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Checked & Updated 1st June 2004

FDISK : The Built In Partitioning Tool

For Windows 95B - 95C (OSR2), 98, 98SE with FAT32


If you are using Windows 98 it is recommended that you create a Fat32EBD diskette from your Win 98 CD. It is located in the Tools\MtsUtil\Fat32EBD folder which also contains the Fat32EBD.txt file with instructions for making the diskette. 

A Win95B or 98 StartUp diskette can be supplemented for the Fat32EBD diskette as well, just take note of the location of the FDISK, FORMAT & SYS files - they may be different using this diskette, which may create in a RAM drive that allocates a temporary drive letter.  

For Windows 95C read as for Windows 95B

 

  1.  Boot with your Win95B or 98 diskette, type FDISK at the A:\> prompt, and follow these instructions.

 

  1. The first screen you'll see is this.......

 

    Your computer has a disk larger than 512 MB. This version of
    Windows includes improved support for large disks, resulting in
    more efficient use of disk space on large drives, and allowing
    disks over 2 GB to be formatted as a single drive.

     IMPORTANT: If you enable large disk support and create any new
    drives on this disk, you will not be able to access the new
    drive(s) using other operating systems, including some versions of
    Windows 95 and Windows NT, as well as earlier versions of Windows
    and MS-DOS. In addition, disk utilities that were not designed
    explicitly for the FAT32 file system will not be able to work with
    this disk. If you need to access this disk with other operating
    systems or older disk utilities, do not enable large drive support.

     Do you wish to enable large disk support (Y/N)...........? [Y]
    

 

  1. Select "Y" if you wish to partition using the FAT32 file system or "N" if you want to use the FAT16 file system.

»» Take note that the following instructions are for systems with only one hard drive present. The same info applies as long as you are sure that you have changed the Current Fixed Disk using the # 5. option (NOT SHOWN HERE) and select the appropriate physical hard drive in question before moving on to step 4. The next screen is this..........

 

                               
    FDISK Options       Current fixed disk drive: 1
   
    Choose one of the following:
   
    1. Create DOS partition or Logical DOS Drive
    2. Set active partition
    3. Delete partition or Logical DOS Drive
    4. Display partition information
   
    Enter choice: [1]
   
    Press ESC to exit FDISK
   

 

  1. Press 3 to choose Delete Partition Or Logical DOS Drive, and then press ENTER. The Delete DOS Partition Or Logical DOS Drive screen appears.

 

      
    Delete DOS Partition or Logical DOS Drive
   
    Current fixed disk drive: 1
   
    Choose one of the following:
   
    1. Delete Primary DOS Partition
    2. Delete Extended DOS Partition
    3. Delete Logical DOS Drive(s) in the Extended DOS Partition
    4. Delete Non-DOS Partition
   
    Enter choice: [ ]
   
    Press ESC to return to FDISK Options
   

 

  1. If any of your partitions were created with a third-party disk-partitioning utility or installation program, press 4 to choose Delete Non-DOS Partition, and then press ENTER. If all your partitions were created with MS-DOS, press ESC to return to the FDISK Options screen, then skip to step 10 of this procedure.

      If you chose option 4, the Delete Non-DOS Partition screen appears.    

 


    Delete Non-DOS Partition
                                  
    Current fixed disk drive: 1
   
    Partition  Status  Type   Volume Label  Mbytes System Usage
    C: 1         A    PRI DOS                 23    FAT16  33%
       2              Non-DOS                 23           33%
       3              EXT DOS                 23           33%
   
    Total disk space is 69 Mbytes (1 Mbyte=1048576 bytes)
   
    WARNING! Data in the deleted Non-DOS Partition will be lost.
    What non-DOS partition do you want to delete..? [1]
   
    Press ESC to return to FDISK Options  

 

  1. Type the number of the partition you want to delete, and then press ENTER.
  2. To confirm the deletion, press Y, and then press ENTER.
  3. Press ESC to return to the FDISK Options screen.
  4. Repeat steps 4 - 8 if you have any other partitions that were created with a third-party disk-partitioning utility or installation program.
  5. The FDISK Options menu should now be on your screen. If you have a partition that was created with MS-DOS, press 3 to choose Delete Partition Or Logical DOS Drive and press ENTER.

       If you chose option 3 on the FDISK Options screen, the Delete DOS Partition Or Logical DOS Drive screen appears.

 

  1. If you have a logical drive, press 3 to choose Delete Logical DOS Drive(s) In The Extended DOS Partition and press ENTER. Then the Delete Logical DOS Drive(s) In The Extended DOS Partition screen appears. If you don't have any logical drives, skip to step 19.

 

    
    Delete Logical DOS Drive(s) in the Extended DOS Partition
   
    Drv  Volume  Label  Mbytes  System   Usage
    D:                    15     FAT12    65%
    E:                     8     FAT12    35%
   
    Total Extended DOS Partition size is 23 Mbytes (1 MByte=1048576
    bytes)
   
    WARNING! Data in a deleted Logical DOS Drive will be lost.
    What drive do you want to delete.........................? [ ]
   
    Press ESC to return to FDISK Options  

 

  1. Type the letter of the drive you want to delete and press ENTER.
  2. Type the volume label if there is one and press ENTER.
  3. To confirm the deletion, press Y and press ENTER.
  4. If there are other logical drives you want to delete, repeat steps 12 - 14 above.
  5. When all logical drives have been deleted, press ESC. An information screen appears.
  6. Press ESC again to return to the FDISK Options screen.
  7. Press 3 to choose Delete Partition Or Logical DOS Drive and press ENTER. The Delete DOS Partition Or Logical DOS Drive screen appears.
  8. Press 2 to choose Delete Extended DOS Partition and press ENTER. The Delete Extended DOS Partition screen appears. If you don't have any extended DOS partitions, skip to step 21.

   

 

  
     Delete Extended DOS Partition
   
    Current fixed disk drive: 1
   
    Partition  Status    Type    Volume Label  Mbytes  System  Usage
    C: 1          A     PRI DOS                  23     FAT16   33%
       2                EXT DOS                  23             33%
  
    Total disk space is 69 Mbytes (1 Mbyte=1048576 bytes)
   
    WARNING! Data in the deleted Extended DOS Partition will be lost.
    Do you wish to continue (Y/N)........................? [N]
   
    Press ESC to return to FDISK Options     

 

  1. To confirm that you want to delete the extended DOS partition, press Y and press ENTER.
  2. Press ESC to return to the FDISK Options screen.
  3. Press 3 to choose Delete Partition Or Logical DOS Drive and press ENTER. The Delete DOS Partition Or Logical DOS Drive screen appears.
  4. Press 1 to choose Delete Primary DOS Partition and press ENTER.The Delete Primary DOS Partition screen appears.

 

    
    Delete Primary DOS Partition
                                  
    Current fixed disk drive: 1
   
    Partition  Status    Type    Volume Label  Mbytes  System  Usage
    C: 1          A     PRI DOS                  23     FAT16   33%
   
    Total disk space is 69 Mbytes (1 Mbyte=1048576 bytes)
   
    WARNING! Data in the deleted Primary DOS Partition will be lost.
    What primary partition do you want to delete..? [1]
    Enter volume label...............................? [           ]
   
    Press ESC to return to FDISK Options
   

 

  1. Press ENTER to delete your primary partition.
  2. Type the volume label, if there is one, and press ENTER.
  3. To confirm the deletion, press Y and press ENTER.
  4. Press ESC to return to the FDISK Options screen.

» » Note that in Win9x it is neccessary to reboot after deletion of partitions in order for the changes to take effect. Please reboot before moving on to step 28. Answer as you wish to the question in Steps 2 & 3 and return to Step 28.

  1. Press ENTER to choose Create A DOS Partition Or Logical DOS Drive.The Create DOS Partition Or Logical DOS Drive screen appears.

 

    
    Create DOS Partition or Logical DOS Drive
                                  
    Current fixed disk drive: 1
   
    Choose one of the following:
   
    1. Create Primary DOS Partition
    2. Create Extended DOS Partition
    3. Create Logical DOS Drive(s) in the Extended DOS Partition
   
    Enter choice: [1]
   
    Press ESC to return to FDISK Options
   

 

  1. Press ENTER to choose Create Primary DOS Partition. The Create Primary DOS Partition screen appears.

 

    Create Primary DOS Partition
                                  
    Current fixed disk drive: 1
   
    Do you wish to use the maximum available size for a Primary DOS
    Partition and make the partition active (Y/N)..............?[Y]
   
    Press ESC to return to FDISK Options
   

 

  1. Press ENTER to specify the maximum size for the partition and make the partition active.
  2. Make sure your Startup disk is in drive A and press any key.

» » Please note that in Win9x you must re-boot in order for any Fdisk changes to take effect. Please exit Fdisk and reboot before attempting to format the drive.

 

Formatting Your Hard Disk

You cannot use your hard disk until you format it. To format your hard disk:

1. Make sure you boot Win9x from your Startup diskette.
2. Type the following at the MS-DOS command prompt and press ENTER

      format <drive>: /U /C /S      where <drive> is your hard disk drive.

For example, if your hard disk drive is drive C, type the following command:

      format c: /U /C /S

KEY:

 /U = Unconditional Format - ignores deleted cluster fragments
 /C = Re-tests currently marked bad clusters for recovery
 /S = Transfers neccessary system files so disk can boot

3. Press Y and press ENTER to proceed with formatting.  
4. Once formatting is complete, type a volume label if you want one and press ENTER