1floppy(8) floppy(8)
2
6 floppy - format floppy disks
7
9 floppy --createrc >/etc/floppy
10 floppy --format /dev/fd0
12 floppy --format A:
14 floppygtk
16
18 The floppy utility does low-level formatting of floppy disks. floppy
19 uses a simple interface for formatting disks in floppy controller
20 drives and in ATAPI IDE floppy drives, such as LS-120 "Superdisk"
21 drives. ATAPI IDE support requires a patch to the Linux kernel. Without
22 a patched kernel floppy can only format disks in floppy controller
23 drives.
24 NOTE: Use caution in formatting anything other than standard 3.5" 1.4MB
26 floppy disks in ATAPI IDE floppy drives. Most LS-120 drives, for exam‐
27 ple, accept a request to format 120MB high density disks, but most
28 120MB disks are not designed to be formatted. Low-level formatting will
29 ruin them permanently.
30 floppygtk is a GTK interface to the floppy utility. When started from
32 an X terminal window, floppy will automatically run floppygtk.
33
35 --probe, -p
36 - Probe for available floppy drives. floppy creates and displays
37 a list of all detected floppy drives.
38 --createrc, -r
40 - Print a configuration file. floppy prints on standard output
41 the results of the --probe option in a configuration file for‐
42 mat. This configuration file should be saved as /etc/floppy.
43 --showrc
45 - List floppy drives configured in /etc/floppy.
46 --capacity, -c
48 - Show the available format capacities of the floppy drive. Most
49 floppy drives can format disks of different capacities. --capac‐
50 ity lists each available format capacity as CxBxS where: C -
51 number of cylinders, B - blocks per cylinder, S - block size, in
52 bytes. --capacity also calculates how much that is, in kilo‐
53 bytes or megabytes.
54 --format, -f
56 - Format the disk in the floppy drive.
57 --size=CxBxS, -s=CxBxS
59 - Specify the size of the disk to format. --format uses the
60 first format capacity reported by --capacity if the --size
61 option is not specified.
62 --ext2 - Create an ext2 (Linux) filesystem on the formatted floppy.
64 This option requires the e2fsprogs package to be installed. This
65 option simply runs mke2fs after formatting the floppy disk.
66 --fat - Create a FAT (DOS) filesystem on the formatted floppy. This
68 option requires the dosfstools package to be installed. This
69 option simply runs mkdosfs after formatting the floppy disk.
70 --noprompt, -n
72 - Suppress verbose output produced by --capacity and --format.
73 Use a raw output format that can be used by a front-end wrapper
74 that runs floppy on the back-end.
75 --eject
77 - Eject the floppy from the drive (IDE floppy drives only).
78
80 floppy --probe
81 This command probes the hardware and reports on the available floppy
83 drives. A typical output from --probe would be:
84 floppy 0.12 Copyright 2001, Double Precision, Inc.
86 floppy /dev/fd0: 3.5" HD
88 idefloppy /dev/hda: LS-120 VER5 00 UHD Floppy
89 Revision: F523M5A9
90 Serial number: 9803M9A03464
91 Here, floppy detected a high density floppy drive on /dev/fd0, and an
93 IDE floppy drive on /dev/hda.
94
96 A configuration file, /etc/floppy must be created before floppy can
97 format floppy disks. This configuration file can be created automati‐
98 cally by the --createrc option. Each line in the configuration file
99 contains the following information: type<TAB>label<TAB>device. "<TAB>"
100 is a single ASCII TAB character. "device" is the device entry for the
101 floppy drive. floppy requires that all requests for formatting floppies
102 must use only the devices that appear in this configuration file.
103 "label" is an alias for this device. floppy accepts "label:" instead of
104 the actual device entry, for example: "floppy --format A:". "type" is
105 either "floppy" or "idefloppy".
106 The --createrc option sets "A" as the label for the first floppy drive,
108 and "B" for the second floppy drive. If --createrc finds more than two
109 floppy drives, --createrc will use "FA", "FB", "FC", and so on.
110
112 Most floppy drives can format disks of different capacities. The
113 --capacity option shows possible format capacities on the specified
114 floppy device. A typical IDE floppy drive may report the following
115 capacities:
116 $ floppy --capacity B:
118 Formattable capacities for /dev/hda:
119 80x36x512 (1.40 Mb)
120 80x30x512 (1.17 Mb)
121 56x22x1024 (1.20 Mb)
122 A standard floppy drive attached to the floppy controller may report
124 the following capacities:
125 $ floppy --capacity A:
127 Formattable capacities for /dev/fd0:
128 80x36x512 (/dev/fd0H1440, 1.40 Mb)
129 80x18x512 (/dev/fd0D720, 720 Kb)
130 80x48x512 (/dev/fd0u1920, 1.87 Mb)
131 80x28x512 (/dev/fd0u1120, 1.09 Mb)
132 80x40x512 (/dev/fd0u1660, 1.56 Mb)
133 80x26x512 (/dev/fd0u1040, 1.01 Mb)
134 80x46x512 (/dev/fd0u1840, 1.79 Mb)
135 80x42x512 (/dev/fd0u1680, 1.64 Mb)
136 The --capacity option reports each available format capacity as "cylin‐
138 ders x blocks-per-cylinder x block size". An IDE floppy drive actually
139 returns a total block count. --capacity simply tries some common
140 blocks-per-cylinder values, until it finds one that fits. Format capac‐
141 ities of standard floppy drives are obtained from the floppy device
142 driver.
143 NOTE: IDE floppy drives may report format capacities only after a disk
145 is inserted. Without a floppy disk, IDE floppy drives may not report
146 any available format capacities, or they may report the primary format
147 capacity that they are designed to format. For example, most LS-120
148 drives default to reporting 120mb when there is no disk inserted in the
149 drive:
150 $ floppy --capacity A:
152 Formattable capacities for /dev/hda:
153 6848x36x512 (120.37 Mb)
154 CAUTION: do not attempt to format 120Mb media in LS-120 drives. Most
156 LS-120 disks are not user-formattable. They are factory-formatted, and
157 attempts to format them in LS-120 drives will render them unusable (to
158 be sure, check the label on the floppy itself). The floppy utility does
159 not prevent one from trying to use any format capacity the IDE floppy
160 drive claims to support. If the drive claims it can format a disk of
161 the given capacity, floppy will oblige.
162
164 The --format option does a low-level format on the floppy.
165 $ ./floppy --format --size=80x36x512 A:
167 Formatting 1.40 Mb... 0%
168 --size must specify a geometry returned by --capacity. If --size is
170 absent, the first geometry is selected.
171 For floppy controller drives, the status counter will go from 0% to
173 100%. With most IDE floppy drives the counter will remain at 0% until
174 the format finishes. Some IDE floppy drives are capable of reporting
175 format progress status, which will would allow --format to count up
176 from 0% to 100%.
177 $ ./floppy --format --verify A:
179 The --verify option verifies the low-level format. For floppy con‐
181 troller drives, the floppy disk is read from start to finish, after the
182 low-level format concludes. For IDE floppy drives, the format request
183 to the drive will include a request to verify the low-level format.
184 NOTE: Some IDE floppy drives ignore the verify request, or always ver‐
186 ify low-level formats, whether or not it was requested.
187 $ ./floppy --format -V A:
189 The -V option is like --verify except that IDE floppy drive formats are
191 verified manually - like floppy controller drive formats - by reading
192 the floppy disk from start to finish.
193
195 /etc/floppy
196 - configuration file.
197 /dev/fd[0-7]
199 - floppy controller drives.
200 /dev/hd[a-h]
202 - ATAPI IDE floppy drives.
203
205 fd(4), mkdosfs(8), mke2fs(8)
206Double Precision, Inc. October 8, 2007 floppy(8)