Tandy 1000 MS-DOS Reference Manual page 113

r---
I
,
~
I '
r
i
r-'
I '
r
I
I:
I
r - '
I '
(
,
r - '
I ,
,
:
r
i
i '
I '
I
~
l '
r
!
r-.
i
Chapter 6 / Command Reference
FORMAT External
I
~
I
FORMAT [drive]
[IV] [11] [18] [lB] [IS]
Prepares the blank floppy diskette in the specified drive for use
by defining the tracks and sectors and writing system informa-
tion onto the diskette. You can format either a blank diskette or
a diskette already formatted. If the diskette is already formatted
and you reformat it, you lose whatever programs or data are on
it.
This command applies to floppy diskette only. To prepare a hard
disk, you must use the HFORMAT command.
Parameters
drive is either Drive A or Drive B. For example, if you specify
Drive A, FORMAT prompts:
Insert new diskette for drive A:
and strike any key when ready
Insert into Drive A the diskette to be formatted. Press the space
bar.
If you omit the drive specification, MS-DOS formats the diskette
in the current drive.
IV causes FORMAT to prompt for a volume label after the
diskette is formatted. If you use this parameter, you can enter a
label of a maximum of 11 characters, or you can press I
ENTER
I to
bypass the prompt. Entering a volume label helps keep track of
your diskettes.
11 performs a single-sided format of a diskette. If you omit 11,
FORMAT performs a double-sided format.
18
causes a format of eight sectors per track. If you omit
18,
FORMAT uses nine sectors per track.
IB formats eight sectors per track and allocates space for the
hidden system files. Use the IB parameter to create a diskette on
which you can place any version of MS-DOS using that version's
SYS command. Do not use
IB
with
IS
or IV.
IS
causes FORMAT to copy the hidden system files and COM-
MAND.COM to the diskette after it is formatted. This makes
the newly formatted diskette a system diskette.
99