COHERENT manpages
This page displays the COHERENT manpage for fdformat [Low-level format a floppy disk].
List of available manpages
Index
fdformat -- Command Low-level format a floppy disk /etc/fdformat [ option ... ] special fdformat formats a floppy disk. The given special should be the name of the special file that correspond to the floppy disk drive. fdformat recognizes the following options: -a Print information on the standard output device during format. As it formats a cylinder, it will print a line of the form hd=0 cyl=25 on your screen. -i number Use number (0 through 7) as the interleave factor in formatting. Note that the default interleave is six. -o number Use number (default, 0) as the skew factor for sector numbering. -v Verify formatting and verify data written with the -w option. -w file Format the floppy disk and then copy file to it track by track. The raw device should be used. The command mkfs builds a COHERENT file system on a formatted floppy disk. The command dosformat builds a DOS file system on a formatted floppy disk. The command mount mounts a floppy disk containing a file system to allow access to it through the COHERENT directory structure. The command umount unmounts a floppy disk. Examples The following command formats a 2880-block (1.44-megabyte), 3.5-inch floppy disk in drive 1 (otherwise known as drive B): /etc/fdformat -v /dev/rfva1 The following command formats a 2400-block (1.2-megabyte), 5.25-inch floppy disk in drive 0 (otherwise known known as drive A): /etc/fdformat -v /dev/rfha0 Note that using the raw device (/dev/rfha0) speeds up formatting noticeably. See Also commands, dosformat, fd, mkfs, mount, umount Diagnostics When errors occur on floppy-disk devices the driver prints on the system console an error message that describes the error. Notes fdformat formats a track at a time. fdformat can be interrupted between tracks, which may result in a partially formatted floppy disk.