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. Format then checks each cluster to see if it is good or bad and marks it in the FAT.The root directory is cleared out by changing any values found to 0x00.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

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How do i format floppy disk in dos 5.0