mkfs

I think that all my disks need to have the mkfs -t ext2 -j <location> done to
them. Do the disks need to be blank before such an operation is carried out?
If I were to make the filesystem msdos on the floppy disks then I could use
them with the rest of the world (M$), right? If that is so it is mkfs -t
msdos, right (man & info doesn't have this info) or is it fat32? Never mind
this last part here. I just found the command: it is mkfs.msdos or mkfs.vfat.
So what is the difference between... never mind that either. Man pages
indicate they are the same command.
:)~MIKE~(:

(what makes me think this is that when I go to my Linux partition <hda5> it
tells me nothing is in the directory)

bmike1@bmike1:~$ cd /mnt
bmike1@bmike1:/mnt$ ls
cdrom  floppy  hda1  hda5  hda6  hda7  hda8  sda5  sda6
bmike1@bmike1:/mnt$ mount floppy
mount: can't find /mnt/floppy in /etc/fstab or /etc/mtab (it is in fstab)
bmike1@bmike1:/mnt$ mount cdrom
bmike1@bmike1:/mnt$ mount cdrom
mount: can't find /mnt/cdrom in /etc/fstab or /etc/mtab (it is in fstab)
# /etc/fstab: filesystem table.
#
# filesystem  mountpoint  type  options  dump  pass
/dev/cdrom  /cdrom  iso9660  defaults,ro,user,noexec,noauto  0  0
/dev/fd0  /floppy  vfat  defaults,user,auto,showexec,umask=022  0  0
/dev/hda1 /mnt/hda1 vfat defaults,users,exec,umask=000,uid=knoppix,gid=knoppix 
0 0
/dev/hda5  /  ext3  defaults,errors=remount-ro  0  1
/dev/sda5 /mnt/sda5 ext3 defaults,users,exec 0 2
/dev/sda6 /mnt/sda6 ext3 defaults,users,exec 0 2
/dev/sda1 swap swap noauto 0 0
proc  /proc  proc  defaults  0  0
/etc/fstab (END)
bmike1@bmike1:/mnt$
bmike1@bmike1:/mnt$ ls cdrom
bmike1@bmike1:/mnt$ ls floppy
bmike1@bmike1:/mnt$ ls hda1 (msdos)
My Documents   bootlog.txt  io.sys      quickenw      suhdlog.dat
Program Files  command.com  msdos.---   recycled      system.1st
autoexec.bat   config.sys   msdos.sys   scandisk.log  temp
bootlog.prv    detlog.txt   netlog.txt  setuplog.txt  windows
bmike1@bmike1:/mnt$ ls hda5 (linux)
bmike1@bmike1:/mnt$ ls hda6 (didn't create this)(cat /proc/partitions <which)
                                    (is lower>shows this)
bmike1@bmike1:/mnt$ ls hda7 (didn't create this)
bmike1@bmike1:/mnt$ ls hda8 (didn't create this)
bmike1@bmike1:/mnt$ ls sda5
downloads  drakx-images  lost+found
bmike1@bmike1:/mnt$ ls sda5/d*
sda5/downloads:
sda5/drakx-images:
01-thanks.pl       07-desktop.pl       13-mdkcampus.pl
01-thanks.png      07-desktop.png      13-mdkcampus.png
02-community.pl    08-development.pl   14-mdkexpert.pl
02-community.png   08-development.png  14-mdkexpert.png
03-internet.pl     09-server.pl        15-mdkexpert-corporate.pl
03-internet.png    09-server.png       15-mdkexpert-corporate.png
04-multimedia.pl   10-mnf.pl           16-thanks.pl
04-multimedia.png  10-mnf.png          16-thanks.png
05-games.pl        11-mdkstore.pl      17-mdkclub.pl
05-games.png       11-mdkstore.png     17-mdkclub.png
06-mcc.pl          12-mdkstore.pl      DEADJOE
06-mcc.png         12-mdkstore.png
bmike1@bmike1:/mnt$ ls sda5/do*
bmike1@bmike1:/mnt$ ls sda6 (didn't create this)
lost+found
root@bmike1:/mnt# cat /proc/partitions; cat /etc/fstab; fdisk -l /dev/sda
major minor  #blocks  name
   8     0    1025500 sda
   8     1     409584 sda1
   8     2          1 sda2
   8     5     511984 sda5
   8     6     103408 sda6
   3     0   29316672 hda
   3     1   14659281 hda1
   3     2          1 hda2
   3     5   14651248 hda5
# /etc/fstab: filesystem table.
#
# filesystem  mountpoint  type  options  dump  pass
/dev/cdrom  /cdrom  iso9660  defaults,ro,user,noexec,noauto  0  0
/dev/fd0  /floppy  vfat  defaults,user,auto,showexec,umask=022  0  0
/dev/hda1 /mnt/hda1 vfat defaults,users,exec,umask=000,uid=knoppix,gid=knoppix 
0 0
/dev/hda5  /  ext3  defaults,errors=remount-ro  0  1
/dev/sda5 /mnt/sda5 ext3 defaults,users,exec 0 2
/dev/sda6 /mnt/sda6 ext3 defaults,users,exec 0 2
/dev/sda1 swap swap noauto 0 0
proc  /proc  proc  defaults  0  0

Disk /dev/sda: 1050 MB, 1050112000 bytes
64 heads, 32 sectors/track, 1001 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 2048 * 512 = 1048576 bytes

   Device Boot    Start       End    Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *         1       400    409584   82  Linux swap (swap)
/dev/sda2           401      1001    615424    5  Extended
/dev/sda5           401       900    511984   83  Linux
/dev/sda6           901      1001    103408   83  Linux