The
14
switch formats a double-sided disk
in
a high-capacity disk
drive. Note, however, that
if
you are using a single-
or
double-
sided drive, you may
not
be
able
to
reliably read disks formatted
with
this switch.
The
18
switch formats a disk for 8 sectors
per
track.
If
you
do
not
specify this switch,
format
defaults
to
either 9
or
15 sectors
per
track
(depending
on
the
type
of
drive being used).
Note
that
format
always creates
either
9
or
15 sectors
per
track;
when
you
specify this
SWitch,
though, it tells
MS·
DOS
to
use only 8 sectors
per
track.
The
/b
switch formats a disk
with
8 sectors
per
track and allocates
space
for
the
hidden system files.
If
you use this switch
with
the
format
command, you
can
place any version
of
MS·DOS
on
the
disk
by using that version's
sys command.
If
you
don't
use this
/b
switch, you
can
place only MS·DOS 3.2
on
the
disk
by
using
the
sys
command. You cannot use
the
Is
or
the
Iv
switch
with
the
/b
switch.
The
lo::xx
option
specifies
the
number
of
sectors
per
track that
format
uses
to
format a floppy disk.
The
It;v.y
option
specifies
the
number
of
tracks that
format
places
on
a floppy disk.
The
Iv
switch
prompts
for a volume label after
the
disk is format-
ted. A volume label identifies
the
disk and
can
be
up
to
11 charac-
ters
in
length.
An
example
of
a volume label is PROGRAMS.
If
you
use
the
Is switch, it
must
be
the
last switch that you type.
This
switch
copies
the
operating system files from
the
disk in
the
default drive
to
the
newly formatted disk. The files
are
copied
in
the
following order:
io.sys
msdos.sys
.command.com
If
the
operating system is
not
on
the
default drive,
format
prompts
you
to
insert a system disk in the·default drive
(or
in
drive A
if
the
default drive is non-removable).
When
formatting is complete,
format
displays a message showing
the
total disk space, any space marked as defective,
the
total space
used
by
the
operating system
(when
you use
the
Is switch), and
the
space available for
your
files.
MS-DOS Commands
591
Copying
the
operating
system
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