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reformat the hd from dos???? how

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Name: TOP CAT
Date: August 15, 2002 at 12:03:31 Pacific
Comment:

how do you reformat the hard drive in dos???



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Response Number 1
Name: Mark
Date: August 15, 2002 at 12:07:49 Pacific
Reply:

At the command prompt type

FORMAT C:


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Response Number 2
Name: Dan Penny
Date: August 15, 2002 at 20:29:31 Pacific
Reply:

If you are formatting c:, you should run the format command from a floppy or another drive. ie; NOT from the drive you're trying to format.


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Response Number 3
Name: DR
Date: August 15, 2002 at 22:08:05 Pacific
Reply:

Mr. Penny,

Out of curiosity, why do you say that you shouldn't do the format command from the drive you want to format?

I always run the FORMAT command right from the C drive and have never had a problem.

Not trying to start a duker, just wondering what your reasons are...


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Response Number 4
Name: Dan Penny
Date: August 16, 2002 at 04:44:59 Pacific
Reply:

Technically, it ~should~ be OK to run it from c: as the application is placed into memory and run from there. When the format operation gets to the spot on the drive that the format and command shell parameter commands reside, it ~can~ get "lost", leading to an incomplete format. Hence why the line; SHELL=c:\COMMAND.COM c:\ /E:432 /p (or a varient thereof) is placed in many config.sys files. This statement tells the system where to look for command.com in case it gets lost, which can happen. I just look at it as a safer route to, and for, a complete, clean format.


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Response Number 5
Name: sidney
Date: August 17, 2002 at 13:58:32 Pacific
Reply:

dos should not let you format from C prompt if you booted using c:. If you boot from floppy put this line in autoexec.bat
Set comspec=a:\
This will tell dos to look in a: for command.com
c prompt formatting should not be a problem then


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Response Number 6
Name: Dan Penny
Date: August 17, 2002 at 20:43:33 Pacific
Reply:

DOS will perform a format on c: if you've booted from c:. The set comspec parameter is for setting the command shell environment variable. It has nothing to do with running another app.


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Response Number 7
Name: fred6008
Date: August 19, 2002 at 21:05:14 Pacific
Reply:

Also a lot of boot floppies do not have an autoexec.bat on them. So if you try to format from C: after having booted to A:> there is no path to FORMAT.COM on A:. (So you get incorrect version or bad command of filename)
Once FORMAT.COM loads into memory from DOS there is usually no problem until the
format is complete except for bad sectors on the drive.


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