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| 1 | .TH FORMAT 1
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| 2 | .SH NAME
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| 3 | format \- format a PC floppy diskette
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| 4 | .SH SYNOPSIS
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| 5 | .B format
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| 6 | .RB [ \-v ]
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| 7 | .I device
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| 8 | .RI [ media-size
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| 9 | .RI [ drive-size ]]
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| 10 | .SH DESCRIPTION
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| 11 | .de SP
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| 12 | .if t .sp 0.4
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| 13 | .if n .sp
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| 14 | ..
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| 15 | .B Format
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| 16 | allows a user with read-write permission to
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| 17 | .I device
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| 18 | to format a floppy. Either one of the special floppy devices must be used,
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| 19 | see
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| 20 | .BR fd (4),
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| 21 | or an automatic device may be used with the size of the floppy specified on
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| 22 | the command line. Two sizes must be given when formatting a low density
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| 23 | diskette in a high density drive. For example:
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| 24 | .PP
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| 25 | .RS
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| 26 | .ft B
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| 27 | .nf
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| 28 | format /dev/at1
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| 29 | format /dev/fd1 1200
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| 30 | format /dev/fd1 360 1200
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| 31 | .fi
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| 32 | .ft P
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| 33 | .RE
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| 34 | .PP
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| 35 | The first two commands format a 1.2M diskette, the last formats a 360k
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| 36 | diskette in a 1.2M drive. A 1.44M drive knows when it's dealing with a low
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| 37 | density floppy, so all these commands format a 720k diskette:
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| 38 | .PP
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| 39 | .RS
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| 40 | .ft B
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| 41 | .nf
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| 42 | format /dev/fd0 720
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| 43 | format /dev/fd0 720 1440
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| 44 | format /dev/ps0
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| 45 | .fi
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| 46 | .ft P
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| 47 | .RE
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| 48 | .PP
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| 49 | No sizes may be specified when using a special floppy device, a size must be
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| 50 | specified when using an automatic device.
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| 51 | .SH OPTIONS
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| 52 | .TP
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| 53 | .B \-v
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| 54 | Verify the process by reading each track after formatting it. Formatting is
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| 55 | normally blind, the controller has no idea whether it succeeds or not. Use
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| 56 | .B \-v
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| 57 | on a new box of cheap diskettes, or on a diskette that may have gone bad.
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| 58 | Verifying will increase formatting time by 50%.
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| 59 | .SH "SEE ALSO"
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| 60 | .BR mkfs (1),
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| 61 | .BR fd (4).
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| 62 | .SH DIAGNOSTICS
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| 63 | Numbers will be printed on standard output to show that it is busy. The
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| 64 | locations of bad sectors are printed on standard error when verifying. The
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| 65 | exit code is zero unless there are too many bad spots.
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| 66 | .SH AUTHOR
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| 67 | Kees J. Bot (kjb@cs.vu.nl)
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