifies the volume label. |
/Q | Performs a quick format. |
/C | Files created on the new volume will be compressed by default. |
/X | Forces the volume to dismount first if necessary. All opened handles to the volume would no longer be valid. |
/A:size | Overrides the default allocation unit size. Default settings are strongly recommended for general use. NTFS supports 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16 K, 32 K, 64 K. FAT supports 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16 K, 32 K, 64 K, (128 K, 256 K for sector size > 512 bytes). FAT32 supports 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16 K, 32 K, 64 K, (128 K, 256 K for sector size > 512 bytes). Note that the FAT and FAT32 files systems impose the below restrictions on the number of clusters on a volume: FAT: Number of clusters <= 65526 FAT32: 65526 < Number of clusters < 268435446 Format will immediately stop processing if it decides that the above requirements cannot be met using the specified cluster size. NTFS compression is not supported for allocation unit sizes above 4096. |
/F:size | Specifies the size of the floppy disk to format (160, 180, 320, 360, 640, 720, 1.2, 1.23, 1.44, 2.88, or 20.8). |
/T:tracks | Specifies the number of tracks per disk side. |
/N:sectors | Specifies the number of sectors per track. |
/1 | Formats a single side of a floppy disk. |
/4 | Formats a 5.25-inch 360 K floppy disk in a high-density drive. |
/8 | Formats eight sectors per track. |
Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows XP Recovery Console syntax
Formats a disk for use with Windows 2000.
drive: | Specifies the drive to format. |
/q | Performs a quick format. |
/fs:file-system | Specifies the file system to use (FAT, FAT32, or NTFS). |
![Dos format tool Dos format tool](https://fossbytes.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/PandoraRecovery-BestFreeDataRecoveryTools.png)
Microsoft Windows 95, 98, ME syntax
Formats a disk for use with MS-DOS.
/V[:label] | Specifies the volume label. |
/Q | Performs a quick format. |
/F:size | Specifies the size of the floppy disk to format (such as 160, 180, 320, 360, 720, 1.2, 1.44, 2.88). |
/B | Allocates space on the formatted disk for system files. |
/S | Copies system files to the formatted disk. |
/T:tracks | Specifies the number of tracks per disk side. |
/N:sectors | Specifies the number of sectors per track. |
/1 | Formats a single side of a floppy disk. |
/4 | Formats a 5.25-inch 360 K floppy disk in a high-density drive. |
/8 | Formats eight sectors per track. |
/C | Tests clusters that are currently marked 'bad.' |
Format examples
How To Format Hard Disk From Dos
CautionWhen using the format command, remember all the information on the drive you want to format will be completely erased.
Dos Format Hard Drive
Would erase all the contents off a floppy disk. Commonly used on a diskette that has not been formatted or on a diskette you want to erase.
Format In Dos
Quickly erases all the contents of a floppy diskette. Commonly used to quickly erase all information on the diskette.
Erase the contents of your C: hard drive. In other words, unless you want to erase all your computer's information, this command should not be executed unless you're planning on starting over.
Note If you're in Windows or files on the hard drive are in use, this command will not work. If you want to format the primary hard drive you'll need to boot from a bootable diskette, restore disc, or another bootable drive.