mformat.1

.TH mformat 1 "03Nov09" mtools-4.0.12
.SH Name
mformat - add an MSDOS filesystem to a low-level formatted floppy disk
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.TP \\$1
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.SH Note\ of\ warning
This manpage has been automatically generated from mtools's texinfo
documentation, and may not be entirely accurate or complete.  See the
end of this man page for details.
.PP
.SH Description
.iX "p mformat"
.iX "c Initializing disks"
.iX "c Formatting disks"
.iX "c Filesystem creation"
.PP
The \fR\&\f(CWmformat\fR command is used to add an MS-DOS filesystem to a
low-level formatted diskette. Its syntax is:
.PP
.ft I
.nf
\&\fR\&\f(CWmformat\fR [\fR\&\f(CW-t\fR \fIcylinders\fR] [\fR\&\f(CW-h\fR \fIheads\fR] [\fR\&\f(CW-s\fR \fIsectors\fR]
  [\fR\&\f(CW-f\fR \fIsize\fR] [\fR\&\f(CW-1\fR] [\fR\&\f(CW-4\fR] [\fR\&\f(CW-8\fR]
  [\fR\&\f(CW-v\fR \fIvolume_label\fR]
  [\fR\&\f(CW-F\fR] [\fR\&\f(CW-S\fR \fIsizecode\fR] [\fR\&\f(CW-X\fR]
  [\fR\&\f(CW-2\fR \fIsectors_on_track_0\fR] [\fR\&\f(CW-3\fR]
  [\fR\&\f(CW-0\fR \fIrate_on_track_0\fR] [\fR\&\f(CW-A\fR \fIrate_on_other_tracks\fR]
  [\fR\&\f(CW-M\fR \fIsoftware_sector_size\fR]
  [\fR\&\f(CW-N\fR \fIserial_number\fR] [\fR\&\f(CW-a\fR]
  [\fR\&\f(CW-C\fR] [\fR\&\f(CW-H\fR \fIhidden_sectors\fR] [\fR\&\f(CW-I\fR \fIfsVersion\fR]
  [\fR\&\f(CW-r\fR \fIroot_sectors\fR] [\fR\&\f(CW-L\fR \fIfat_len\fR] 
  [\fR\&\f(CW-B\fR \fIboot_sector\fR] [\fR\&\f(CW-k\fR]
  [\fR\&\f(CW-m\fR \fImedia_descriptor\fR]
  \fIdrive:\fR
.fi
.ft R
 
.PP
\&\fR\&\f(CWMformat\fR adds a minimal MS-DOS filesystem (boot sector, FAT, and
root directory) to a diskette that has already been formatted by a Unix
low-level format.
.PP
The following options are supported: (The S, 2, 1 and M options may not
exist if this copy of mtools has been compiled without the USE_2M
option)
.PP
The following options are the same as for Dos's format command:
.PP
.SH Options
.TP
\&\fR\&\f(CWv\fR\ 
Specifies the volume label. A volume label identifies the disk and can
be a maximum of 11 characters. If you omit the -v switch, mlabel will
assign no label to the disk.
.TP
\&\fR\&\f(CWf\fR\ 
Specifies the size of the DOS filesystem to format. Only a certain
number of predefined sizes are supported by this flag; for others use
the -h/-t/-s flags. The following sizes are supported:
.RS
.TP
160\ 
160K, single-sided, 8 sectors per track, 40 cylinders (for 5 1/4 DD)
.TP
180\ 
160K, single-sided, 9 sectors per track, 40 cylinders (for 5 1/4 DD)
.TP
320\ 
320K, double-sided, 8 sectors per track, 40 cylinders (for 5 1/4 DD)
.TP
360\ 
360K, double-sided, 9 sectors per track, 40 cylinders (for 5 1/4 DD)
.TP
720\ 
720K, double-sided, 9 sectors per track, 80 cylinders (for 3 1/2 DD)
.TP
1200\ 
1200K, double-sided, 15 sectors per track, 80 cylinders (for 5 1/4 HD)
.TP
1440\ 
1440K, double-sided, 18 sectors per track, 80 cylinders (for 3 1/2 HD)
.TP
2880\ 
2880K, double-sided, 36 sectors per track, 80 cylinders (for 3 1/2 ED)
.RE
.TP
\&\fR\&\f(CWt\fR\ 
Specifies the number of tracks on the disk.
.TP
\&\fR\&\f(CWh\fR\ 
The number of heads (sides).
.TP
\&\fR\&\f(CWn\fR\ 
Specifies the number of sectors per track. If the 2m option is given,
number of 512-byte sector equivalents on generic tracks (i.e. not head 0
track 0).  If the 2m option is not given, number of physical sectors per
track (which may be bigger than 512 bytes).
.TP
\&\fR\&\f(CW1\fR\ 
Formats a single side (equivalent to -h 1)
.TP
\&\fR\&\f(CW4\fR\ 
Formats a 360K double-sided disk (equivalent to -f 360). When used
together with -the 1 switch, this switch formats a 180K disk
.TP
\&\fR\&\f(CW8\fR\ 
Formats a disk with 8 sectors per track.
.PP
MSDOS format's \fR\&\f(CWq\fR, \fR\&\f(CWu\fR and \fR\&\f(CWb\fR options are not
supported, and \fR\&\f(CWs\fR has a different meaning.
.PP
The following options are specific to mtools:
.IP
.TP
\&\fR\&\f(CWF\fR\ 
Format the partition as FAT32.
.TP
\&\fR\&\f(CWS\fR\ 
The sizecode. The size of the sector is 2 ^ (sizecode + 7).
.TP
\&\fR\&\f(CWX\fR\ 
formats the disk as an XDF disk. See section XDF, for more details. The disk
has first to be low-level formatted using the xdfcopy utility included
in the fdutils package. XDF disks are used for instance for OS/2 install
disks.
.TP
\&\fR\&\f(CW2\fR\ 
2m format. The parameter to this option describes the number of
sectors on track 0, head 0. This option is recommended for sectors
bigger than normal.
.TP
\&\fR\&\f(CW3\fR\ 
don't use a 2m format, even if the current geometry of the disk is a 2m 
geometry.
.TP
\&\fR\&\f(CW0\fR\ 
Data transfer rate on track 0
.TP
\&\fR\&\f(CWA\fR\ 
Data transfer rate on tracks other than 0
.TP
\&\fR\&\f(CWM\fR\ 
software sector size. This parameter describes the sector size in bytes used
by the MS-DOS filesystem. By default it is the physical sector size.
.TP
\&\fR\&\f(CWN\fR\ 
Uses the requested serial number, instead of generating one
automatically
.TP
\&\fR\&\f(CWa\fR\ 
If this option is given, an Atari style serial number is generated.
Ataris store their serial number in the OEM label.
.TP
\&\fR\&\f(CWC\fR\ 
creates the disk image file to install the MS-DOS filesystem on
it. Obviously, this is useless on physical devices such as floppies
and hard disk partitions, but is interesting for image files.
.TP
\&\fR\&\f(CWH\fR\ 
number of hidden sectors. This parameter is useful for formatting hard
disk partition, which are not aligned on track boundaries (i.e. first
head of first track doesn't belong to the partition, but contains a
partition table). In that case the number of hidden sectors is in
general the number of sectors per cylinder. This is untested.
.TP
\&\fR\&\f(CWI\fR\ 
Sets the fsVersion id when formatting a FAT32 drive.  In order to find
this out, run minfo on an existing FAT32 drive, and mail me about it, so
I can include the correct value in future versions of mtools.
.TP
\&\fR\&\f(CWc\fR\ 
Sets the size of a cluster (in sectors).  If this cluster size would
generate a FAT that too big for its number of bits, mtools automatically
increases the cluster size, until the FAT is small enough.
.TP
\&\fR\&\f(CWd\fR\ 
Sets the number of FAT copies. Default is 2. This setting can also be
specified using the \fR\&\f(CWMTOOLS_NFATS\fR environment variable.
.TP
\&\fR\&\f(CWr\fR\ 
Sets the size of the root directory (in sectors).  Only applicable to 12
and 16 bit FATs. This setting can also be specified using the
\&\fR\&\f(CWMTOOLS_DIR_LEN\fR environment variable.
.TP
\&\fR\&\f(CWL\fR\ 
Sets the length of the FAT.
.TP
\&\fR\&\f(CWB\fR\ 
Use the bootsector stored in the given file or device, instead of using
its own.  Only the geometry fields are updated to match the target disks
parameters.
.TP
\&\fR\&\f(CWk\fR\ 
Keep the existing boot sector as much as possible.  Only the geometry
fields and other similar filesystem data are updated to match the target
disks parameters.
.TP
\&\fR\&\f(CWm\fR\ 
Use a non-standard media descriptor byte for this disk. The media
descriptor is stored at position 21 of the boot sector, and as first
byte in each FAT copy. Using this option may confuse DOS or older mtools
version, and may make the disk unreadable. Only use if you know what you
are doing.
.PP
To format a diskette at a density other than the default, you must supply
(at least) those command line parameters that are different from the
default.
.PP
\&\fR\&\f(CWMformat\fR returns 0 on success or 1 on failure.
.PP
It doesn't record bad block information to the Fat, use
\&\fR\&\f(CWmbadblocks\fR for that.
.PP
.SH See\ Also
Mtools' texinfo doc
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