Re: partitioning and use thereof

On 10/10/2021 8:02 PM, Grant Taylor wrote:
> On 10/10/21 12:34 PM, Paul wrote:
>> No.
> 
> Suffice it to say that we've had different experience.
> 
> I've had many occasions when Microsoft tools would not do a /quick/ format because there was no file system.  I was /forced/ to do the normal / long format.
> 
> The normal / long format has always been allowed on any type of partition.
> 
> Note:  normal / long is not the same as actually doing a more thorough test.
> 
> I am also mostly speaking to the format command.  Microsoft may have changed  > their stance in their GUI format utilities over the years.

diskmgmt.msc   GUI Disk Management with format capability
diskpart.exe   Command Line disk management with format capability (equal to diskmgmt.msc)
format.com     Command Line (older) formatting routine. Size/context sensitive.
                For WinXP, requires ExFAT package installed, if desired to do ExFAT
dd.exe         Third party "helper"
disktype.exe   Cygwin port of disktype, so can run on Windows

The format routine may examine Sector 0 of the target partition.
Even though it doesn't have to.

Without looking at sector 0 of the partition, the partition table contains
CHS info, offset info, size info, which define the envelope of the
file system. Using that information, the format routine can compute
how many whole clusters will fit. Thus the file system is gauged
to fit within the limits of the envelope, so the file system
doesn't (fractionally) spill off the end.

If you experience a problem, the partition has been assigned a drive
letter (so mountvol knows about it), then you can try clearing the
first sector of the partition, then run the formatter.

Instructions:

http://www.chrysocome.net/dd

Download:

http://www.chrysocome.net/downloads/dd-0.6beta3.zip

In an Administrator Command Prompt:

dd --list                                    # collect win namespace info

\\?\Device\Harddisk3\Partition0              # partition 0 is the whole drive
   link to \\?\Device\Harddisk3\DR0
   Fixed hard disk media. Block size = 512
   size is 57671680000 bytes
\\?\Device\Harddisk3\Partition1              # partition 1 is the offset
   link to \\?\Device\HarddiskVolume31        # to the first partition
   Fixed hard disk media. Block size = 512
   size is 57668534272 bytes

dd if=/dev/zero of=\\?\Device\Harddisk3\Partition1 bs=512 count=1

That will zero out the file system header, preventing the
formatter from "tripping over its own shoelaces".

*******

For formatting large FAT32 volumes (up to 2.2TB), the Ridgecrop
fat32formatter can do that. This solves the ~32GB limit Microsoft
has on fat32 partitions.

https://web.archive.org/web/20200424145132/http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?fat32format.htm

https://web.archive.org/web/20200410224838if_/http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/download/fat32format.zip

*******

You can tell when "dd" doesn't have permission to do something,
as the info about the partition will take fewer lines.
Sometimes, for a destination partition (when "cloning"), you
can format the destination partition to break the handles to
it, and allow the "dd" command to run next.

\\?\Device\Harddisk2\Partition11        \___ Not writable
   link to \\?\Device\HarddiskVolume11   /
\\?\Device\Harddisk2\Partition12              \
   link to \\?\Device\HarddiskVolume12          \___ Can write this one
   Fixed hard disk media. Block size = 512      /
   size is 104078508032 bytes                  /

Here, "Not writable" does not mean write protected or permanently
off limits. By fiddling with it, you can change the status
and get on with it.

*******

You can learn about the "disktype" package on Linux, before
wasting the time installing Cygwin to get a port running on
your Windows setup. I've used this a lot, since I got it.
It's too bad the hosting of this isn't at all convenient.

disktype.exe
cygwin1.dll
cyggcc_s-1.dll

sudo disktype /dev/sda    # show partition info

disktype mint.iso         # show ISO partitions and overlays

disktype foo.bin          # show that loopback mount you've been using
                           # like, look inside a 4GB casper-rw.

Disktype might not do Veritas Dynamic Disks, but it does most
other stuff that matters.

    Paul