

Data previously written to the media will not be altered by the command. With this option the command will not do the 2nd and 3rd step, above. FORMAT always writes a BIOS Parameter Block to the first sector, with or without the /S option.Īnother option ( /Q) allows for what Microsoft calls "Quick Format". When this option is included, bootstrap code is written to the first sector of the volume (and possibly elsewhere as well). Optionally, (by adding /S, for "system") it can also install a volume boot record.

The FAT entries are cleared by changing them to 0x00.It will not perform this function on optical media. The command will perform the following actions by default on a floppy drive, hard drive, solid-states (USB), or other magnetic medium. A unique serial number will be created for storage device after formatting.įormat is a command-line utility included in Microsoft DOS, IBM OS/2 and Microsoft Windows operating systems to produce disk formatting. This command can erase everything on the storage device. In most cases, this should only be used on floppy drives or other removable media. The FORMAT command formats a disk with FAT and sectors. Learning objective: Explain the purpose of the FORMAT command Next > FORMAT Command (External) - Formats a disk Top 10 MS-DOS Commands Top 10 MS-DOS Commands
