ufiformat(8)						      System Manager's Manual						      ufiformat(8)

NAME

       ufiformat - Format a USB floppy disk.

SYNOPSIS

       ufiformat [ -hiqvV ] [ -f|--format [size]] [ devicepath ]

OPTIONS

       -f, --format [size]
	      Specify format capacity SIZE in KB.  Without -f option, the format of the current media will be used.

       -V, --verify
	      Verify the medium after formatting. Only meaningful without -i option.

       -F, --force
	      Do not perform any safety checks.

       -i, --inquire
	      Show device information, instead of performing format.  Without devicepath argument, list all USB floppy disk devices attached to
	      the system.

       -v, --verbose
	      Be verbose.

       -q, --quiet
	      Suppress minor diagnostics.

       -h, --help
	      Show help message.

DESCRIPTION

       ufiformat is a raw level formatting disk utility for USB floppy devices.

       Raw level format is to write gap,index,sectors to the unformatted disk using special commands specific to the disk controller, to make the
       plain magneto-sensitive film into sector-addressable medium.  Note that raw level format is NOT about creating filesystems (fs(5)) on the
       disk.

       After mid-1990's, floppy disks are sold generally pre-formatted in MS-DOS 2HD format: 80 cylinder, 2 heads, 18 sectors/track, 512
       bytes/sector; it is seldom in need for raw formatting.  Nevertheless raw formatting could cure some disk and drive mismatchings.

       WARNING: You will NOT raw format an LS-120 disks or (removable) hard disks; they are precision formatted in factory and cannot be raw
       reformatted.

       ufiformat supports only the following format capacities:
		 1440/1232/1200 (for 2HD disk)
		 720/640	(for 2DD disk)
       The device should support the capacities also, otherwise ufiformat shows an error message.

       The above format capacities are predefined in the program, but each USB floppy device also has a limited set of formats (defined
       internally) that it can format media to.  The allowed format capacities are obtained by querying (-i) the device, but this only returns the
       total format capacity and not CHS (cylinder, heads and sectors), hence a mapping is required in the program.

EXAMPLES

       Inquiry the device for available format:
	      # modprobe sg
	      # ufiformat -i /dev/sda
	      vendor:  Y-E DATA
	      product: USB-FDU
	      write protect: off
	      media type: 2HD
	      status	  block size   kb
	      formatted    2880  512 1440
	      formattable  2880  512 1440
	      formattable  1232 1024 1232
	      formattable  2400  512 1200

       Format the floppy disk in 1.44MB, and create a FAT filesystem:
	      # ufiformat -f 1440 /dev/sda
	      # mkdosfs -I /dev/sda

PREREQUISTES

       ufiformat needs /dev/sg* SCSI pass-thru device to operate.  If the device does not exist, add the driver by invoking modprobe sg.

       You often need to be root to do anything with /dev/sd*.

SEE ALSO

       fdformat(8), floppy(8), sg(4)

       "Universal Serial Bus Mass Storage Class - UFI Command Specification" Revision 1.0 December 14 1998
       http://www.usb.org/developers/devclass_docs/usbmass-ufi10.pdf

																      ufiformat(8)