Formatting a disk partition
Feb 21, 2009 by mohamed hanoosh
A partition can be formatted to different file systems. For a pen drive FAT partition is adopted universally. Linux partition is commonly ext3/ext2/ext4/reiserfs.. . Windows usually work with FAT or NTFS partitions.
For formatting a partition as FAT ( as in the case of a pen drive ), give the command
Note: The partition should have unmounted before formatting it.
Similar commands
can be used for formatting as other file systems.
GUI tools for formatting a partition are gparted (for Gnome) and qtparted (for kde).
For formatting a partition as FAT ( as in the case of a pen drive ), give the command
mkfs.vfat /dev/sdb1
where /dev/sdb1 corresponds to the required partition. To get partition number plug in the device, mount it (automatic), get the number from /etc/mtab.Note: The partition should have unmounted before formatting it.
Similar commands
mkfs.bfs mkfs.ext2 mkfs.minix mkfs.reiserfs
mkfs.cramfs mkfs.ext3 mkfs.msdos mkfs.vfat
GUI tools for formatting a partition are gparted (for Gnome) and qtparted (for kde).