Just use RFORMAT by Rudolph Loew. It can properly align FAT12/16/32 on any block size you want. It doesn't use reserved sectors for that. It only enlarges FAT tables so that the first cluster begins at block size boundary. It can also do all sort of weird formats: reserved sectors, any cluster size you can think of, set root dir size, number of FATs (having only one FAT improves wear on flash memory), etc.
Thanks for that, it does look quite elegant. RIP Mr. Loew.
There is a todo shown:
>? added Partition specific Geometry setting
>? add docs for above
>Add warning about Letter Assigners in DOS and Windows
> Force LogOnly and set size
>Geometry needs to be set to match Partitions settings.
What I've found using recent Windows is that Diskpart will autocorrect the CHS figures based on what LBA changes you make when using other apps, but you have to use Diskpart to "touch" that particular partition after you make the changes, preferably after a reboot. When I need this done without other modifications, I use Diskpart's SetID command, where you type "Help Setid" to get the Diskpart syntax doc on it, but tha command is like "SET ID=de" (with a space there) to change the partition type. To type DE for instance, a "Dell" OEM type. The CHS correction happens silently. Then change it back to type 0C if FAT32, or 07 if NTFS, or basically what you had before.
If you check the structure I'm using, both FATs are written in the same stroke on the size mostly found in UEFI boot volumes :)
>Add warning about Letter Assigners in DOS and Windows
That's because of my bug report. I used Letter Assinger v1.2.0 by Vadim Burtyansky and tried formatting a partition from Win98. The wrong partition was about to be formatted. Mr. Loew investigated and found the bug in the Letter Assigner, not RFORMAT.
> Diskpart will autocorrect the CHS figures based on what LBA changes you make when using other apps.
I saw many partitioning programs do that. Most ask for confirmation, some don't. It's great that you know how to edit partitioning table and FAT parameters by hand, but why waste time when there are tools that offers (probably) the same flexibility?
For partitioning, I use Ranish Partition Manager. RPM and RFORMAT are the best partitioning/formatting tools by far. Too bad I have to use a boot stick to run them. And too bad nobody wrote something as capable as RPM for Linux. mkfs.vfat comes close to RFORMAT, but none of the partitioning tools are as capable as RPM.
> If you check the structure I'm using, both FATs are written in the same stroke on the size mostly found in UEFI boot volumes :)
https://rloewelectronics.com