How to format a hard drive?

how do i format a hard drive?

This question was answered on March 24, 2004. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.

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1.Check Version Number: At the DOS prompt, enter the following command: "ver" The system will respond with the version of DOS/Windows you have booted Make sure that this matches whatever you want to install on the hard disk For Windows 95 OEM SR2 the version number will be "4.00.1111"

2.Plan Partitions: Decide how you want to partition your hard disk In particular, for large hard disks under Windows 95 OSR2, decide if you want to set up your hard disk with a single large FAT32 partition, or several smaller FAT16 partitions (You can of course mix these) I provide instructions for doing either of these, but it's completely up to you how to set up your system You must decide based on what makes sense for you Most people today prefer to set up a new system using a single FAT32 partition

3.Run FDISK.EXE: From the command prompt, enter the command "fdisk" If you have a disk large enough to warrant the use of FAT32, you will be asked if you want to enable "large disk support" Enter "Y" if you want to enable FAT32, or "N" if you do not want to enable FAT32 If you do enable this, any partitions over 500 MB that you create will be FAT32 Note that if you do not enable FAT32, you will not be able to put your entire hard disk into one partition if it is greater than 2 GB in size

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Posted by Student of Katharine Gibbs School - New York on March 24, 2004

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