If you mean like a standard 3.5, 5.25, Zip drive or LS-120, the formatting
itself has low-level formatting  embedded into the actual format command.
It auto-creates the low-level formatting and filesystem information.
Partitioning is used on hard disks, and is part of the physical to virtual
translation of the hard disk information.  This is not workable with
removable diskette media.  Simply due to lack of necessity.
Dave

Whether or not you can partition a removable disk depends on the model that
the external disk drivers are using.  If it is pretending to be a removable
disk, like a floppy, then you can't partition it.  If it's pretending to be
a type of hard drive, then it can be partitioned, but you will probably have
to do it using FDISK from a DOS session within Windows. Otherwise, check
with the manufacturer about a custom partitioning utility.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP W95/W98