FDFORMAT(1) BSD General Commands Manual FDFORMAT(1)NAMEfdformat — format a floppy diskette
SYNOPSISfdformat [-f device] [-t type] [-n] [-B nbps] [-S nspt] [-T ntrk]
[-C ncyl] [-P stepspercyl] [-G gaplen] [-F fillbyte]
[-X xfer_rate] [-I interleave]
DESCRIPTION
The fdformat utility formats a floppy diskette. With no arguments, it
formats the default floppy device with the default density parameters (as
provided by the floppy diskette device driver).
As the each track of the floppy diskette is formatted, it is read to ver‐
ify the format was successful.
The fdformat utility does not create a filesystem of any kind. Use tools
like newfs(8), newfs_msdos(8), or mformat(1) (part of the pkgsrc/sysu‐
tils/mtools package) depending on what filesystem type you want to use on
the floppy disk to do so.
Available command-line flags are:
-f device
Format the floppy using device instead of the default /dev/rfd0a.
-t type
Format the floppy using parameters for the diskette named type in
/etc/floppytab instead of the device default parameters.
-n Do not verify each track as it is read.
-B nbps
Set the number of bytes per sector for the formatted diskette.
-S nspt
Set the number of sectors per track for the formatted diskette.
-T ntrk
Set the number of tracks (heads) per cylinder for the formatted
diskette.
-C ncyl
Set the number of cylinders for the formatted diskette.
-P stepspercyl
Set the number of motor steps per cylinder for the formatted
diskette.
-G gaplen
Set the sector gap length for the formatted diskette.
-F fillbyte
Set the fill byte for the formatted diskette.
-X xfer_rate
Set the bit transfer rate for the formatted diskette.
-I interleave
Set the interleave factor for the formatted diskette.
SEE ALSOfdc(4) (amiga, i386 and sparc ports)
HISTORY
The fdformat utility appeared in NetBSD 1.3.
BUGS
Some floppy drive units have physical diskette format sensors which auto‐
matically select a diskette density for reading. Such drives can format
at alternate densities, but they cannot successfully verify the formatted
diskette except at the diskette's normal density.
BSD July 22, 2006 BSD