xref: /netbsd-src/usr.bin/fdformat/fdformat.1 (revision 946379e7b37692fc43f68eb0d1c10daa0a7f3b6c)
1.\"	$NetBSD: fdformat.1,v 1.18 2012/04/08 22:00:38 wiz Exp $
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30.Dd July 22, 2006
31.Dt FDFORMAT 1
32.Os
33.Sh NAME
34.Nm fdformat
35.Nd format a floppy diskette
36.Sh SYNOPSIS
37.Nm
38.Op Fl n
39.Op Fl B Ar nbps
40.Op Fl C Ar ncyl
41.Op Fl F Ar fillbyte
42.Op Fl f Ar device
43.Op Fl G Ar gaplen
44.Op Fl I Ar interleave
45.Op Fl P Ar stepspercyl
46.Op Fl S Ar nspt
47.Op Fl T Ar ntrk
48.Op Fl t Ar type
49.Op Fl X Ar xfer_rate
50.Sh DESCRIPTION
51The
52.Nm
53utility formats a floppy diskette.
54With no arguments, it formats the default floppy device with the default
55density parameters (as provided by the floppy diskette device driver).
56.Pp
57As the each track of the floppy diskette is formatted, it is read to
58verify the format was successful.
59.Pp
60The
61.Nm
62utility does not create a filesystem of any kind.
63Use tools like
64.Xr newfs 8 ,
65.Xr newfs_msdos 8 ,
66or
67.Xr mformat 1
68(part of the pkgsrc/sysutils/mtools package) depending on what filesystem
69type you want to use on the floppy disk to do so.
70.Pp
71Available command-line flags are:
72.Bl -tag -width indent -compact
73.It Fl f Ar device
74Format the floppy using
75.Ar device
76instead of the default
77.Pa /dev/rfd0a .
78.It Fl t Ar type
79Format the floppy using parameters for the diskette named
80.Ar type
81in
82.Pa /etc/floppytab
83instead of the device default parameters.
84.It Fl n
85Do not verify each track as it is read.
86.It Fl B Ar nbps
87Set the number of bytes per sector for the formatted diskette.
88.It Fl S Ar nspt
89Set the number of sectors per track for the formatted diskette.
90.It Fl T Ar ntrk
91Set the number of tracks (heads) per cylinder for the formatted diskette.
92.It Fl C Ar ncyl
93Set the number of cylinders for the formatted diskette.
94.It Fl P Ar stepspercyl
95Set the number of motor steps per cylinder for the formatted diskette.
96.It Fl G Ar gaplen
97Set the sector gap length for the formatted diskette.
98.It Fl F Ar fillbyte
99Set the fill byte for the formatted diskette.
100.It Fl X Ar xfer_rate
101Set the bit transfer rate for the formatted diskette.
102.It Fl I Ar interleave
103Set the interleave factor for the formatted diskette.
104.El
105.Sh SEE ALSO
106.Xr fdc 4
107(amiga, i386 and sparc ports)
108.Sh HISTORY
109The
110.Nm
111utility appeared in
112.Nx 1.3 .
113.Sh BUGS
114Some floppy drive units have physical
115diskette format sensors which automatically select a diskette
116density for reading.
117Such drives can format at alternate densities, but
118they cannot successfully verify the formatted diskette except at the
119diskette's normal density.
120