SunOS man pages : rmformat (1)
User Commands rmformat(1)
NAME
rmformat - removable rewritable media format utility
SYNOPSIS
rmformat [ -DeHpUv ] [ -b label ] [ -c blockno ] [
-Fquick | long | force ] [ -R enable | disable ] -s
filename [ -V read | write ] [ -w enable | disable ] [ -W
enable | disable ] [ devname ]
DESCRIPTION
The rmformat utility is used to format, label, partition and
and perform other miscellaneous functions on removable
rewritable media. These removable rewritable media include
floppy diskette, IOMEGA ZIP/Jaz and the PCMCIA memory cards.
This utility can also be used for the verification and sur-
face analysis and for repair of the bad sectors found during
verification if the drive or the driver supports bad block
management.
rmformat provides functionality to read/write protect the
media with or without password. The password protection ena-
bling or disabling is possible only with selective rewrit-
able media such as the IOMEGA ZIP/JAZ products.
After formatting, rmformat writes the label which covers the
full capacity of the media as one slice on floppy and PCMCIA
devices to maintain compatibility with the behavior of
fdformat. On ZIP/JAZ devices, the driver exports one slice
covering the full capacity of the disk as default. rmformat
does not write the label on ZIP/JAZ media, unless explicitly
requested. The partition information can be changed with
help of other options provided by rmformat.
OPTIONS
The following options are supported:
-b label
Label the media with SUNOS label. A SUNOS volume label
name is restricted to 8 characters. For writing DOS
Volume label user should use mkfs_pcfs(1M).
-c blockno
Correct and repair the given block. This correct and
repair option may not be applicable to all devices
supported by rmformat as some device may have bad
block management done by the drive and others may have
this implemented in the driver. If the drive supports
bad block management or the driver supports bad block
management, a best effort is made to rectify the bad
block. If the bad block cannot be rectified despite
the best effort mechanism, a message is displayed to
indicate the failure to repair. The block number can
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User Commands rmformat(1)
be provided in decimal or octal or hexadecimal format.
The normal floppy and PCMCIA memory cards do not sup-
port bad block management.
-D Format a 720KB (3.5 inch) double density diskette.This
is the default for double density type drives. This is
needed if the drive is high or extended-density type.
-e Eject the media when done. This feature may not be
available if the drive does not support motorized
eject.
-F quick | long | force
Format the media.
The quick option starts a format without certification
or format with limited certification of certain tracks
on the media.
The long option starts a complete format. For some
devices this might include the certification of the
whole media by the drive itself.
The force option to format is provided to start a long
format without user confirmation before the format is
started. For drives which have a password protection
mechanism, it clears the password while formatting.
This feature is useful when a password is no longer
available. On those media which do not have such
password protection on the media, force starts a long
format.
In legacy media such as floppy all options start a
long format epending on the mode (Extended density
mode or High density mode or Double Density mode) with
which the floppy drive operates by default. On PCMCIA
devices, all options start a long format.
-H Format a 1.44 MB (3.5 inch) high density diskette.
This is the default for high density type drives. It
is needed if the drive is the extended density type.
-p Print the protection status of the media. This option
prints information whether the media is write, read,
or password protected.
-R enable | disable
Enable read/write protect with password or to disable
the password read/write protect. This always works in
interactive mode, as the password is requested from
the user in a interactive manner maintaining the
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User Commands rmformat(1)
security required.
A password length of 32 bytes (maximum) is allowed for
the IOMEGA products which support this feature. This
option is applicable only for IOMEGA products. IOMEGA
products do not allow read/write protect without pass-
word. On the devices which do not have such software
read/write protect facility, warnings indicating the
non-availability of this feature are provided.
-s filename
Enable user to layout the partition information in the
SUNOS label.
The user should provide a file as input with informa-
tion about each slice in the form of byte offset, size
required, tags and flags in a file. The format of
representing each slice is given below.
slices: n = offset, size [, flags, tags]
where n is the slice number, offset is the byte offset
at which the slice n starts and size is the required
size for slice n. Both offset and size must be a mul-
tiple of 512 bytes. These numbers can be represented
as decimal, hexadecimal or octal numbers. No floating
point numbers shall be accepted. Details about maximum
number of slices can be obtained from System Adminis-
tration Guide, Volume 1.
To specify the size or offset in kilo bytes or mega
bytes or giga bytes, add KB, MB, GB, respectively. A
number without a suffix is assumed to be a byte
offset. The flags are represented as follows: wm =
read-write, mountable, wu = read-write, unmountable
rm = read-only, mountable, ru = read-only, unmount-
able. The tags are represented as follows: unassigned,
boot, root, swap, usr, backup, stand, var, home,
alternates.
The tags and flags can be omitted from the four tuple
when finer control on those values is not required. It
is required to omit both or include both. If the tags
and flags are omitted from the four tuple for a par-
ticular slice then a default value for each is
assumed. The default value for flags is wm and the
default value for tags is unassigned.
Either full tag names can be provided or an abbrevia-
tion for the tags can be used. The abbreviations can
be first two or more letter from the standard tag
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User Commands rmformat(1)
names. rmformat is case insensitive in handling the
defined tags & flags.
Slice specifications are separated by :
For example:
slices: 0 = 0, 30MB, "wm", "home" :
1 = 30MB, 51MB :
2 = 0, 100MB, "wm", "backup" :
6 = 81MB, 19MB
rmformat does the necessary checking to detect any
overlapping partitions or illegal request to address
beyond the capacity of the media under consideration.
There can be only one slice information for each slice
n, if multiple slice information for the same slice n
is provided an approriate error message is displayed.
The slice 2 be the backup slice covering the whole
disk capacity. The character # can be used to describe
a line of comments in the input file. If the line
starts with character #, then rmformat ignores all the
characters following # until the end of the line.
Partitioning some of the media which has very small
capacity works, but caution is recommended using this
option on such devices.
-U Perform umount on any file systems and then formats.
See mount(1M). This option unmounts all the mounted
slices and issues a long format on the device
requested.
-V read | write
Verify each block of media after format. The write
verification is a destructive mechanism. The user is
queried for confirmation before the verification is
started. The output of this option is a list of block
numbers, which are identified to be bad.
The read verification only verifies the blocks and
report the blocks which are prone to errors.
The list of block numbers displayed can be used with
the -c option for repairing.
OPERANDS
The following operands are supported:
devname
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User Commands rmformat(1)
devname can be provided as absolute device pathname or
relative pathname for the device from the current
working directory or the nickname as exported by Sys-
tem Volume manager. See vold(1M).
For floppy device /dev/rdiskette0 (for system without
volume management) or floppy0 (system with volume
management) can be used. To use the first drive,
specify /dev/rdiskette1 (for system without volume
management), or floppy1 (system with volume manage-
ment) to use the second drive.
For system without volume management running, user can
also provide the absolute device pathname as
/dev/rdsk/c?t?d?s? or the appropriate relative device
pathname from the current working directory.
FILES
/vol/dev/diskette0
Directory providing block device access for the media
in floppy drive 0.
/vol/dev/rdiskette0
Directory providing character device access for the
media in floppy drive 0.
/vol/dev/aliases
Directory providing symbolic links to the character
devices for the different media under the control of
volume management using appropriate alias.
/vol/dev/aliases/floppy0
Symbolic link to the character device for the media in
floppy drive 0.
/vol/dev/aliases/zip0
Symbolic link to the character device for the media in
Zip drive 0.
/vol/dev/aliases/jaz0
Symbolic link to the character device for the media in
Jaz drive 0
/dev/rdiskette
Symbolic link providing character device access for
the media in the primary floppy drive, usually drive
0.
/vol/dev/dsk
Directory providing block device access for the PCMCIA
memory card and removable media devices.
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User Commands rmformat(1)
/vol/dev/rdsk
Directory providing character device access for the
PCMCIA memory card and removable media devices.
/vol/dev/aliases/pcmemS
Symbolic link to the character device for the PCMCIA
memory card in socket S, where S represents a PCMCIA
socket number.
/dev/rdsk
Directory providing character device access for the
PCMCIA memory card and other removable devices.
/dev/dsk
Directory providing block device access for the PCMCIA
memory card and other removable media devices.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attri-
butes:
____________________________________________________________
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Availability | SUNWcsu |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
SEE ALSO
cpio(1), eject(1), fdformat(1), tar(1), volcancel(1), volcheck(1)
, volmissing(1), volrmmount(1), format(1M),
mkfs_pcfs(1M), mount(1M), newfs(1M), prtvtoc(1M),
rmmount(1M), vold(1M),rmmount.conf(4), vold.conf(4), attributes(5)
,
NOTES
A rewritable media or PCMCIA memory card containing a ufs
file system created on a SPARC based system ( using
newfs(1M)) is not identical to a rewritable media or PCMCIA
memory card containing a ufs file system created on an x86
based system. Do not interchange ufs diskettes or memory
cards between these platforms; use cpio(1) or tar(1) to
transfer files on diskettes or memory cards between them.
For interchangeable filesystem refer pcfs(7FS) and
udfs(7FS).
BUGS
Currently, bad sector mapping is not supported on floppy
diskettes or PCMCIA memory cards. Therefore, a diskette or
memory cards is unusable if rmformat finds an error (bad
sector).
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