NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

     fdformat - format floppy disks

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

     fdformat [-q] [-n | -v] [-c cyls] [-s secs] [-h  heads]  [-r
rate]
              [-g   gap3len]   [-i  intleave]  [-S  secshft]  [-F
fillbyte]
              [-t steps_per_track] device_name

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

     fdformat  formats  a  floppy  disk  at  device  device_name.
device_name should
     be  a  character  device; it may be given either with a full
path name of a
     raw device node for a floppy disk drive (e.g.,  /dev/rfd0c),
or default
     name in an abbreviated form, (e.g., fd0).  Note that any geometry constraints
 of the device node (minor device number) are  meaningless, since
     they're overridden by fdformat.

     The options are as follows:

     -q       Suppress  any  normal  output from the command, and
don't ask the
             user for confirmation whether to format  the  floppy
disk at
             device_name.

     -n      Don't verify floppy after formatting.

     -v      Don't format; verify only.

     -c cyls
     -s secs
     -h heads
     -r rate
     -g gap3len
     -i intleave
     -S secshft
     -F fillbyte
     -t steps_per_track
             An  alternate method to specify the geometry data to
write to the
             floppy disk.

     If the -q flag has not been specified, the user is asked for
confirmation
     of  the  intended formatting process.  In order to continue,
an answer of
     ``y'' must be given.

DIAGNOSTICS    [Toc]    [Back]

     Unless -q has been specified, a single letter is printed  to
standard output
  to  inform the user about the progress of work.  First,
an ``F'' is
     printed when the track(s) is being formatted, then  a  ``V''
while it's being
 verified, and if an error has been detected, it will finally change
     to ``E''.

     An exit status of 0 is returned upon  successful  operation.
Exit status 1
     is  returned  on any errors during floppy formatting, and an
exit status of
     2 reflects invalid arguments given  to  the  program  (along
with appropriate
     information written to diagnostic output).

SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]

     fdc(4)

HISTORY    [Toc]    [Back]

     fdformat  was  developed  for 386BSD 0.1 and upgraded to the
new fd(4) floppy
 disk driver.  It later became part of  FreeBSD  1.1,  and
was then ported
     to OpenBSD 1.2.

AUTHORS    [Toc]    [Back]

     The  program  was contributed by Joerg Wunsch, Dresden, with
changes by
     Serge Vakulenko and Andrew A. Chernov, Moscow.

OpenBSD     3.6                       September     16,      1993