Editing Fdisk (section)

===DOS===
[[IBM]] introduced the first version of fdisk (officially dubbed "Fixed Disk Setup Program") in March 1983, with the release of the [[IBM PC/XT]] computer (the first PC to store data on a [[hard disk]]) and the [[IBM PC DOS]] 2.0 operating system. fdisk version 1.0 can create one [[FAT12]] partition, delete it, change the [[active partition]], or display partition data. fdisk writes the [[master boot record]], which supports up to four partitions. The other three were intended for other operating systems such as [[CP/M-86]] and [[Xenix]], which were expected to have their own partitioning utilities.

Microsoft first added fdisk to [[MS-DOS]] in version 3.2.<ref name="RUNNINGMSDOS">{{Cite book|author-last=Wolverton|author-first=Van|title=Running MS-DOS Version 6.22 (20th Anniversary Edition), 6th Revised edition|date=2003|publisher=[[Microsoft Press]]|isbn=0-7356-1812-7}}</ref> MS-DOS versions 2.0 through 3.10 included OEM-specific partitioning tools, which may have been named fdisk.

PC DOS 3.0, released in August 1984, added support for [[FAT16]] partitions to handle larger hard disks more efficiently. PC DOS 3.30, released in April 1987, added support for [[Disk partitioning#Extended partition|extended partitions]]. (These partitions do not store data directly but can contain up to 23 [[logical drive]]s.) In both cases, fdisk was modified to work with FAT16 and extended partitions. Support for [[FAT16B]] was first added to Compaq's fdisk in MS-DOS 3.31. FAT16B later became available with MS-DOS and PC DOS 4.0.

The undocumented <code>/mbr</code> switch in fdisk, which could repair the [[master boot record]], soon became popular.

IBM PC DOS 7.10 shipped with the new fdisk32 utility.

[[ROM-DOS]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.datalight.com/assets/files/ROM-DOS_Users_Guide.pdf|title=Datalight ROM-DOS User's Guide|website=www.datalight.com}}</ref> [[DR DOS 6.0]]<ref name="drdos6userguide">[https://www.4corn.co.uk/archive/docs/DR%20DOS%206.0%20User%20Guide-opt.pdf DR DOS 6.0 User Guide Optimisation and Configuration Tips]</ref> [[FlexOS]],<ref>http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/digitalResearch/flexos/1073-2003_FlexOS_Users_Guide_V1.3_Nov86.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190925131719/http://bitsavers.org/pdf/digitalResearch/flexos/1073-2003_FlexOS_Users_Guide_V1.3_Nov86.pdf |date=2019-09-25 }} {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}</ref> [[PTS-DOS]] 2000 Pro,<ref>{{cite web |title=PTS-DOS 2000 Pro User Manual |publisher=[[Paragon Technology GmbH]] |location=Buggingen, Germany |date=1999 |url=http://download.paragon-software.com/doc/manual_dos_eng.pdf |access-date=2018-05-12 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180512094512/http://download.paragon-software.com/doc/manual_dos_eng.pdf |archive-date=2018-05-12}}</ref> and [[FreeDOS]],<ref>{{cite web|title=ibiblio.org FreeDOS Group -- FreeDOS Base|url=http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/distributions/1.2/repos/pkg-html/group-base.html|access-date=2020-06-03|website=www.ibiblio.org}}</ref> include an implementation of the fdisk command.