Microsoft KB Archive/59004

Formatting a Low Density 3.5-Inch Disk in a High Density Drive PSS ID Number: Q59004 Article last modified on 09-17-1990 PSS database name: PSS

MS-DOS

Summary:

To format a low density (720K) 3.5-inch disk in a high density (1.44 MB) drive, use the following command

FORMAT : /n:9 /t:80 [/s][/v]

where is the letter of the drive containing the disk to be formatted. The /n:9 parameter instructs the format command to format the disk with 9 sectors per track. The /t:80 parameter instructs the format command to format the disk to have 80 tracks.

The [/s] and [/v] parameters are optional. The [/s] instructs the format command to copy the system files to the disk (that is, make it a bootable disk). The [/v] tells format to ask for a volume name after formatting is complete.

For example:

FORMAT b: /n:9 /t:80 /v

Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1990.