How do I high-level format a floppy (or other disk)?

How do I high-level format a floppy (or other disk)?


Author: W. Wade, Hampton
Email: whampton@staffnet.com

System Architecture: All/General
RedHat Release: All/General
FAQ Category: Hardware Issues
Modification Date: Oct 20, 1998

Question:

How do I format a floppy with a MSDOS file system or EXT2 file system?

Answer:

Use fdformat for low level formatting....

Use mkdosfs to format an MSDOS file system:
  mkdosfs /dev/fd0

  Access this via mtools (mdir a:, mcopy file a:, etc.),
  or mount via mount -t msdos /dev/fd0 /floppy 

Using MSDOS floppies makes exchanging files with your Windows-based
friends much easier (I did see a posting once about the ability to 
read an EXT2 file system from Windows (95, etc.), but don't know
the link or how well it works).

Use mke2fs to format an EXT2 file system (e.g., for a root floppy):
  mke2fs /dev/fd0 


References:

man fdformat
man mke2fs
man mkdosfs