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mformat(1) General Commands Manual mformat(1) NAME mformat - mtools utility to add a DOS file system to a low-level for- matted diskette SYNOPSIS mformat [-t tracks] [-h heads] [-s vectors] [-l volumelabel] drive: FLAGS Specifies the number of tracks (not cylinders) on the diskette. Speci- fies the number of heads (sides) on the diskette. Specifies the number of sectors per track. Specifies the volume label. This is an optional flag. DESCRIPTION Note You must specify the floppy disk storage device that is to be format- ted. If you do not specify a device, or if a device is not found, the command may incorrectly format a SCSI device which could be a system or data disk. The mformat command adds a minimal DOS compatible filesystem (boot sec- tor, FAT, and root directory) to a UNIX formatted diskette. If the diskette is unformatted, you must low-format the disk. You can do this with a PC system, or on Digital UNIX using either the scu utility or the fddisk utility, depending on your floppy drive. DIGITAL UNIX sup- ports both FDI and SCSI attached 3.5" floppy drives with DD, HD, or ED media. Not all floppy drives are compatible with ED media. The following track/head/sector values are supported: tab(@); cfHB cfHB cfHB cfHB cfHB cfHB cfHB cfHB cfHB cfHB cfHB cfHB cfHB cfHB l r r c c c r. _ Media@@Capacity@@Tracks@Heads@Sectors type@KB/MB@Bytes@Sec- tors@-t@-h@-s _ DD @ 720KB@ 737280 @ 1440 @ 80@ 2 @ 9 HD @ 1.44MB@ 1474560 @ 2880 @ 80@ 2 @ 18 ED @ 2.88MB@ 2949120 @ 5760 @ 80@ 2 @ 36 _ To format a diskette for other than the ED 2.88MB default capacity, you must specify the number of sectors per track with the -s flag. No er- ror is returned if you use mformat to put an ED file system onto an HD floppy, but you will get errors from other utilities if you try to write beyond the physical end of the media. RESTRICTIONS The following restrictions apply: The mformat command requires a low- level format utility from UNIX. The mformat command does not detect (or record) bad block information. EXAMPLES In the following example, a SCSI floppy diskette is formatted at the ED 2.88MB capacity, then a DOS file system is initialized with mformat: $ /sbin/scu -f /dev/rrz6a format density ED $ mformat a: In the following example, an FDI floppy diskette is formatted at the HD 1.44MB capacity, then a DOS file system is initialized with mformat, a file is copied to the diskette, and the mdir command is used to check the contents of the diskette. The mlabel command is used to add a label and mdir is used to again check the diskette contents. Finally, a DD file system is placed on the diskette, mcopy is used to place a file on it, and mdir is used to verify the diskette contents: $ fddisk -fmt /dev/rfd0a NOTE: Setting interleave factor to ``-i2:4''. Use ``-i<nnn>[:<ccc>]'' option to override. Disk type: 3.50 inch, HD (1.44MB) Number of sectors per track: 18 Number of surfaces: 2 Number of cylinders: 80 Sector size: 512 interleave factor: 2:4 Formatting disk... Percentage complete: Format complete, checking... Quick check of disk passes OK. $ mformat -s 18 a: $ mcopy README a: Copying README $ mdir a: Volume in drive A has no label Directory for A:/ README 769 6-04-97 8:59a 1 File(s) 1456640 bytes free $ mlabel a: Volume in drive A is unlabeled Enter the new volume label (11 characters): hddisk $ mdir a: Volume in drive A is hddisk Directory for A:/ README 769 6-04-97 8:59a 1 File(s) 1456640 bytes free $ mformat -s 9 -l dddisk a: $ mcopy README a:README.1 $ mdir a: Volume in drive A is dddisk Directory for A:/ README 1 769 6-04-97 9:16a 1 File(s) 729088 bytes free In the following example, an un- formatted 2.8Mb floppy diskette is formatted using the scu command, followed by the mformat command. Once it is formatted by both the scu and mformat commands, it is ready for use: $ /sbin/scu -f /dev/fddrive format density ED $ mformat -t 80 -h 2 -s 36 a: EXIT VALUES The following exit values are returned: Success Failure FILES Executable file RELATED INFORMATION Commands: mlabel(1), mtools(1) Utilities: fddisk(8), scu(8) Floppy disk interface: fd(7) delim off mformat(1)