rxformat(8) [bsd man page]

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)

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

NAME

       fddisk - FDI disk maintenance utility

SYNOPSIS

       /sbin/fddisk options special

OPTIONS

       Unless  this  option  is specified, an attempt to format or to install a file system fails in two cases.  The first failure occurs when the
       device has been opened since the media was inserted.  The second failure occurs if the device is currently opened by another process.  For-
       mats  the  media  to the density appropriate for that media.  Copies a hex dump of sector number PSN to stdout.	Uses the interleave factor
       nnn for formatting.  If specified, ccc indicates an additional intercylinder interleave.  Copies a packed-C hex dump of the entire disk	to
       stdout.	 Specifies silent mode.  This option blocks informational messages from appearing on stderr.  Reads the entire media.  The command
       fails if the utility finds a bad sector.  Waits for media to be inserted into the drive if none is present.  Waits  for	new  media  to	be
       inserted  into the drive if none is present or if the current media has been opened since it was last inserted.	Reads the disk and reports
       on the format of the disk.

OPERANDS

       Specifies an unmounted, raw device pathname.  This device must be an FDI interface (fd).

DESCRIPTION

       The fddisk utility, an FDI (integrated Floppy Disk Interface) disk maintenance program, can format a floppy disk, scan a  floppy  disk  for
       bad  blocks,  and  read	and  write selected blocks.  It can be used in shell scripts for checking the status of floppy disks.  Such status
       checks include checking for or waiting for the presence of media, and checking for or waiting for the user to change the media.

RESTRICTIONS

       The fddisk utility has the following restrictions: You must have read/write access to the device.  The device must  not	be  mounted.   The
       program can only be used with a 3.5-inch floppy disk in the RX26 drive.	In some cases, it might not be possible to format a floppy disk at
       a higher density than it is already formatted.  If this situation occurs, the floppy disk must be bulk erased before it can be  reformatted
       at a higher density.

EXAMPLES

       This  example formats a floppy disk in drive zero: # /sbin/fddisk -fmt /dev/rdisk/floppy0a This example formats a floppy disk in drive zero
       when the disk has been read or written since it was inserted into the drive: # /sbin/fddisk -fmt -f /dev/rdisk/floppy0a

SEE ALSO

       Commands: mount(8), restore(8), uerf(8)

       Files: fd(7)

																	 fddisk(8)