FDISK Version History:
MS-DOS 2.x - First DOS version to support hard
drives. Maximum partition size - 16MB.
MS-DOS 3.2 - Maximum partition size - 32MB No
extended partitions supported.
MS-DOS 3.3 - Maximum partition size - 32MB First
DOS version to allow extended DOS partitions. Maximum number of
partitions - 24 (C: through Z:)
MS-DOS 4.x - Maximum partition size - 2.1GB Maximum
number of partitions - 24
MS-DOS 5.x - Same as DOS 4, but now handles up
to 8 physical drives
MS-DOS 6.x - Same as DOS 5
Windows95 - (MS-DOS 7) Basically the same as
DOS 4/5/6 but adds 2 new partition types - 0E and 0F - which will
be seen as NON-DOS partitions by earlier DOS versions. Type 0E
is used for a Primary partition if INT13 Extension support is
present in the BIOS. Type 0F is used for an Extended partition
if INT13 Extension support is present.
WIN95B(OSR2) Adds support for FAT32. Adds 2 more
new partition types 0B and 0C. 0B is used for a FAT32 partition.
0C is used for a FAT32 partition if INT13 Extension support is
present. Type B and C partitions are seen as NON-DOS partitions
by earlier DOS versions (including WIN95/WIN95A).
Some
Rules of FDISK:
Under DOS, the first physical drive must be the boot drive. The
first physical drive must contain a primary DOS partition and
the primary partition must be the first partition on the drive.
A drive can have only one primary DOS partition. The partition
must be active in order to boot. Only partitions on drive 1 can
be made active. Only drive 1 has to have a primary partition.
Additional drives may be defined either as primary or as extended
partitions. In addition to or instead of a primary partition,
a drive may also have one extended partition. All volumes in extended
partitions must further be defined in FDISK as logical DOS volumes.
DOS through FDISK assigns drive letters first to all primary partitions
in order, starting with the letter C, and then to all logical
volumes in extended partitions. Drive letters A and B are reserved
for floppy drives. Existing partitions must be deleted with FDISK
before new partition scan be defined. FDISK from MS-DOS 4.01 and
earlier will not remove NON-DOS partitions.
Some Considerations for Large Drives DOS 6.22 FDISK Does not
support drives over 8.4GB. Will show total drive size for drives
over 8.4GB as 7553MB or 8025MB or some similar value which will
vary depending on how the drive is being handled by the BIOS.Also
cannot correctly display the size of large drives - is limited
to 4 characters (9999MB).
WIN95/WIN95A FDISK
Does support drives over 8.4GB, but is still limited. For drives
over 8.4GB, the BIOS must support INT13 Extensions. If FDISK is
started with /X option, it will be limited to 8.4GB total size
and 0E or 0F partition types will not be used. Also still has
same problem with displaying size of large drives.
FDISK will see only 8.4GB of a drive larger than 8.4GB if FDISK
is used in a DOS window or through the Run box on the Start menu.
To correctly set up a drive larger than 8.4GB, FDISK must be run
in DOS mode. This can be accomplished by booting to "Command
Prompt Only" from the Startup menu, or choosing "Restart
in MS-DOS Mode" from the Shutdown menu, or just booting from
a WIN95 startup disk.
WIN95B (OSR2) FDISK
Adds support for FAT 32, which allows single partitions up to
2 terabytes (2000 gigabytes). Will always first ask "Do you
wish to enable large disk support?" What this means is "Do
you wish to use FAT32?" Answering NO to this question still
allows support for large drives. The /X option limits FDISK to
8.4GB total size, even if answering YES to "Do you wish to
enable large disk support?". FAT32 can be used on any drive
over 512MB.
The problems with displaying the size correctly are fixed in
the WIN95B version of FDISK. However, the FORMAT command, which
also does not display large sizes correctly, is still not fixed.
The problem with FDISK not seeing drive capacity beyond 8.4GB
in a DOS window is fixed. WIN98 FDISK Problem with size shown
by FORMAT command while formatting drive is still not fixed.
Explanation of * Remote * in Volume Label field in FDISK
In some cases, if an existing logical drive is not recognized,
FDISK will show * Remote * in the Volume Label field for that
drive. This can occur if a logical drive is not recognized by
FDISK for some reason and if another drive such as CD-ROM drive
or RAMDRIVE or network drive is using the drive letter that the
logical drive would have been assigned. One reason that a logical
drive might not be recognized is that the partition type may not
be valid for that version of FDISK. We have seen a case where
a logical drive showed up normally in WIN98 GUI mode or in FDISK
in a DOS box, but the drive label field showed * Remote * in FDISK
in DOS mode (with a RAMDRIVE loaded). In this case, when booting
to Safe mode/Command prompt only, FDISK showed the partition but
without the volume label (which dids how up in a DOS box) and
the drive was not accessible. In this case the user had copied
WIN95 from an old drive to a new drive installed as master, then
installed WIN98 on top of WIN95, then converted the partition
on the main drive to FAT32. The * Remote * string in the Volume
label field is not meant as a volume label but is meant to indicate
that FDISK thinks this drive maybe a network drive.
FDISK
SWITCHES
FDISK /MBR - Recreate Master Boot Record on disk
1
This function is handy when an virus has infected the Master Boot
Record. With /MBR you can wipe-out the virus.
FDISK does not build an MBR on any drive except the primary master.
FDISK will only create an MBR on the primary master drive if the
drive does not already have a valid MBR. The 55AAh signature at
the end of the sector is checked by FDISK, if not present the
MBR is written. Also if the drive is blank, an MBR is written.
FDISK /STATUS
displays partition information without starting FDISK and navigating
thorough the menus. This works with MS-DOS version 5.00and higher.
The first sector on the hard drive, (cylinder 0, head 0, sector
1) contains the master partition boot record. This 512-byte sector
contains the partition loader and the partition table. At bootup,
the BIOS loads the partition loader, the partition loader loads
the bootstrap loader for the bootable partition and the bootstrap
loader loads the operating system.
FDISK /PRI
Create primary partition. Partition is set to active Create a
primary partition on disk number <disk> with the size of
<size>. The partition is set to active. FDISK /PRI:<size>
<disk>
If <size> is larger than the space on the HD all space
is used for the primary partition.
FDISK /PRIO
Create primary partition with FAT16/FAT32 override. Partition
is set to active
Works as /PRI.
FDISK /EXT
Create extended partition
Create an extended partition (to hold logical drives) on disk
number <disk> with the size of <size>.
FDISK /EXT:<size> <disk>
If <size> is larger than remaining free space, all free
space is used. That is, you don’t have to know the exact
remaining size in order to use this switch.
FDISK /LOG
Create logical drive
With /LOG you create a logical drive with the size of <size>.
/LOG must be used together with /EXT.
FDISK /EXT:<size> <disk> /LOG:<size>
/LOG must be used together with /EXT and <size> must be
the same for both switches. Furthermore, <size> must be
smaller or equal to free space.
FDISK /LOGO
Create logical drive with FAT16/FAT32 override
Works as /LOG.
FDISK /FPRMT
Prompt for FAT32/FAT16 in interactive mode
With /FPRMT you won't get the FDISK startscreen where you are
asked for support for large disks. Instead, you will be prompted
for FAT16/FAT32 each time you create a partition.
FDISK /FPRMT
/X
Do not use LBA partitions
With /X you won't get any LBA partitions.
FDISK /X
FDISK /CMBR
Recreate Master Boot Record on specified disk
Works as /MBR with the exception that you specify the disk to
have it's MBR recreated.
FDISK /CMBR <disk>
Notes on /PRI, /PRIO and /LOG, /LOGO
As far as I can tell, PRI and LOG creates FAT32 when partitions
are larger than 512Mb and FAT16 when partitions are smaller than
512Mb. PRIO and LOGO creates FAT16 even if partitions are larger
than 512Mb (in effect, it’s like FDISK from DOS 5/6).
History
of FDISK versions 
