format (command)
| The MS-DOS FORMAT command | |
| Written in | MS-DOS: x86 assembly language FreeDOS: C |
|---|---|
| Operating system | RT-11, 86-DOS, MS-DOS, PC DOS, OS/2, eComStation, ArcaOS, ISIS-II, iRMX 86, TRIPOS, AmigaDOS, Z80-RIO, OS-9, MSX-DOS, FlexOS, PC-MOS, SpartaDOS X, DR DOS, ROM-DOS, 4690 OS, FreeDOS, PTS-DOS, SISNE plus, Windows, ReactOS |
| Platform | Cross-platform |
| Type | Command |
| License | MS-DOS: MIT PC-MOS: GPLv3 FreeDOS: GPLv2 ReactOS: LGPL-2.0-or-later |
In computing, format is a command-line utility that carries out disk formatting. It is a component of various operating systems, including 86-DOS, MS-DOS, IBM PC DOS and OS/2, Microsoft Windows and ReactOS.
Overview
[edit ]The command performs the following actions by default on a floppy disk, hard disk drive, solid state (USB), or other magnetic medium (it will not perform these actions on optical media):
- clearing the FAT entries by changing them to 0x00
- clearing the FAT root directory by changing any values found to 0x00[nb 1] [1] [2] [3]
- checking each cluster to see if it is good or bad and marking it as good or bad in the FAT
Any storage device must have its medium structured to be useful. This process is referred to as "creating a filesystem" in Unix, Linux, or BSD.[4] Under these systems different commands are used. The commands can create many kinds of file systems, including those used by DOS, Windows, and OS/2.
Implementations
[edit ]
FORMAT.COM, among several other commands, in IBM PC DOS 1.0.
FORMAT.CMD in CP/M-86 The command is also available in Intel ISIS-II,[5] iRMX 86,[6] MetaComCo TRIPOS,[7] AmigaDOS,[8] Zilog Z80-RIO,[9] Microware OS-9,[10] DR FlexOS,[11] TSL PC-MOS,[12] SpartaDOS X,[13] Datalight ROM-DOS,[14] IBM/Toshiba 4690 OS,[15] PTS-DOS,[16] SISNE plus,[17] and in the DEC RT-11 [18] operating system.
Microsoft DOS and Windows
[edit ]On MS-DOS, the command is available in versions 1 and later.[19]
Optionally (by adding the /S, for "system" switch), format can also install a Volume Boot Record. With this option, Format writes bootstrap code to the first sector of the volume (and possibly elsewhere as well). Format always writes a BIOS Parameter Block to the first sector, with or without the /S option.
Another option (/Q) allows for what Microsoft calls "Quick Format". With this option the command will not perform steps 2 and 3 above.[citation needed ] Format /Q does not alter data previously written to the media.
Typing "format" with no parameters in MS-DOS 3.2 or earlier would automatically, without prompting the user, format the current drive; however in MS-DOS 3.3 and later it would simply produce the error: "required parameter missing".[citation needed ]
DR/Novell DOS
[edit ]DR DOS 6.0 includes an implementation of the format command.[20]
FreeDOS
[edit ]The FreeDOS version was developed by Brian E. Reifsnyder and is licensed under the GPL.[21]
ReactOS
[edit ]
format command on ReactOS The ReactOS implementation is based on a free clone developed by Mark Russinovich for Sysinternals in 1998. It is licensed under the GPL.[22] It was adapted to ReactOS by Emanuele Aliberti in 1999 and supports FAT, FAT32, FATX, EXT2, and BtrFS filesystems.
See also
[edit ]- Disk formatting
- Data recovery
- convert
- File Allocation Table
- Design of the FAT file system
- fdisk
- PC DOS 7.10 Format32
Notes
[edit ]- ^ The directory entries get filled with
0x00since MS-DOS 1.25 and PC DOS 2.0. If the Format command line option /O is provided, the first byte of each directory entry is set to0xE5hto create a FAT format usable by PC DOS 1.0-1.1. However, not providing /O will significantly speed up directory searches under MS-DOS 1.25 and PC DOS 2.0 and higher. Older versions of MS-DOS, PC DOS, and 86-DOS only supported the0xE5marker.
References
[edit ]- ^ Paterson, Tim (2013年12月19日) [1983]. "Microsoft DOS V1.1 and V2.0: /msdos/v20source/FORMAT.TXT". Computer History Museum, Microsoft. Archived from the original on 2019年08月14日. Retrieved 2014年03月25日. (NB. While the publishers claim this would be MS-DOS 1.1 and 2.0, it actually is SCP MS-DOS 1.25 and a mixture of Altos MS-DOS 2.11 and TeleVideo PC DOS 2.11.)
- ^ Shustek, Len (2014年03月24日). "Microsoft MS-DOS early source code". Software Gems: The Computer History Museum Historical Source Code Series. Archived from the original on 2019年08月10日. Retrieved 2014年03月29日. (NB. While the author claims this would be MS-DOS 1.1 and 2.0, it actually is SCP MS-DOS 1.25 and a mixture of Altos MS-DOS 2.11 and TeleVideo PC DOS 2.11.)
- ^ Levin, Roy (2014年03月25日). "Microsoft makes source code for MS-DOS and Word for Windows available to public". Official Microsoft Blog. Archived from the original on 2014年03月28日. Retrieved 2014年03月29日. (NB. While the author claims this would be MS-DOS 1.1 and 2.0, it actually is SCP MS-DOS 1.25 and a mixture of Altos MS-DOS 2.11 and TeleVideo PC DOS 2.11.)
- ^
newfs(8): EXAMPLE section – FreeBSD System Manager's Manual - ^ "ISIS II Users Guide" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019年01月26日. Retrieved 2019年02月03日.
- ^ "intel :: iRMX :: 146194-001 irmxR6Intro" – via Internet Archive.
- ^ https://www.pagetable.com/docs/amigados_tripos/tripos_manuals.pdf Archived 2020年10月21日 at the Wayback Machine [bare URL PDF ]
- ^ Rugheimer, Hannes (1988). Quick reference. Abacus. ISBN 9781557550491 . Retrieved 2020年09月14日 – via archive.org.
- ^ "Z80-RIO OPERATING SYSTEM USER'S MANUAL" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022年01月28日. Retrieved 2020年02月14日.
- ^ Paul S. Dayan (1992). The OS-9 Guru - 1 : The Facts. Galactic Industrial Limited. ISBN 0-9519228-0-7.
- ^ "FlexOS User's Guide" (PDF). www.bitsavers.org. 1986. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019年09月25日. Retrieved 2020年09月14日.
- ^ "roelandjansen/pcmos386v501". GitHub. 2 January 2022. Archived from the original on 4 May 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
- ^ "SpartaDOS X 4.48 User Guide" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021年10月10日. Retrieved 2019年03月16日.
- ^ "Datalight ROM-DOS User's Guide" (PDF). www.datalight.com. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019年04月21日. Retrieved 2020年01月18日.
- ^ "Users guide". archive.org. Retrieved 2020年09月14日.
- ^ "PTS-DOS 2000 Pro User Manual" (PDF). Buggingen, Germany: Paragon Technology GmbH. 1999. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2018年05月12日. Retrieved 2018年05月12日.
- ^ "SISNE plus - Referência Sumária". Datassette. May 14, 2015. Archived from the original on September 28, 2019. Retrieved September 28, 2019.
- ^ "RT-11 HELP FILE". paleoferrosaurus.com. Archived from the original on 2018年07月17日. Retrieved 2018年07月16日.
- ^ Wolverton, Van (2003). Running MS-DOS Version 6.22 (20th Anniversary Edition), 6th Revised edition. Microsoft Press. ISBN 0-7356-1812-7.
- ^ "DR DOS 6.0 User Guide Optimisation and Configuration Tips" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019年09月30日. Retrieved 2019年08月12日.
- ^ "ibiblio.org FreeDOS Package -- Format (FreeDOS Base)". www.ibiblio.org. Archived from the original on 2018年11月19日. Retrieved 2018年11月13日.
- ^ "reactos/reactos". GitHub. 3 January 2022. Archived from the original on 11 December 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
Further reading
[edit ]- Cooper, Jim (2001). Special Edition Using MS-DOS 6.22, Third Edition. Que Publishing. ISBN 978-0789725738.
- Kathy Ivens; Brian Proffit (1993). OS/2 Inside & Out. Osborne McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978-0078818714.
- Frisch, Æleen (2001). Windows 2000 Commands Pocket Reference. O'Reilly. ISBN 978-0-596-00148-3.
External links
[edit ]
- Microsoft Windows XP Professional Product Documentation: "format"
- Open source FORMAT implementation that comes with MS-DOS v2.0
- MSKB255867: How to Use the Fdisk Tool and the Format Tool to Partition or Repartition a Hard Disk
- Microsoft DOS format command
- Recovery Console format command Archived 2011年07月07日 at the Wayback Machine