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.Dd July 22, 2006 .Dt FDFORMAT 1 .Os .Sh NAME .Nm fdformat .Nd format a floppy diskette .Sh SYNOPSIS .Nm k -words .Op Fl f Ar device .Ek k -words .Op Fl t Ar type .Ek .Op Fl n k -words .Op Fl B Ar nbps .Ek k -words .Op Fl S Ar nspt .Ek k -words .Op Fl T Ar ntrk .Ek k -words .Op Fl C Ar ncyl .Ek k -words .Op Fl P Ar stepspercyl .Ek k -words .Op Fl G Ar gaplen .Ek k -words .Op Fl F Ar fillbyte .Ek k -words .Op Fl X Ar xfer_rate .Ek k -words .Op Fl I Ar interleave .Ek .Sh DESCRIPTION The .Nm 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).
p As the each track of the floppy diskette is formatted, it is read to verify the format was successful.
p The .Nm utility does not create a filesystem of any kind. Use tools like .Xr newfs 8 , .Xr newfs_msdos 8 , or .Xr mformat 1 (part of the pkgsrc/sysutils/mtools package) depending on what filesystem type you want to use on the floppy disk to do so.
p Available command-line flags are: l -tag -width indent -compact t Fl f Ar device Format the floppy using .Ar device instead of the default
a /dev/rfd0a . t Fl t Ar type Format the floppy using parameters for the diskette named .Ar type in
a /etc/floppytab instead of the device default parameters. t Fl n Do not verify each track as it is read. t Fl B Ar nbps Set the number of bytes per sector for the formatted diskette. t Fl S Ar nspt Set the number of sectors per track for the formatted diskette. t Fl T Ar ntrk Set the number of tracks (heads) per cylinder for the formatted diskette. t Fl C Ar ncyl Set the number of cylinders for the formatted diskette. t Fl P Ar stepspercyl Set the number of motor steps per cylinder for the formatted diskette. t Fl G Ar gaplen Set the sector gap length for the formatted diskette. t Fl F Ar fillbyte Set the fill byte for the formatted diskette. t Fl X Ar xfer_rate Set the bit transfer rate for the formatted diskette. t Fl I Ar interleave Set the interleave factor for the formatted diskette. .El .Sh SEE ALSO .Xr fdc 4 (amiga, i386 and sparc ports) .Sh HISTORY The .Nm utility appeared in .Nx 1.3 . .Sh BUGS Some floppy drive units have physical diskette format sensors which automatically 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.
Indexes created Sat Nov 08 17:09:52 GMT 2025