[0m


FFD(8)		    UNIX Programmer's Manual		   FFD(8)



[1mNAME
     [0mffd - format micro diskette.

[1mSYNOPSIS
     /usr/acorn/ffd [0m[[1m-f[0m] [[1m-F[0m] [[1m-w[0m] [[1m-n[0m] [[1m-a|b[0m] [[1mfd-type[0m]
     [1m/usr/acorn/ffd512 [0m[[1m-f[0m] [[1m-F[0m] [[1m-w[0m] [[1m-n[0m] [[1m-a|b[0m]
     [1m/usr/acorn/ffd256 [0m[[1m-f[0m] [[1m-F[0m] [[1m-w[0m] [[1m-n[0m] [[1m-a|b[0m]

[1mDESCRIPTION
     [0m_F_f_d formats a micro diskette using the specified floppy dev-
     ice type if one is given.	If no type is specified, then a
     type name is looked for as the value of the environment
     variable [1mFLOPPY[0m; if this is not defined then the type _f_1_0_2_4
     is assumed.  The possible types are [_v_f]_1_0_2_4, [_v_f]_5_1_2,
     [_v_f]_2_5_6, _a_d_f_s and _m_s_d_o_s.  The prefix _v or _f on the numeric
     types is optional, and selects between the _variable and
     _fixed format floppy disc devices; if it is omitted, _f is
     assumed. Any other type name will be rejected as invalid.

     The disc will be physically formatted according to the basic
     parameters of the device accessed as /dev/rfd{_v,_f}_t_y_p_e (see
     [1mfd[0m(4)); the types _a_d_f_s and _m_s_d_o_s are equivalent respectively
     to _f_1_0_2_4 and _f_5_1_2 for this purpose.  One of the suffices "a"
     or "b" will be added if the flag -a or -b was supplied; this
     allows access to the second drive in a twin drive system,
     for example /dev/rfdf1024_a for the built-in drive and
     /dev/rfdf1024_b for any additional drive fitted (again see
     [1mfd[0m(4)).  Unless the [1m-f [0mflag is supplied, _f_f_d will as a
     safety measure request confirmation from the user's terminal
     before the format operation is started.

     Options to the command control additional checks done
     immediately after the initial formatting operation.

     By default, the disc is read-verified after formatting.  If
     the [1m-n [0moption is supplied, this step will be omitted.

     If the [1m-w [0moption is supplied, the disc is write-verified by
     writing zeroes to every sector.

     Additionally, if the device type is _a_d_f_s or _m_s_d_o_s and the
     verification stage (if any) succeeds, the disc contents are
     then initialised to contain an empty [1mADFS [0mor [1mMS-DOS [0mfilesys-
     tem structure, respectively.  If the [1m-F [0mflag is supplied in
     either of these cases, it will be passed on to the utility
     used to initialise the disc data structures (see _w_r_m_s_d_o_s(1)
     and _w_r_a_d_f_s(1)).

     The commands _f_f_d_5_1_2 and _f_f_d_2_5_6 are similar to _f_f_d, except
     that the default device types are _f_5_1_2 and _f_2_5_6 respec-
     tively, instead of _f_1_0_2_4.




Printed 26/11/91    Revision 1.10 of 21/06/89			1






FFD(8)		    UNIX Programmer's Manual		   FFD(8)



     In fact all three commands are links to the same program.

[1mFILES
     [0m/dev/rfd{v,f}{1024,512,256}[{a,b}] - floppy devices
     /usr/acorn/wradfs - to initialise ADFS structure
     /usr/acorn/wrmsdos - to initialise MS-DOS structure

[1mSEE ALSO
     [0madfsls(1), adfscat(1), adfscp(1), wradfs(1), msdosls(1),
     msdoscat(1), msdoscp(1), wrmsdos(1), fd(4), flpop(8).

[1mNOTE
     [0mThe initialisation for device types _a_d_f_s and _m_s_d_o_s is per-
     formed by executing one of the appropriate commands _w_r_a_d_f_s
     or _w_r_m_s_d_o_s with the [1m-i [0margument.

[1mDIAGNOSTICS
     [0mA message is output to denote satisfactory completion, or if
     the diskette could not be formatted a message is output giv-
     ing the track and side where the first error was encoun-
     tered.

[1mWARNINGS
     [0mAll data on the diskette is destroyed by _f_f_d.































Printed 26/11/91    Revision 1.10 of 21/06/89			2



[0m