floppy(8) floppy(8)
NAME
floppy - format floppy disks
SYNOPSIS
floppy --createrc >/etc/floppy
floppy --format /dev/fd0
floppy --format A:
floppygtk
DESCRIPTION
The floppy utility does low-level formatting of floppy disks. floppy uses a simple inter-
face for formatting disks in floppy controller drives and in ATAPI IDE floppy drives, such
as LS-120 "Superdisk" drives. ATAPI IDE support requires a patch to the Linux kernel.
Without a patched kernel floppy can only format disks in floppy controller drives.
NOTE: Use caution in formatting anything other than standard 3.5" 1.4MB floppy disks in
ATAPI IDE floppy drives. Most LS-120 drives, for example, accept a request to format 120MB
high density disks, but most 120MB disks are not designed to be formatted. Low-level for-
matting will ruin them permanently.
floppygtk is a GTK interface to the floppy utility. When started from an X terminal win-
dow, floppy will automatically run floppygtk.
OPTIONS
--probe, -p
- Probe for available floppy drives. floppy creates and displays a list of all
detected floppy drives.
--createrc, -r
- Print a configuration file. floppy prints on standard output the results of the
--probe option in a configuration file format. This configuration file should be
saved as /etc/floppy.
--showrc
- List floppy drives configured in /etc/floppy.
--capacity, -c
- Show the available format capacities of the floppy drive. Most floppy drives can
format disks of different capacities. --capacity lists each available format capac-
ity as CxBxS where: C - number of cylinders, B - blocks per cylinder, S - block
size, in bytes. --capacity also calculates how much that is, in kilobytes or
megabytes.
--format, -f
- Format the disk in the floppy drive.
--size=CxBxS, -s=CxBxS
- Specify the size of the disk to format. --format uses the first format capacity
reported by --capacity if the --size option is not specified.
--ext2 - Create an ext2 (Linux) filesystem on the formatted floppy. This option requires
the e2fsprogs package to be installed. This option simply runs mke2fs after format-
ting the floppy disk.
--fat - Create a FAT (DOS) filesystem on the formatted floppy. This option requires the
dosfstools package to be installed. This option simply runs mkdosfs after format-
ting the floppy disk.
--noprompt, -n
- Suppress verbose output produced by --capacity and --format. Use a raw output
format that can be used by a front-end wrapper that runs floppy on the back-end.
--eject
- Eject the floppy from the drive (IDE floppy drives only).
PROBING FOR AVAILABLE FLOPPY DRIVES
floppy --probe
This command probes the hardware and reports on the available floppy drives. A typical
output from --probe would be:
floppy 0.12 Copyright 2001, Double Precision, Inc.
floppy /dev/fd0: 3.5" HD
idefloppy /dev/hda: LS-120 VER5 00 UHD Floppy
Revision: F523M5A9
Serial number: 9803M9A03464
Here, floppy detected a high density floppy drive on /dev/fd0, and an IDE floppy drive on
/dev/hda.
CREATING A CONFIGURATION FILE
A configuration file, /etc/floppy must be created before floppy can format floppy disks.
This configuration file can be created automatically by the --createrc option. Each line
in the configuration file contains the following information: typelabeldevice.
"" is a single ASCII TAB character. "device" is the device entry for the floppy
drive. floppy requires that all requests for formatting floppies must use only the devices
that appear in this configuration file. "label" is an alias for this device. floppy
accepts "label:" instead of the actual device entry, for example: "floppy --format A:".
"type" is either "floppy" or "idefloppy".
The --createrc option sets "A" as the label for the first floppy drive, and "B" for the
second floppy drive. If --createrc finds more than two floppy drives, --createrc will use
"FA", "FB", "FC", and so on.
DETERMINING AVAILABLE FORMAT CAPACITIES
Most floppy drives can format disks of different capacities. The --capacity option shows
possible format capacities on the specified floppy device. A typical IDE floppy drive may
report the following capacities:
$ floppy --capacity B:
Formattable capacities for /dev/hda:
80x36x512 (1.40 Mb)
80x30x512 (1.17 Mb)
56x22x1024 (1.20 Mb)
A standard floppy drive attached to the floppy controller may report the following capaci-
ties:
$ floppy --capacity A:
Formattable capacities for /dev/fd0:
80x36x512 (/dev/fd0H1440, 1.40 Mb)
80x18x512 (/dev/fd0D720, 720 Kb)
80x48x512 (/dev/fd0u1920, 1.87 Mb)
80x28x512 (/dev/fd0u1120, 1.09 Mb)
80x40x512 (/dev/fd0u1660, 1.56 Mb)
80x26x512 (/dev/fd0u1040, 1.01 Mb)
80x46x512 (/dev/fd0u1840, 1.79 Mb)
80x42x512 (/dev/fd0u1680, 1.64 Mb)
The --capacity option reports each available format capacity as "cylinders x blocks-per-
cylinder x block size". An IDE floppy drive actually returns a total block count. --capac-
ity simply tries some common blocks-per-cylinder values, until it finds one that fits.
Format capacities of standard floppy drives are obtained from the floppy device driver.
NOTE: IDE floppy drives may report format capacities only after a disk is inserted. With-
out a floppy disk, IDE floppy drives may not report any available format capacities, or
they may report the primary format capacity that they are designed to format. For exam-
ple, most LS-120 drives default to reporting 120mb when there is no disk inserted in the
drive:
$ floppy --capacity A:
Formattable capacities for /dev/hda:
6848x36x512 (120.37 Mb)
CAUTION: do not attempt to format 120Mb media in LS-120 drives. Most LS-120 disks are not
user-formattable. They are factory-formatted, and attempts to format them in LS-120
drives will render them unusable (to be sure, check the label on the floppy itself). The
floppy utility does not prevent one from trying to use any format capacity the IDE floppy
drive claims to support. If the drive claims it can format a disk of the given capacity,
floppy will oblige.
FORMATTING
The --format option does a low-level format on the floppy.
$ ./floppy --format --size=80x36x512 A:
Formatting 1.40 Mb... 0%
--size must specify a geometry returned by --capacity. If --size is absent, the first
geometry is selected.
For floppy controller drives, the status counter will go from 0% to 100%. With most IDE
floppy drives the counter will remain at 0% until the format finishes. Some IDE floppy
drives are capable of reporting format progress status, which will would allow --format to
count up from 0% to 100%.
$ ./floppy --format --verify A:
The --verify option verifies the low-level format. For floppy controller drives, the
floppy disk is read from start to finish, after the low-level format concludes. For IDE
floppy drives, the format request to the drive will include a request to verify the low-
level format.
NOTE: Some IDE floppy drives ignore the verify request, or always verify low-level for-
mats, whether or not it was requested.
$ ./floppy --format -V A:
The -V option is like --verify except that IDE floppy drive formats are verified manually
- like floppy controller drive formats - by reading the floppy disk from start to finish.
FILES
/etc/floppy
- configuration file.
/dev/fd[0-7]
- floppy controller drives.
/dev/hd[a-h]
- ATAPI IDE floppy drives.
SEE ALSO
fd(4), mkdosfs(8), mke2fs(8)
Double Precision, Inc. July 25, 2008 floppy(8)
|