FORMAT(1)						      General Commands Manual							 FORMAT(1)

NAME

       format - format a PC floppy diskette

SYNOPSIS

       format [-v] device [media-size [drive-size]]

DESCRIPTION

       Format  allows  a user with read-write permission to device to format a floppy.	Either one of the special floppy devices must be used, see
       fd(4), or an automatic device may be used with the size of the floppy specified on the command line.  Two sizes must be given when  format-
       ting a low density diskette in a high density drive.  For example:

	      format /dev/at1
	      format /dev/fd1 1200
	      format /dev/fd1 360 1200

       The  first  two	commands  format a 1.2M diskette, the last formats a 360k diskette in a 1.2M drive.  A 1.44M drive knows when it's dealing
       with a low density floppy, so all these commands format a 720k diskette:

	      format /dev/fd0 720
	      format /dev/fd0 720 1440
	      format /dev/ps0

       No sizes may be specified when using a special floppy device, a size must be specified when using an automatic device.

OPTIONS

       -v     Verify the process by reading each track after formatting it.  Formatting is normally blind, the controller has no idea  whether	it
	      succeeds	or not.  Use -v on a new box of cheap diskettes, or on a diskette that may have gone bad.  Verifying will increase format-
	      ting time by 50%.

SEE ALSO

       mkfs(1), fd(4).

DIAGNOSTICS

       Numbers will be printed on standard output to show that it is busy.  The locations of bad sectors are printed on standard error when  veri-
       fying.  The exit code is zero unless there are too many bad spots.

AUTHOR

       Kees J. Bot (kjb@cs.vu.nl)

																	 FORMAT(1)