Ubuntu Manpage: ufiformat - Format a USB floppy disk.

NAME

       ufiformat - Format a USB floppy disk.

SYNOPSIS

       ufiformat [ -hiqvV ] [ -f|--format [size]] [ devicepath ]

OPTIONS

       -f, --format [size]
              Specify  format  capacity  SIZE in KB.  Without -f option, the format of the current media will be
              used.

       -V, --verify
              Verify the medium after formatting. Only meaningful without -i option.

       -F, --force
              Do not perform any safety checks.

       -i, --inquire
              Show device information, instead of performing format.  Without devicepath argument, list all  USB
              floppy disk devices attached to the system.

       -v, --verbose
              Be verbose.

       -q, --quiet
              Suppress minor diagnostics.

       -h, --help
              Show help message.

DESCRIPTION

ufiformat is a raw level formatting disk utility for USB floppy devices.

Raw level format is to write gap,index,sectors to the unformatted disk using special commands specific to
the disk controller, to make the plain magneto-sensitive film into sector-addressable medium. Note that
raw level format is NOT about creating filesystems (fs(5)) on the disk.

After mid-1990's, floppy disks are sold generally pre-formatted in MS-DOS 2HD format: 80 cylinder, 2
heads, 18 sectors/track, 512 bytes/sector; it is seldom in need for raw formatting. Nevertheless raw
formatting could cure some disk and drive mismatchings.

WARNING: You will NOT raw format an LS-120 disks or (removable) hard disks; they are precision formatted
in factory and cannot be raw reformatted.

ufiformat supports only the following format capacities:
1440/1232/1200 (for 2HD disk)
720/640 (for 2DD disk)
The device should support the capacities also, otherwise ufiformat shows an error message.

The above format capacities are predefined in the program, but each USB floppy device also has a limited
set of formats (defined internally) that it can format media to. The allowed format capacities are
obtained by querying (-i) the device, but this only returns the total format capacity and not CHS
(cylinder, heads and sectors), hence a mapping is required in the program.

EXAMPLES

       Inquiry the device for available format:
              # modprobe sg
              # ufiformat -i /dev/sda
              vendor:  Y-E DATA
              product: USB-FDU
              write protect: off
              media type: 2HD
              status      block size   kb
              formatted    2880  512 1440
              formattable  2880  512 1440
              formattable  1232 1024 1232
              formattable  2400  512 1200

       Format the floppy disk in 1.44MB, and create a FAT filesystem:
              # ufiformat -f 1440 /dev/sda
              # mkdosfs -I /dev/sda

PREREQUISTES

       ufiformat needs /dev/sg* SCSI pass-thru device to operate.  If the device does not exist, add the  driver
       by invoking modprobe sg.

       You often need to be root to do anything with /dev/sd*.