How to Use the Fdisk and Format Tools

Before you install your operating system, you must first create a primary partition on the hard disk (disk 1) on your computer, and then format a file system on that partition. The Fdisk tool is an MS-DOS-based tool that you can use to prepare (partition) a hard disk. You can use the Fdisk tool to create, change, delete, or display current partitions on the hard disk, and then each allocated space on the hard disk (primary partition, extended partition, or logical drive) is assigned a drive letter. Disk 1 may contain one extended partition, and a second hard disk may contain a primary or extended partition. An extended partition may contain one or more logical MS-DOS drives.

After you use the Fdisk tool to partition your hard disk, use the Format tool to format those partitions with a file system. The file system File Allocation Table (FAT) allows the hard disk to accept, store, and retrieve data. Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2 (OSR2), Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, Windows Millennium Edition (Me), and Windows 2000 support the FAT16 and FAT32 file systems. When you run the Fdisk tool on a hard disk that is larger than 512 megabytes (MB)