See Appendix D for instructions on performing a low-level format. If you need to format the disk, be sure to do it before completing the steps in this appendix.

WARNING

The procedures described in this appendix destroy any data

on the hard disk. If your disk contains data, use the

BACKUP command to copy all the data before completing

the steps described here. See your MS-DOS Reference

Manual for instructions on using BACKUP.

Partitioning the Hard Disk

You need to partition the hard disk so it can run the MS-DOS operating system. The partitioning process divides the single physical disk into one or more logical drives. You can access each logical drive as though it were a separate physical device. The first logical drive is drive C, the second is drive D, and so on.

Note

If you install a second hard disk, MS-DOS refers to that disk

automatically as drive D. In this case, the second logical

drive on your first disk is referred to as drive E, the third is

drive F, and so on.

The first logical drive (drive C) is also called the primary partition. All remaining logical drives together make up what MS-DOS calls the extended partition. Extended partitions are necessary on a hard disk with a capacity greater than 32MB because MS-DOS (version 3.3) cannot manage more than 32MB at a time.