FTL_FORMAT(1)						      General Commands Manual						     FTL_FORMAT(1)

NAME

       ftl_format - Flash Translation Layer formatting utility

SYNOPSIS

       ftl_format [-q] [-i] [-s spare] [-r reserve] [-b bootsize] device

DESCRIPTION

       Ftl_format  creates  a Flash Translation Layer partition on a flash memory device.  It needs to access the flash partition's raw character-
       mode device (such as /dev/mem0c0c).

       This is actually a low-level format operation, required before accessing a memory device via the FTL block device driver.  Once a partition
       is  prepared  with ftl_format, a filesystem should be created in a separate step.  Filesystem commands should access the device via the FTL
       device file (such as /dev/ftl0).

       Optionally, ftl_format can reserve a region at the beginning of the flash card address space for a boot image (or any other purpose).   The
       boot area is not part of the FTL partition, and can only be accessed via the raw memory device.

       On  Intel  Series 100 flash cards, the first flash block is used to store the card's configuration information structures.  If no boot area
       is specified on the command line, ftl_format will automatically create one to span the first block.

OPTIONS

       -q     Quiet mode: don't print formatting statistics.

       -i     Interactive: confirm before beginning the format.

       -s spare
	      Reserve the specified number of erase blocks as spares.  The default is 1.  A read-write	partition  requires  at  least	one  spare
	      block.

       -r reserve
	      Reserve  the  specified percentage of the total space on the device to improve write efficiency.	The default is 5%.  Reserving less
	      space increases the frequency of flash erase operations to reclaim free blocks.

       -b bootsize
	      Requests that a portion of the flash card be reserved for a boot image.  The size will be rounded up to an integral number of  erase
	      blocks.

AUTHOR

       David Hinds - dahinds@users.sourceforge.net

SEE ALSO

       ftl_cs(4), ftl_check(8).

pcmcia-cs							2000/06/12 21:24:48						     FTL_FORMAT(1)