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1.1 root 1: .\" Copyright (c) 1980,1983 Regents of the University of California.
2: .\" All rights reserved. The Berkeley software License Agreement
3: .\" specifies the terms and conditions for redistribution.
4: .\"
5: .\" @(#)format.8v 6.4 (Berkeley) 5/22/86
6: .\"
7: .TH FORMAT 8V "May 22, 1986"
8: .UC 4
9: .SH NAME
10: format \- how to format disk packs
11: .SH DESCRIPTION
12: .PP
13: There are two ways to format disk packs. The simplest is to
14: use the
15: .I format
16: program. The alternative is to use the DEC standard formatting
17: software which operates under the DEC diagnostic supervisor.
18: This manual page describes the operation of
19: .IR format ,
20: then concludes with some remarks about using the DEC formatter.
21: .PP
22: .I Format
23: is a standalone program used to
24: format and check disks prior to constructing
25: file systems.
26: In addition to the formatting
27: operation,
28: .I format
29: records any bad sectors encountered
30: according to DEC standard 144.
31: Formatting is performed one track at a
32: time by writing the appropriate
33: headers and a test pattern and then checking
34: the sector by reading and verifying the pattern, using
35: the controller's ECC for error detection.
36: A sector is marked bad if an unrecoverable media
37: error is detected, or if a correctable
38: ECC error too many bits in length
39: is detected (such errors are indicated as
40: ``ECC'' in the summary printed upon
41: completing the format operation).
42: After the entire disk
43: has been formatted and checked,
44: the total number of errors are reported,
45: any bad sectors and skip sectors are marked,
46: and a bad sector forwarding table
47: is written to the disk in the first five
48: even numbered sectors of the last track.
49: It is also possible to reformat sections of the disk
50: in units of tracks.
51: .I Format
52: may be used on any UNIBUS or MASSBUS drive
53: supported by the \fIup\fP and \fIhp\fP device
54: drivers which uses 4-byte headers (everything except RP's).
55: .PP
56: The test pattern used during the media check
57: may be selected from one of: 0xf00f (RH750 worst case),
58: 0xec6d (media worst case), and 0xa5a5 (alternating
59: 1's and 0's).
60: Normally the media worst case pattern is used.
61: .PP
62: .I Format
63: also has an option to perform an extended \*(lqsevere burn-in,\*(rq
64: which makes a number of passes using different patterns.
65: The number of passes can be selected at run time,
66: up to a maximum of 48,
67: with provision for additional passes or termination
68: after the preselected number of passes.
69: This test runs for many hours, depending on the disk and processor.
70: .PP
71: Each time
72: .I format
73: is run to format an entire disk,
74: a completely new bad sector table is generated
75: based on errors encountered while formatting.
76: The device driver, however, will always attempt to
77: read any existing bad sector table when the device is
78: first opened.
79: Thus, if a disk pack has never previously been formatted,
80: or has been formatted with different sectoring,
81: five error messages will be printed when the driver attempts
82: to read the bad sector table; these diagnostics should be ignored.
83: .PP
84: Formatting a 400 megabyte disk on a MASSBUS disk controller
85: usually takes about 20 minutes.
86: Formatting on a UNIBUS disk controller takes significantly
87: longer.
88: For every hundredth cylinder formatted
89: .I format
90: prints a message indicating the current cylinder being formatted.
91: (This message is just to reassure people that nothing is
92: is amiss.)
93: .PP
94: .I Format
95: uses the standard notation of the standalone I/O library
96: in identifying a drive to be formatted. A drive is
97: specified as
98: .IR zz ( x , y ),
99: where
100: .I zz
101: refers to the controller type (either
102: .I hp
103: or
104: .IR up ),
105: .I x
106: is the unit number of the drive;
107: 8 times the UNIBUS or MASSBUS
108: adaptor number plus the MASSBUS drive number or UNIBUS
109: drive unit number; and
110: .I y
111: is the file system partition
112: on drive
113: .I x
114: (this should always be 0).
115: For example, ``hp(1,0)'' indicates that drive
116: 1 on MASSBUS adaptor 0 should be formatted; while
117: ``up(10,0)'' indicates that UNIBUS drive 2 on UNIBUS adaptor 1
118: should be formatted.
119: .PP
120: Before each formatting attempt,
121: .I format
122: prompts the user in case debugging should be enabled
123: in the appropriate device driver. A carriage return
124: disables debugging information.
125: .PP
126: .I Format
127: should be used prior to building file systems (with
128: .IR newfs (8))
129: to insure that all sectors with uncorrectable media errors
130: are remapped. If a drive develops uncorrectable
131: defects after formatting, either
132: .IR bad144 (8)
133: or
134: .IR badsect (8)
135: should be able to avoid the bad sectors.
136: .SH EXAMPLE
137: A sample run of
138: .I format
139: is shown below.
140: In this example (using a VAX-11/780),
141: .I format
142: is loaded from the console floppy;
143: on an 11/750
144: .I format
145: will be loaded from the root file system with
146: .IR boot (8)
147: following a \*(lqB/3\*(rq command.
148: Boldface means user input.
149: As usual, ``#'' and ``@'' may be used to edit input.
150: .nf
151: .in +0.5i
152: .ta 1i
153: .sp 1
154: >>>\fBL FORMAT\fP
155: LOAD DONE, 00004400 BYTES LOADED
156: >>>\fBS 2\fP
157: Disk format/check utility
158: .sp
159: Enable debugging (0=none, 1=bse, 2=ecc, 3=bse+ecc)? \fB0\fP
160: Device to format? \fBhp(8,0)\fP
161: (\fIerror messages may occur as old bad sector table is read\fP)
162: Formatting drive hp0 on adaptor 1: verify (yes/no)? \fByes\fP
163: Device data: #cylinders=842, #tracks=20, #sectors=48
164: Starting cylinder (0):
165: Starting track (0):
166: Ending cylinder (841):
167: Ending track (19):
168: Available test patterns are:
169: .in +1.0i
170: 1 - (f00f) RH750 worst case
171: 2 - (ec6d) media worst case
172: 3 - (a5a5) alternating 1's and 0's
173: 4 - (ffff) Severe burnin (up to 48 passes)
174: .in -1.0i
175: Pattern (one of the above, other to restart)? \fB2\fP
176: Maximum number of bit errors to allow for soft ECC (3):
177: Start formatting...make sure the drive is online
178: ...
179: (\fIsoft ecc's and other errors are reported as they occur\fP)
180: ...
181: (\fIif 4 write check errors were found, the program terminates like this...\fP)
182: ...
183: Errors:
184: Bad sector: 0
185: Write check: 4
186: Hard ECC: 0
187: Other hard: 0
188: Marked bad: 0
189: Skipped: 0
190: Total of 4 hard errors revectored.
191: Writing bad sector table at block 808272
192: (\fI808272 is the block # of the first block in the bad sector table\fP)
193: Done
194: (\fI...program restarts to allow formatting other disks\fP)
195: (\fI...to abort halt machine with ^P\fP)
196: .fi
197: .sp 1
198: .SH DIAGNOSTICS
199: The diagnostics are intended to be self explanatory.
200: .SH "USING DEC SOFTWARE TO FORMAT"
201: .PP
202: .B "Warning: These instructions are for people with 11/780 CPU's."
203: The steps needed for 11/750 or 11/730 cpu's are similar, but not
204: covered in detail here.
205: .I
206: .PP
207: The formatting procedures are different for each type of disk. Listed
208: here are the formatting procedures for RK07's, RP0X, and RM0X
209: disks.
210: .PP
211: You should shut down UNIX and halt the machine to do any disk formatting.
212: Make certain you put in the pack you want formatted. It is also a good idea
213: to spin down or write protect the disks you don't want to format, just in case.
214: .PP
215: .B "Formatting an RK07."
216: Load the console floppy labeled, "RX11 VAX DSK LD DEV #1" in
217: the console disk drive, and type the following commands:
218: .RS
219: .nf
220: >>>BOOT
221: DIAGNOSTIC SUPERVISOR. ZZ-ESSAA-X5.0-119 23-JAN-1980 12:44:40.03
222: DS>ATTACH DW780 SBI DW0 3 5
223: DS>ATTACH RK611 DMA
224: DS>ATTACH RK07 DW0 DMA0
225: DS>SELECT DMA0
226: DS>LOAD EVRAC
227: DS>START/SEC:PACKINIT
228: .fi
229: .RE
230: .PP
231: .B "Formatting an RP0X."
232: Follow the above procedures except that the
233: ATTACH and SELECT lines should read:
234: .RS
235: .nf
236: DS>ATTACH RH780 SBI RH0 8 5
237: DS>ATTACH RP0X RH0 DBA0 (RP0X is, e.g. RP06)
238: DS>SELECT DBA0
239: .fi
240: .RE
241: .PP
242: This is for drive 0 on mba0; use 9 instead of 8 for mba1, etc.
243: .PP
244: .B "Formatting an RM0X."
245: Follow the above procedures except that the
246: ATTACH and SELECT lines should read:
247: .RS
248: .nf
249: DS>ATTACH RH780 SBI RH0 8 5
250: DS>ATTACH RM0X RH0 DRA0
251: DS>SELECT DRA0
252: .fi
253: .RE
254: .PP
255: Don't forget to put your UNIX console floppy back
256: in the floppy disk drive.
257: .SH SEE ALSO
258: bad144(8),
259: badsect(8),
260: newfs(8)
261: .SH BUGS
262: An equivalent facility should be available which operates under
263: a running UNIX system.
264: .PP
265: It should be possible to reformat or verify part or all of a disk,
266: then update the existing bad sector table.
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