FDFORMAT(1) OpenBSD Reference Manual FDFORMAT(1)NAME
fdformat - format floppy disks
SYNOPSIS
fdformat [-nqv] [-c cyls] [-F fillbyte] [-g gap3len] [-h heads]
[-i intleave] [-r rate] [-S secshft] [-s secs]
[-t steps_per_track] device_name
DESCRIPTION
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:
-n Don't verify floppy after formatting.
-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.
-v Don't format; verify only.
-c cyls
-F fillbyte
-g gap3len
-h heads
-i intleave
-r rate
-S secshft
-s secs
-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
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 ALSOfdc(4)HISTORY
fdformat was developed for 386BSD 0.1 and upgraded to the new fdc(4)
floppy disk driver. It later became part of FreeBSD 1.1, and was then
ported to OpenBSD 1.2.
AUTHORS
The program was contributed by Joerg Wunsch, Dresden, with changes by
Serge Vakulenko and Andrew A. Chernov, Moscow.
OpenBSD 4.9 May 31, 2007 OpenBSD 4.9
