3-3 Hard Disk Drive FormatA hard disk must be formatted before it can be read from or written to.If your hard disk requires this, you should carry out the following steps:S t e p 1 — PreformatThe preformat utility is supplied by the system BIOS. You can pressSC > key quickly just after the RAM test to enter the SETUP program.Choosing item 2 from the initial screen to preformat hard disk. SeeFigure 3-1.Step 2 — PartitionThis process creates DOS partitioning on a preformatted hard diskdrive. The DOS command “FDISK” handles this partitioning process.Insert your DOS diskette in drive A and type a: to get A prompt. Thentype:A> FDISK < 8 >The “FDISK” command displays a serial of menus to help you partitionyour hard disk for MS-DOS. With the “FDISK” command, you can:l create a primary partition,. create an extended partition,l change the active partition,l delete an partition,l display partition data, and. select the next fixed disk drive for partitioning on a systemwith multiple fixed disks.If your hard disk is 40MB, you may have partitions of up to 33MB insize. 33MB is the maximum space for a partition allowed by DOS.For more information about how to use creating DOS partition, seeAppendix D in MS-DOS User’s Guide and Reference.8 Chapter 3: Operating Your System
