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FDFORMAT(1)		  BSD General Commands Manual		   FDFORMAT(1)

NAME
     fdformat — format a floppy diskette

SYNOPSIS
     fdformat [-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 ALSO
     fdc(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

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