1 .\" Copyright (C) 1993, 1994, 1995, 2001 by Joerg Wunsch, Dresden
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30 .Nd format floppy disks
41 utility formats a floppy disk at
45 may either be given as a full path
46 name of a device node for a floppy disk drive
49 or using an abbreviated name that will be looked up
55 The options are as follows:
56 .Bl -tag -width ".Fl s Ar fmtstr"
60 as the fill byte for newly formatted sectors.
64 must be a number in the range 0 through 255 using common C
69 Specify the density settings for a
71 kilobyte format, as described in
74 Specify the density settings using explicit parameters, as
78 Do not verify floppy after formatting.
80 Suppress any normal output from the command, and do not ask the
81 user for a confirmation whether to format the floppy disk at
84 Do not format, verify only.
86 Do not ask for confirmation whether to format the floppy disk but
87 still report formatting status.
90 For non-autoselecting subdevices, neither
94 may be specified, since the preconfigured media density settings
95 from the kernel driver will always be used.
98 is a device with automatic media density selection (see
100 both methods can be used to override the density settings for the
101 newly formatted medium (without permanently changing the density
107 flag has not been specified, the user is asked for a confirmation
108 of the intended formatting process.
109 In order to continue, an answer
116 does only perform low-level formatting.
118 a file system on the medium, see the commands
129 An exit status of 0 is returned upon successful operation.
131 1 is returned on any errors during floppy formatting, and an exit status
132 of 2 reflects invalid arguments given to the program (along with an
133 appropriate information written to diagnostic output).
135 To format a new double-sided, high-density (HD) 1.44 MB disk
136 inserted in the first floppy disk drive, issue:
138 .Dl "/usr/sbin/fdformat -f 1440 /dev/fd0"
140 After low-level formatting the disk with
142 create a disk label so that the system can determine the size and
143 geometry of the disk.
144 The supported geometry values are listed in
149 To write the disk label, use
152 .Dl "/sbin/bsdlabel -B -w /dev/fd0 fd1440"
154 The floppy is now ready to be high-level formatted with a file system.
155 To format the floppy disk with FAT, issue:
157 .Dl "/sbin/newfs_msdos /dev/fd0"
161 has been specified, a single letter is printed to standard output
162 to inform the user about the progress of work.
165 is printed when the track is being formatted, then a
167 while it is being verified, and if an error has been detected, it
168 will finally change to
170 Detailed status information (cylinder, head and sector number, and the
171 exact cause of the error) will be printed for up to 10 errors after the
172 entire formatting process has completed.
183 has been developed for
185 and upgraded to the new
188 It later became part of the
193 it uses the unified density specifications as described in
197 The program has been contributed by
199 Dresden, with changes by
202 .An Andrey A. Chernov ,