Cisco Systems 3631, 2691 manual Formatting Procedures for CompactFlash Memory Cards

March 2002

Formatting Procedures for CompactFlash Memory Cards

Formatting Procedures for CompactFlash Memory Cards

The following sections describe formatting procedures for internal and external CompactFlash memory cards.

Formatting Procedures

Cisco recommends that you erase (Class B) or format (Class C) new CompactFlash memory cards to initialize them with either a Class B or Class C Flash file system. This ensures proper formatting and enables the ROM monitor to recognize and boot the Flash.

The Class B Flash file system is also known as the low end file system (LEFS).

The Class C Flash file system is similar to the standard DOS file system.

Note A CompactFlash memory card formatted with the standard DOS file system does not support booting from the ROM monitor.

Determining the File System on a CompactFlash Memory Card

To determine the file system of an external CompactFlash memory card, enter the show slot0: all command. To determine the file system of an internal CompactFlash memory card, enter the show flash: all command.

•If geometry and format information is not displayed, the card is formatted with a Class B Flash file system.

•If geometry and format information is displayed, the card is formatted with a Class C Flash file system.

The following examples show outputs for Class B and Class C Flash file systems:

External card with Class B Flash file system (geometry and format information not displayed):

Router#show slot0: all

Partition		Size	Used	Free	Bank-Size	State	Copy
Mode
1	31360K		6502K	24857K	0K	Read/Write	Direct
Slot0	CompactFlash directory:
File	Length	Name/status
	addr		fcksum	ccksum
1	6658376 c3725-i-mz
	0x40		0xE0FF	0xE0FF
[6658440 bytes used, 25454200 available, 32112640 total]
31360K bytes of ATA Slot0 CompactFlash (Read/Write)
Chip	information NOT available.

Installing and Formatting Cisco 2691, Cisco 3631 and Cisco 3700 CompactFlash Memory Cards

20 78-13892-03