FORMAT.COM
FORMAT.COM , in Windows NT format.com , is a command line program that is supplied with PC-compatible DOS , OS / 2 and Windows and is used to format a storage medium (usually a floppy disk or hard disk) .
In doing so, it generally just does simple formatting ; H. not the entire hard disk is overwritten, but only the FAT (or MFT with NTFS ) is emptied (parameter /Pcauses a complete overwrite, in older versions /U). It also checks FORMAT.COMthe entire drive, but this can be skipped with a quick format (parameters /Q). Under DOS you can also use the parameter to /Scause the MS-DOS system files to be copied to the drive and to provide it with a boot block (which is particularly useful for start-up disks ).
Supported media and file systems
Under DOS FORMAT.COM, depending on the DOS version, all common 5.25 ″ and 3.5 ″ disk types (with FAT12 ) and hard disks (with FAT16 ) could be formatted. As of Windows 95B, the FAT32 file system is also supported. Under Windows NT -based operating systems to Windows 2000 Compatible FORMAT.COMalso NTFS - and HPFS partitions and Floptical drives with a capacity of 21 MB. As of Windows XP , the range of functions has been greatly reduced, so only 3.5 ″ floppy disks with a capacity of 1.44 MB are supported and the option to format HPFS drives has been removed.
On floppy disks leads FORMAT.COMa low-level formatting through, it will be written this track and sector information. Only high-level formatting is performed on hard drives .
Trivia
The command format c:that formats the system drive has found its way into network culture and is famous there, as is the command among Linux users rm -rf /, because it irrevocably destroys the system. This is no longer possible on NT-based operating systems, as these would lock the hard disk and thereby prevent formatting.