RXFORMAT(8V)                                                      RXFORMAT(8V)



NAME
       rxformat - format floppy disks

SYNOPSIS
       /etc/rxformat [ -d ] special

DESCRIPTION
       The  _r_x_f_o_r_m_a_t program formats a diskette in the specified drive associ‐
       ated with the special device _s_p_e_c_i_a_l.  ( _S_p_e_c_i_a_l is normally  /dev/rx0,
       for  drive  0,  or /dev/rx1, for drive 1.)  By default, the diskette is
       formatted single density; a -d flag may be  supplied  to  force  double
       density  formatting.   Single  density  is compatible with the IBM 3740
       standard (128 bytes/sector).  In double density, each  sector  contains
       256 bytes of data.

       Before formatting a diskette _r_x_f_o_r_m_a_t prompts for verification if stan‐
       dard input is a tty (this allows a user to cleanly abort the operation;
       note  that formatting a diskette will destroy any existing data).  For‐
       matting is done by the hardware.  All sectors are zero-filled.

DIAGNOSTICS
       ‘No such device’ means that the drive is not ready, usually because  no
       disk  is  in the drive or the drive door is open.  Other error messages
       are selfexplanatory.

FILES
       /dev/rx?

SEE ALSO
       rx(4V)

AUTHOR
       Helge Skrivervik

BUGS
       A floppy may not be formatted if the header info on sector 1,  track  0
       has  been  damaged.   Hence,  it is not possible to format a completely
       degaussed disk.  (This is actually a problem in the hardware.)



4.2 Berkeley Distribution        June 3, 1986                     RXFORMAT(8V)