fddisk(8)							     fddisk(8)

Name
       fddisk - FDI disk maintenance utility

Syntax
       /usr/bin/fddisk options special

Description
       The utility, an FDI (integrated Floppy Disk Interface) disk maintenance
       program, can format a floppy disk, scan a floppy disk for  bad  blocks,
       read and write selected blocks, and be used in shell scripts for check‐
       ing the status of floppy disks.	Such status  checks  include  checking
       for  or	waiting for the presence of media, and checking for or waiting
       for the user to change the media.

       The special file argument is an unmounted, raw device  pathname.	  This
       device must be an FDI interface (fd).

Options
       -f	      Unless this switch is specified, an attempt to format or
		      to install a file system fails in two cases.   The first
		      failure  occurs  when  the  device has been opened since
		      since the media was inserted.  The second failure occurs
		      if the device is currently opened by another process.

       -fmt	      Format  the  media  to  the density appropriate for that
		      media.

       -hexdPSN	      Copy a hex dump of sector number PSN to stdout.

       -innn[:ccc]    Use interleave factor nnn for  formattting.   If	speci‐
		      fied,  ccc indicates an additional inter-cylinder inter‐
		      leave.

       -pchd	      Copy a packed-C hex dump of the entire disk to stdout.

       -s	      Silent mode.  This switch blocks informational  messages
		      from appearing on stderr.

       -test	      Read  the	 entire	 the  media.   Fail if a bad sector is
		      found.

       -wait	      Wait for media to be inserted into the drive if there is
		      none present.

       -waitn	      Wait  for	 new  media  to	 be inserted into the drive if
		      there is none present or if the current media  has  been
		      opened since last inserted.

       -what	      Read the disk and report on the format of the disk.

Restrictions
       You must have read/write access to the device.

       The device must not be mounted.

       This  program is restricted to use with a 3.5-inch diskette in the RX26
       drive.

       It may not be possible to format a diskette at a higher density than it
       is already formated.  If this situation occurs, the diskette must first
       be bulk erased before it can be reformatted at a higher density.

Examples
       To format a floppy disk in drive zero:
       /usr/bin/fddisk -fmt /dev/rfd0a
       To format a floppy disk in drive zero when the disk has	been  read  or
       written since it was inserted into the drive:
       /usr/bin/fddisk -fmt -f /dev/rfd0a

See Also
       dkio(4), fd(4), chpt(8), mount(8), restore(8), uerf(8), rzdisk(8)

								     fddisk(8)

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