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

NAME

       rxformat - format floppy disks (2.11BSD)

SYNOPSIS

       rxformat special

DESCRIPTION

       The rxformat program formats a diskette in the specified drive associated with the special device special.  Special is normally /dev/rrx0?,
       for drive 0, or /dev/rrx1?, for drive 1, where ``?'' is either "a" or "b" to indicate single or double density access.  The ``raw''  device
       must  be  used.	 Single  density is compatible with the IBM 3740 standard (128 bytes/sector).  In double density, each sector contains 256
       bytes of data.

       Before formatting a diskette rxformat prompts for verification if standard input is a tty (this allows a user to cleanly abort  the  opera-
       tion; note that formatting a diskette will destroy any existing data).  Formatting is done by the hardware.  All sectors are zero-filled.

DIAGNOSTICS

       `No  such  device'  means that the drive is not ready, usually because no disk is in the drive or the drive door is open.  Other error mes-
       sages are selfexplanatory.

FILES

       /dev/rrx??

SEE ALSO

       rx(4)

AUTHOR

       Helge Skrivervik

BUGS

       A floppy may not be formatted if the header info on sector 1, track 0 has been damaged.	Hence, it is not possible to format  a	completely
       degaussed disk.	(This is actually a problem in the hardware.)

3rd Berkeley Distribution					 November 17, 1996						       RXFORMAT(8)