Definition of Formatting (Format)

When we work with a computer (and, for a long time, also with mobile devices such as smartphones Y tablets) we need to prepare the units of storage so that they are able to work with files and directories (folders). This process is called format, of English format, and thus understanding to give a Format, one way, applying before you can use the storage media. In this framework, when a computer equipment is not working correctly, it forces to format it and thus start over, just like the first day it was bought.

Prepare the indexes to access the files

In fact, the format is nothing more than preparing an area on the surface of the disk in which the files are stored. Indexes that, later, will tell us where the files or the parts that make up are located those.

The format can also include other operations, such as erasing previously existing data, overwriting them either with random data, or with a uniform pattern (like, for example, all zeros).

The indexes that point to the files can take different forms, each of which is called a format, so that we can have different and own formats for each

operating system or device.

It is also possible to divide the disk to be formatted into several logical parts, providing each of them with a different format.

The different formats that we can give to a disc

• FAT. These acronyms mean File Allocation Table, and was developed for the QDOS operating system, predecessor of Microsoft's PC-DOS and MS-DOS. Its limitations soon came to light, although for use in the early 1980s there was more than enough of what it provided. Still today, the vast majority of operating systems are capable of working with drives that are formatted with this file system.
• FAT16. One of the most popular evolutions of FAT, which allowed to increase the size of the file systems.


• vFAT. It really is not a novelty in terms of disk format, but in the way of accessing it, creating a cache that allows speeding up operations.
• FAT32. Without a doubt, the evolution most popular of FAT, still widely used today. It first appeared in Windows 95 OSR2. It is also supported by a host of other platforms and devices.
• NTFS. Corresponds to the Windows NT file system, the version professional of Windows that, over time, would end up merging with that of consumption in Windows XP. From here on, NTFS would become the standard file system for the Microsoft platform.
• exFAT. To demonstrate the vigor of the FAT file system in its various evolutions, this version has been designed to support Flash storage devices.
• HPFS. Acronyms for High Performance File System, is the filesystem that Microsoft and IBM created jointly for OS / 2, and is the direct predecessor of the NTFS explained earlier.

• HFS. Developed by Apple for its Mac computers.
• HFS +. An improved version to adapt to the new times and to the new technologies of the previous one.


• ext2, ext3, ext4. They are the subsequent versions of one of the file most used in the GNU / Linux world.

Tools to use for formatting

Each operating system integrates and offers its own tools to format a partition and disk drive, either in command line or in environment graphic. In the latter case, these tools also tend to provide partitioning utilities, to partition the disk.

For example, in MS-DOS we had the FORMAT instruction on the command line, while for partitioning we had the FDISK, both commands that continued to be present later in Windows.

In GNU / Linux we have, among others, GParted, and Mac OS X also includes a disk, partition and format management utility.

Photos: iStock - vm / tdub303

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