fddisk(8)fddisk(8)Namefddisk - FDI disk maintenance utility
Syntax
/usr/bin/fddisk options special
Description
The utility, an FDI (integrated Floppy Disk Interface) disk maintenance
program, can format a floppy disk, scan a floppy disk for bad blocks,
read and write selected blocks, and be used in shell scripts for check‐
ing 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.
The special file argument is an unmounted, raw device pathname. This
device must be an FDI interface (fd).
Options-f Unless this switch 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
since the media was inserted. The second failure occurs
if the device is currently opened by another process.
-fmt Format the media to the density appropriate for that
media.
-hexdPSN Copy a hex dump of sector number PSN to stdout.
-innn[:ccc] Use interleave factor nnn for formattting. If speci‐
fied, ccc indicates an additional inter-cylinder inter‐
leave.
-pchd Copy a packed-C hex dump of the entire disk to stdout.
-s Silent mode. This switch blocks informational messages
from appearing on stderr.
-test Read the entire the media. Fail if a bad sector is
found.
-wait Wait for media to be inserted into the drive if there is
none present.
-waitn Wait for new media to be inserted into the drive if
there is none present or if the current media has been
opened since last inserted.
-what Read the disk and report on the format of the disk.
Restrictions
You must have read/write access to the device.
The device must not be mounted.
This program is restricted to use with a 3.5-inch diskette in the RX26
drive.
It may not be possible to format a diskette at a higher density than it
is already formated. If this situation occurs, the diskette must first
be bulk erased before it can be reformatted at a higher density.
Examples
To format a floppy disk in drive zero:
/usr/bin/fddisk -fmt /dev/rfd0a
To format a floppy disk in drive zero when the disk has been read or
written since it was inserted into the drive:
/usr/bin/fddisk -fmt -f /dev/rfd0a
See Alsodkio(4), fd(4), chpt(8), mount(8), restore(8), uerf(8), rzdisk(8)fddisk(8)