RMFORMAT(1) User Commands RMFORMAT(1)

NAME

rmformat - removable rewritable media format utility

SYNOPSIS

rmformat [-DeHUv] [-b label] [-c blockno]
[-Fquick | long | force ] [-s filename] [devname]


rmformat -V read | write devname


rmformat -l [devname]

DESCRIPTION

The rmformat utility is used to format, label, partition, and perform
other miscellaneous functions on removable, rewritable media that
include floppy drives, and the PCMCIA memory and ata cards. The
rmformat utility should also be used with all USB mass storage
devices, including USB hard drives. This utility can also be used for
the verification and surface analysis and for repair of the bad
sectors found during verification if the drive or the driver supports
bad block management.


After formatting, rmformat writes the label, which covers the full
capacity of the media as one slice on floppy and PCMCIA memory cards
to maintain compatibility with the behavior of fdformat. The
partition information can be changed with the help of other options
provided by rmformat.

OPTIONS

The following options are supported:

-b label

Labels the media with a SUNOS label. A SUNOS volume label name is
restricted to 8 characters. For media size greater than 1 TB, an
EFI label is created. For writing a DOS Volume label, the user
should use mkfs_pcfs(8).


-c blockno

Corrects and repairs the given block. This correct and repair
option may not be applicable to all devices supported by
rmformat, as some devices may have a drive with bad block
management capability and others may have this option implemented
in the driver. If the drive or driver supports bad block
management, a best effort is made to rectify the bad block. If
the bad block still cannot be rectified, a message is displayed
to indicate the failure to repair. The block number can be
provided in decimal, octal, or hexadecimal format.

The normal floppy and PCMCIA memory and ata cards do not support
bad block management.


-D

Formats a 720KB (3.5 inch) double density diskette. This is the
default for double density type drives. This option is needed if
the drive is a high or extended-density type.


-e

Ejects the media upon completion. This feature may not be
available if the drive does not support motorized eject.


-F quick | long | force

Formats 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.

In legacy media such as floppy drives, all options start a long
format depending on the mode (Extended Density mode, High Density
mode, or Double Density mode) with which the floppy drive
operates by default. On PCMCIA memory cards, all options start a
long format.


-H

Formats 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.


-l

Lists all removable devices. By default, without any options,
rmformat also lists all removable devices. If the dev_name is
given, rmformat lists the device associated with the dev_name.
The output shows the device pathname, vendor information, and the
device type.


-s filename

Enables the user to lay out the partition information in the
SUNOS label.

The user should provide a file as input with information about
each slice in a format providing byte offset, size required,
tags, and flags, as follows:

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 multiple of 512 bytes. These
numbers can be represented as decimal, hexadecimal, or octal
numbers. No floating point numbers are accepted. Details about
maximum number of slices can be obtained from the System
Administration Guide: Basic Administration.

To specify the size or offset in kilobytes, megabytes, or
gigabytes, 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
ru = read-only, unmountable


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 particular slice, a default value for each is
assumed. The default value for flags is wm and for tags is
unassigned.

Either full tag names can be provided or an abbreviation for the
tags can be used. The abbreviations can be the first two or more
letters from the standard tag 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 requests to addresses beyond the capacity
of the media under consideration. There can be only one slice
information entry for each slice n. If multiple slice information
entries for the same slice n are provided, an appropriate error
message is displayed. The slice 2 is the backup slice covering
the whole disk capacity. The pound sign character, #, can be used
to describe a line of comments in the input file. If the line
starts with #, then rmformat ignores all the characters following
# until the end of the line.

Partitioning some of the media with very small capacity is
permitted, but be cautious in using this option on such devices.


-U

Performs umount on any file systems and then formats. See
mount(8). This option unmounts all the mounted slices and issues
a long format on the device requested.


-V read | write

Verifies 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 as 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 operand is supported:

devname

devname can be provided as absolute device pathname or relative
pathname for the device from the current working directory or the
nickname, such as cdrom or rmdisk.

For floppy devices, to access the first drive use /dev/rdiskette0
(for systems without volume management) or floppy0 (for systems
with volume management). Specify /dev/rdiskette1 (for systems
without volume management) or floppy1 (for systems with volume
management) to use the second drive.

For systems without volume management running, the 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.

EXAMPLES

Example 1: Formatting a Diskette

example$ rmformat -F quick /dev/rdiskette
Formatting will erase all the data on disk.
Do you want to continue? (y/n)y

Example 2: Formatting a Diskette for a UFS File System

The following example formats a diskette and creates a UFS file
system:


example$ rmformat -F quick /dev/aliases/floppy0
Formatting will erase all the data on disk.
Do you want to continue? (y/n)y
example$ su
# /usr/sbin/newfs /dev/aliases/floppy0
newfs: construct a new file system /dev/rdiskette: (y/n)? y
/dev/rdiskette: 2880 sectors in 80 cylinders of 2 tracks, 18 sectors
1.4MB in 5 cyl groups (16 c/g, 0.28MB/g, 128 i/g)
super-block backups (for fsck -F ufs -o b=#) at:
32, 640, 1184, 1792, 2336,
#

Example 3: Formatting Removable Media for a PCFS File System

The following example shows how to create an alternate fdisk
partition:


example$ rmformat -F quick /dev/rdsk/c0t4d0s2:c
Formatting will erase all the data on disk.
Do you want to continue? (y/n)y
example$ su
# fdisk /dev/rdsk/c0t4d0s2:c
# mkfs -F pcfs /dev/rdsk/c0t4d0s2:c
Construct a new FAT file system on /dev/rdsk/c0t4d0s2:c: (y/n)? y
#


The following example describes how to create a PCFS file system
without an fdisk partition:


example$ rmformat -F quick /dev/rdiskette
Formatting will erase all the data on disk.
Do you want to continue? (y/n)y
example$ su
# mkfs -F pcfs -o nofdisk,size=2 /dev/rdiskette
Construct a new FAT file system on /dev/rdiskette: (y/n)? y
#

Example 4: Listing All Removable Devices

The following example shows how to list removable devices. This
output shows a long listing of such devices.


example$ rmformat -l
Looking for devices...
Logical Node: /dev/rdsk/c5t0d0s2
Physical Node: /pci@1e,600000/usb@b/hub@2/storage@4/disk@0,0
Connected Device: TEAC FD-05PUB 1026
Device Type: Floppy drive
Bus: USB
Size: 1.4 MB
Label: floppy
Access permissions: Medium is not write protected.

FILES

/dev/diskette0

Directory providing block device access for the media in floppy
drive 0.


/dev/rdiskette0

Directory providing character device access for the media in
floppy drive 0.


/dev/aliases

Directory providing symbolic links to the character devices for
the different media under the control of volume management using
appropriate alias.


/dev/aliases/floppy0

Symbolic link to the character device for the media in floppy
drive 0.


/dev/rdiskette

Symbolic link providing character device access for the media in
the primary floppy drive, usually drive 0.


/dev/dsk

Directory providing block device access for the PCMCIA memory and
ata cards and removable media devices.


/dev/rdsk

Directory providing character device access for the PCMCIA memory
and ata cards and removable media devices.


/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/aliases/rmdisk0

Symbolic link to the generic removable media device that is not a
CD-ROM, floppy, DVD-ROM, PCMCIA memory card, and so forth.


/dev/rdsk

Directory providing character device access for the PCMCIA memory
and ata cards and other removable devices.


/dev/dsk

Directory providing block device access for the PCMCIA memory and
ata cards and other removable media devices.

SEE ALSO

cpio(1), eject(1), fdformat(1), tar(1), volcheck(1), volrmmount(1),
scsa2usb(4D), sd(4D), pcfs(4FS), udfs(4FS), attributes(7), format(8),
mkfs_pcfs(8), mount(8), newfs(8), prtvtoc(8), rmmount(8),
rpc.smserverd(8)


System Administration Guide: Basic Administration

NOTES

A rewritable media or PCMCIA memory card or PCMCIA ata card
containing a ufs file system created on a SPARC-based system (using
newfs(8)) 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 any removable media containing ufs between these
platforms; use cpio(1) or tar(1) to transfer files on diskettes or
memory cards between them. For interchangeable filesystems refer to
pcfs(4FS) and udfs(4FS).


rmformat might not list all removable devices in virtualization
environments.

BUGS

Currently, bad sector mapping is not supported on floppy diskettes or
PCMCIA memory cards. Therefore, a diskette or memory card is unusable
if rmformat finds an error (bad sector).

February 19, 2009 RMFORMAT(1)