Brent Murphy Matt Griffin Edwin Edwards Chris Wyatt.

FORMATTING AND PARTITIONING HARD

DRIVES, AND DOSBrent MurphyMatt Griffin

Edwin EdwardsChris Wyatt

FORMATTING

What is formatting?

When a hard drive is ready for use, it will go through a process known as formatting.

2 Types of Formatting

Low-Level Formatting

High-Level Formatting

Low-level Formatting

Floppy disks Hard disks

Low-level floppy disk formatting

Disk drive hardware writes onto floppy

1 disk160 tracks (80 on each side)18 sectors on each track512 bytes on each sector


Originally used MFM pattern on disk allows sectors of bytes to be written on it

RLL encoding is more commonly used. Embedded systems- low-level formatted

disks at the factory, not subject to user intervention

Transition away from LLF

Over time, hard drive became more complex

Manufacturers now handle virtually all low-level formatting of hard disks

End users should rarely ever perform low-level formatting of an IDE or ATA hard drive. (its often impossible outside of the factory)

Disk reinitialization

Identifying each sector that cannot be read or written to and then sparing out those sectors

Zero filing-writing a 0 byte to every addressable location on the disk

“Tricks of the trade”

One popular method for performing only the "zero-fill" operation on a hard disk is by writing zero-bytes to the drive using the Unix dd utility (available under Linux as well) with the "/dev/zero" stream as the input file (if=) and the drive itself (either the whole disk, or a specific partition) as the output file (of=)

High-level formatting

Process of setting up an empty file system on the disk

Install boot sector sometimes referred to as “quick format”

Complete scan

The entire disk can be scanned for any errors if the user would like

Requires several hours on larger disks

Reformat

When a high-level format is performed on a functioning disk to erase the contents of the hard drive

Sometimes judged easier to erase and start from scratch than fix a complex malfunction

“wipe and reload”, “nuke and pave”, “reimage”

Data Recovery

When data is “erased” during a high-level format, it is still readable until new data has written over it

Some file systems don’t write to the same locations, allowing data to stay on disk until disk space starts having to be recycled

Formatting a Hard drive by reinstalling XP

1. Back up data2. Insert Win XP disc and turn off pc3. Turn on PC and boot from CD4. Install Windows5. Install any missing drivers6. Update Windows

HARD DRIVE PARTITIONING

Partition

A division of a hard drive that can hold volumes

Windows can support up to four partitions on one hard drive, each of which are 16-byte entries on the Master Boot Record

What do the 16 bytes hold?

Beginning and ending location of the partition

Number of sectors in the partition

Whether or not the partition is bootable

Partition Table

A table at the beginning of the hard drive that contains information about each partition on the drive

This table is contained in the Master Boot Record

Master Boot Record

The first sector on a hard drive, which contains the partition table and a program the BIOS uses to boot an OS from the drive

How do you create a partition?

In a process called high-level formatting or operating system formatting

Formatting performed by the Windows Format program, the Windows installation program, or the Disk Management utility

The process creates the boot record, file system, and root directory on the volume or logical drive and makes the volume or drive bootable

How do you create a partition (cont.)

During this process, you specify the size of the partition and what file system it will use

There are two types of partitions you can create: Primary Extended

Primary Partition

Also called a volume or a simple volume

The volume is assigned a drive letter and is formatted with a file system (such as NTFS)

The active partition is always the primary partition

Can be up to three primary partitions

File System

The overall structure an OS uses to name, store, and organize files on a drive

A cluster is the smallest unit of space on a disk in a file system for storing a file and is made up of one or more sectors

Can track how clusters are used for each file stored on the disk

Extended Partition

One of the four partitions on a drive can be an extended partition

Can be divided into one or more logical drives Each logical drive is assigned a drive letter (ex

- G:) and is formatted using its own file system

When can a partition be created?

When the drive is first installed

When an OS is first installed The installation process partitions and formats

the drive, if necessary You can also use the Disk Management tool to

view and manage partitions after Windows is installed

After an existing partition becomes corrupted

Disk Management Screen

Rules

Before a primary partition or volume can be used, it must be formatted using a file system

For the extended partition, each logical drive must be formatted with a file system

Choice for a file system (1 of 3)

FAT32 Named after the file allocation table

A table on the hard drive or floppy disk that tracks how much space on a disk is used to store files

Has storage limitations concerning hard drive size, volume size, and file size

Offered with Windows XP Service Pack 1 and newer


NTFS Named after the New Technology file

system Designed to provide greater security and more

storage capacity than FAT32 Offered with basic Windows XP install and

newer Recommended for use when partitioning


exFAT Stands for Extended FAT Uses a 64-bit file allocation table Does not:

Have the storage limitations found in FAT32 Offer the security features of NTFS Require as much overhead as NTFS

Normally used in lower-end systems Found in Windows XP if Service Pack 2 and 3

are installed, or new Windows OS

Steps to partition and format the new hard drive

1. Boot the system to the Windows desktop

2. Click Start, right-click Computer (My Computer) and select Manage

3. Right-click the new hard drive and select Initialize Disk

4. Select MBR and click OK. The drive will be initialized as a Basic Drive

Steps to partition and format the new hard drive (cont.)

5. To format, right-click the unallocated space on the drive and select New Simple Volume. The wizard will appear, which you will follow to:

Choose a volume size Assign a drive letter to the volume Assign a volume name Select the type of file system

Difference in OS used Vista will make the first three partitions primary, and

the fourth extended XP allows you to decide which partition will be the

extended partition

Partitioning a hard drive (Windows XP)

Re-partitioning and un-partitioning drives (Windows Vista and 7 only)

DOS

Stands for Disk Operating System Originally developed for IBM by Microsoft Windows 95, 98 and Millennium Edition

were all partially DOS based There are many versions of DOS such as:

FreeDOS, PC DOS, DR-DOS and MS-DOS.

DOS

Most frequently MS-DOS is referred to as DOS

MS-DOS stands for MicroSoft Disk Operating System

Still in Operating systems today but listed as Command Prompt

Has a list of commands that are not normally used by the everyday user

Accessed in XP by typing CMD in the run dialog box or under the accessories tab on the program list

DOS

In the early days of DOS no programs were capable of converting files to other program types or exchanging data since each program had it’s own way of reading and writing it’s binary data

ASCII was developed to solve this problem, ASCII stands for American Standard Code for Information Interchange.

ASCII

Defines 256 eight bit characters.

DOS Games

Doom Duke Nukem Sim City 2000 Command and Conquer Warcraft I Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? Sid Meier’s Civilization Transport Tycoon

Dos Games

Then Now

Dos Games

Disk Operating System(DOS)

Microsoft developed (DOS), in 1981. DOS was designed for the IBM Personal Computer

DOS is a collection of programs and commands used to control the overall computer operation in a disk-based system

Three sections make up DOS: Boot files File management files Utility files

A simple operating system 16- bit operating system does not support multiple users or muiltitasking


DOS is useful as a troubleshooting aid when Windows will not boot. It allows the hard drive to be accessed without the GUI and provides the ability to run troubleshooting or diagnostic programs. DOS is a command line operating system, it is not

user-friendly DOS can only run one program at a time. DOS can only run small programs and has memory

limitations DOS is an essential tool for IT professionals and is

used extensively for troubleshooting

Overview of Basic DOS Commands

Basic commands are generally internal and more advanced commands are usually external.

The command line is the space immediately following the DOS prompt, C:\> where C:\ represents the hard disk drive root directory, and ">" is known as the prompt.

A switch is added to the command by adding a space, a forward-slash (/), and a single letter.

DOSKEY keeps a history of executed

commands so you can use arrow keys to retrieve them

DOS Commands

Dos Commands

Over 100 different commands

http://www.easydos.com/dosindex.html

http://www.easydos.com/dosindex.html

DOS Boot Disk

A DOS boot disk is a great tool to use to troubleshoot when the computer is not booting properly.

A DOS boot disk is just a floppy disk with three necessary system files on it: COMMAND.COM IO.SYS MSDOS.SYS

Booting the System with a DOS Disk

The COMMAND.COM command interpreter accepts commands issued through the keyboard, or other input device, and carries them out according to the commands definition.

When DOS runs an application, COMMAND.COM finds the program, loads it into memory, and then gives it control of the system. When the program is shut down, it passes control back to the command interpreter.


The IO.SYS file moves the system’s basic I/O functions into memory and then implements the MS-DOS default control programs, referred to as device drivers, for various hardware components.

These include the following: The boot disk drive The console display and keyboard The system’s time-of-day clock The parallel and serial communications port


The MSDOS.SYS file provides default support features for software applications.

These features include the following: Memory management Character input and output Real-time clock access File and record management Execution of other programs

DOS Configuration Files

In the MS-DOS operating system, there are two special configuration files, called CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT.

As the system moves through the steps in the boot procedure, the BIOS first checks in the root directory of the boot disk for the presence of the CONFIG.SYS file.

Next, it searches for the COMMAND.COM interpreter, and finally looks in the root directory again for the AUTOEXEC.BAT file.

Both the AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files can play significant roles in optimizing the system memory.

QUESTIONS

Questions

1. When can primary and extended partitions be created? A. When the hard drive is first installed B. When an OS is first installed C. After an existing partition becomes

corrupted D. All of the above are correct

When can a partition be created?

When the drive is first installed

When an OS is first installed The installation process partitions and formats

the drive, if necessary You can also use the Disk Management tool to

view and manage partitions after Windows is installed

After an existing partition becomes corrupted

Questions

2. Which file system is available anywhere from a basic Windows XP install on and is recommended when partitioning a hard drive? A. NTFS B. FAT C. FAT32 D. exFAT


NTFS Named after the New Technology file

system Designed to provide greater security and more

storage capacity than FAT32 Offered with basic Windows XP install and

newer Recommended for use when partitioning

Questions

3. A _________ is the overall structure an OS uses to name, store, and organize files on a drive. A. Volume B. Active Partition C. File System D. Cluster

File System

The overall structure an OS uses to name, store, and organize files on a drive

A cluster is the smallest unit of space on a disk in a file system for storing a file and is made up of one or more sectors

Can track how clusters are used for each file stored on the disk

Questions

4. How many bytes are each partition on the Master Boot Record? A. 8 B. 12 C. 16 D. 20

Partition

A division of a hard drive that can hold volumes

Windows can support up to four partitions on one hard drive, each of which are 16-byte entries on the Master Boot Record

Questions

5. How many bytes are written to each sector on a hard disk? A. 64 bytes B. 128 bytes C. 256 bytes D. 512 bytes


Disk drive hardware writes onto floppy

1 disk160 tracks (80 on each side)18 sectors on each track512 bytes on each sector

Questions

6. Quick formatting occurs during low-level formatting? A. True B. False

High-level formatting

Process of setting up an empty file system on the disk

Install boot sector sometimes referred to as “quick format”

Questions

7. Once data has been deleted, it is impossible to retrieve it under any circumstances A. True B. False

Data Recovery

When data is “erased” during a high-level format, it is still readable until new data has written over it

Some file systems don’t write to the same locations, allowing data to stay on disk until disk space starts having to be recycled

Questions

8. What section is not part of DOS? A. File management files B. Boot files C. Support files D. Utility files

Questions

9. DOS is a _______ bit operating system. A. 8 B. 32 C. 16 D. 64

Questions

10. DOS can run multiple programs at one time. A. True B. False


DOS is useful as a troubleshooting aid when Windows will not boot. It allows the hard drive to be accessed without the GUI and provides the ability to run troubleshooting or diagnostic programs. DOS is a command line operating system, it is not

user-friendly DOS can only run one program at a time. DOS can only run small programs and has memory

limitations DOS is an essential tool for IT professionals and is

used extensively for troubleshooting

Questions

11. What command do you type at the run dialog box to access the command-line interface in Windows XP? A. CMD B. CONAND C. MSDOS D. CP

DOS

Most frequently MS-DOS is referred to as DOS

MS-DOS stands for MicroSoft Disk Operating System

Still in Operating systems today but listed as Command Prompt

Has a list of commands that are not normally used by the everyday user

Accessed in XP by typing CMD in the run dialog box or under the accessories tab on the program list

Questions

12. The ASCII Standard defines how many 8-bit characters? A. 64 B. 256 C. 512 D. 64,000

ASCII

Defines 256 eight bit characters

Questions

13. What does DOS stand for? A. Disk Organizing System B. Dual Operating Systems C. Disk Operating System D. Disk Operations Setup

DOS

Stands for Disk Operating System Originally developed for IBM by Microsoft Windows 95, 98 and Millennium Edition

were all partially DOS based There are many versions of DOS such as:

FreeDOS, PC DOS, DR-DOS and MS-DOS.

Resources

Andrews, Jean "CompTIA A+ 2009 In Depth". Boston: Cengage Learning, 2010

Docter, Quentin. CompTIA A+ complete study guide (exams 220-701/220-702). Indianapolis: Wiley Technology Pub., 2009. Print.

Michael Meyers: A+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide, Seventh Edition , Mc Graw Hill. 2010

http://www.wikipedia.org/ http://www.easydos.com/dosindex.html

http://www.wikipedia.org/



Resources

http://www.computerhope.com/msdos.htm

http://www.jabzweb.com/tips-and-tricks/2009/11/how-to-have-the-complete-list-of-ms-dos-commands/

http://lifehacker.com/157578/geek-to-live--how-to-format-your-hard-drive-and-install-windows-xp-from-scratch

http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/geom/formatLow-c.html

http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/geom/formatHigh-c.html
















Brent Murphy Matt Griffin Edwin Edwards Chris Wyatt.

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