FDISK - a hard disc partitioning program for FreeDOS
====================================================

Introduction
------------

For those that don't already know, a PC hard disc has to go through
(usually) three processes before it can be used to put files on, these
are:

Low-level formatting - Laying out the tracks and sectors on the disc
surface.  Nowdays, with almost everyone using IDE or SCSI drives (which
come part-cooked already) this is often not needed (and usually guarded
against).  Only older MFM or RLL style drives may still need this to be
done before use.  This is the computing equivalent of laying the
foundations for a building (slow, but essential).

Partitioning - Dividing the disc into several smaller chunks.  This is
done to get around limitations in the maximum amount of data an
operating system can cope with and also to allow multiple operating
systems to reside on the same hard drive.  Unless you are planning to
use something particularly wierd, you must have at least one partition
on your disc.  Think of this as building the rest of the house, it
decides how big each room should be and where they go in relation to
each other.

High-level formatting - Laying out the file system.  This is the last
part of the disc preparation process and is used to arrange any
operating system specific details (like designing the layout of the
room).


Methods of low-level formatting vary from machine to machine and are
best avoided if possible.  Partitioning is carried out by the FDISK
program (as the title, above implies), and high-level formatting is
usually carried out using the FORMAT command (or a varient of makefs on
a Unix partition).


Usage
-----

I've tried to design FDISK to be simple.  The main screen shows a list
of existing partitions (if any) on a drive, one of which should be
highlighted to indicate that it is the currently selected partition. 
You can scroll up and down the list using the arrow keys to change the
current selection or use any of the following keys:

	B - To make the selected partition bootable (ie. the partition
		that gets used when the computer is switched on).  Note:
		Only one partition can be bootable at a time, making one
		partition bootable will automatically make all of the
		others non-bootable.  This is only available on primary
		partitions (those in the top part of the screen).

	Delete - To delete the selected partition (be careful with this
			 option, it's not easily reversible).

	Insert - To add a new partition.  You will be asked for some details
			 regarding the new partition, so you will need to know a
			 little information beforehand.

	D - To change to another hard drive.

	Esc - To quit FDISK.  Until you exit, nothing is actually written to
		  your disc (and even then you will be asked for permission), so
		  if you do anything wrong nothing drastic will happen unless you
		  let FDISK write the data to your disc when you quit.