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Formatting a Disk Partition from Linux

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

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 for formatting other systems are 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).

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This entry was posted on Friday, April 10th, 2009 at 11:03 am and is filed under linux hacks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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