1FDFORMAT(8) System Administration FDFORMAT(8)
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6 fdformat - low-level format a floppy disk
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9 fdformat [options] device
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12 fdformat does a low-level format on a floppy disk. device is usually
13 one of the following (for floppy devices the major = 2, and the minor
14 is shown for informational purposes only):
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16 /dev/fd0d360 (minor = 4)
17 /dev/fd0h1200 (minor = 8)
18 /dev/fd0D360 (minor = 12)
19 /dev/fd0H360 (minor = 12)
20 /dev/fd0D720 (minor = 16)
21 /dev/fd0H720 (minor = 16)
22 /dev/fd0h360 (minor = 20)
23 /dev/fd0h720 (minor = 24)
24 /dev/fd0H1440 (minor = 28)
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26 /dev/fd1d360 (minor = 5)
27 /dev/fd1h1200 (minor = 9)
28 /dev/fd1D360 (minor = 13)
29 /dev/fd1H360 (minor = 13)
30 /dev/fd1D720 (minor = 17)
31 /dev/fd1H720 (minor = 17)
32 /dev/fd1h360 (minor = 21)
33 /dev/fd1h720 (minor = 25)
34 /dev/fd1H1440 (minor = 29)
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36 The generic floppy devices, /dev/fd0 and /dev/fd1, will fail to work
37 with fdformat when a non-standard format is being used, or if the for‐
38 mat has not been autodetected earlier. In this case, use setfdprm(8)
39 to load the disk parameters.
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42 -f, --from N
43 Start at the track N (default is 0).
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45 -t, --to N
46 Stop at the track N.
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48 -r, --repair N
49 Try to repair tracks failed during the verification (max N
50 retries).
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52 -n, --no-verify
53 Skip the verification that is normally performed after the for‐
54 matting.
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56 -V, --version
57 Display version information and exit.
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59 -h, --help
60 Display help text and exit.
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63 This utility does not handle USB floppy disk drives. Use ufiformat(8)
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67 Werner Almesberger (almesber@nessie.cs.id.ethz.ch)
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70 fd(4), emkfs(8), mkfs(8), setfdprm(8), ufiformat(8)
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73 The fdformat command is part of the util-linux package and is available
74 from https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/.
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78util-linux June 2020 FDFORMAT(8)