NAME
sformat - SCSI disk formatting/partitioning/analysis/repair
utility
SYNOPSIS
sformat [options] target lun [scsibus]
sformat [options]
The first form will select the named disk directly. Have a
look at the chapter about Following The Main Thread for more
details.
The second form will scan all SCSI busses and enter a selec-
tion menu. Have a look at the chapter about The SCSI Selec-
tion Menu for more details.
Sformat will never destroy or modify any data unless expli-
citly confirmed just before the (possibly) destructive
action. Have a look at the chapter about How To Answer
Questions first.
DESCRIPTION
Sformat is the first SCSI disk formatting utility that runs
under SunOS. Long before Sun decided that formatting and
partitioning a disk from a stand alone program is less con-
venient than doing this job from a running UNIX, sformat has
been available.
Sformat leads the beginner through a thread menu and allows
the experienced user to do more things than he could do with
other disk maintenance programs. All partitioning jobs can
be done without the need for a desc calculator.
If you want to do more than simple things, you should care-
fully read the whole manual. It contains many tips and
tricks that will help you to recover disks that would have
to be sent back to the manufacturer for repair otherwise.
Sformat includes the competence of more than ten years in
disk handling and will be able to repair more disks than
other disk maintenance programs. Sformat offers special
maintenance tests to find the reason for complex disk
failures.
Disk Database Entries
Be nice to other users of sformat. Create database
(sformat.dat) entries for disks that are not in the data
base using the -Proto flag and mail them to the author.
This helps other users and you too. See section on Creating
Disk Database Entries below.
OPTIONS
-help, -h Print a summary of the most important
options for sformat.
-xhelp Print a summary of less frequently used
options for sformat.
-ask Ask again at certain critical sections.
This will currently prompt before modify-
ing the disk when in repair mode.
-auto, -a autoformat mode (for production sys-
tems). When this option is in effect,
sformat will not ask whether to modify the
format and partition parameters and will
only format disks that are known in the
data base. There will be only one ques-
tion to answer. This will immediately
start the formatting process. The -auto
option enables certain additional verifi-
cations that will guarantee that the disks
have a known firmware release and will
inform the user that the disk is bad if
certain quality tests failed. The disk
will not be formatted if the signature
code in the data base is bad. This option
has not been verified during the last
three years. If you need this mode ask
the author for additional verification of
the code.
Cveri=#,C=# Number of blocks/verify. Sformat normally
will try to verify 1000 sectors with one
SCSI command. Some old disk firmware may
not able to deal with a number that will
imply to read a number of sectors that
will not fit in the local memory of the
disk.
CWveri=#,CW=# Number of blocks/write-verify. The limi-
tation noted with the Cveri option applies
here again and even on newer disks.
data=name Name of disk database file (default:
'sformat.dat'). Use this option to force
sformat to use a different disk database
than the default. In any case, sformat
will search in the current directory
first. If no file of the appropriate name
was found in the current directory, sfor-
mat looks in the following path:
/opt schily/etc, /etc, /usr/etc.
debug=#,-d Set the misc debug value to # (with
debug=#) or increment the misc debug level
by one (with -d). If you specify -dd, this
equals to debug=2.
kdebug=#,kd=# Tell the scg-driver to modify the kernel
debug value while SCSI commands are run-
ning.
xdebug=#,xd=# Set the debug level for the parser of the
external disk database.
-defmodes Get default mode parameters from disk.
Normally sformat retrieves the default
modes parameters from the disk by default
when the disk is unformatted or has no sun
label and the current mode parameter if
the disk has a valid sun label. This
option tells sformat retrieve the default
mode parameters in any case.
-dmdl Do not use manufacturer defect list when
formatting a disk. This implies that a
disk that is formatted with this option
will have bad blocks. However some disks
that may not be formatted because the
manufacturer defect list is broken may
become usable again when this option is in
effect.
ESDI=# Pass ESDI command # to the drive and print
the result. This will only work if an
EMULEX MD21 SCSI/ESDI bridge controller is
present.
-force Force to continue at certain errors. This
will currently prompt after the format
command fails.
-greassign Reassign blocks. This is the guru mode,
don't use this. Read the description for
the -reassign option for more details.
This option will simply prompt for block
numbers and then reassign them regardless
of if they need to be reassigned or not.
On some disks the block may seem to be
defective even after reassigning it
because the old data is copied to the new
location without recomputing the CRC. On
other disk the old data will be lost.
These problems will not arise if you use
the -reassign option instead.
-ign_not_found Ignore record not found errors while ver-
ifying the disk. This option is useful
when trying to repair disks with many
defects (see maxbad option). Some disk
errors may cause the whole track to appear
bad. If the reported error in these cases
is record not found, You should first try
to repair as many blocks as possible with
this option in effect and then repair the
remaining blocks without this option.
-inq Retrieve and print SCSI inquiry data for
any type of device. This is useful even on
tape drives and scanners.
maxbad=# When sformat is doing a surface analysis
after formatting the disk, it collects a
number of bad blocks (usually up to 1023),
then reassigns them and then reformats the
disk to guarantee that the disk speed will
not be reduced by mapped bad blocks. Some
disks with many defective blocks will seem
to have more defective blocks than they
really have, but these false defective
blocks need not to be reassigned. This
case may be triggered if a defective block
directly follows the index. In this case
the whole track seems to be bad. If you
tell sformat to reformat the disk after
repairing one bad block (maxbad=1), this
problem will go away.
- modes Intercative modesense/modeselect. Each
mode page exists in 4 versions:
default (PROM), current (RAM), saved
(DISK) and changeable (BITMASK).
You may currently view any page if you
specify the page number. This is
currently under construction.
-noformat Force not to format disk even when for-
matting of the disk has been confirmed.
This option may be used to modify mode
parameters without formatting the disk.
-nomap Do not map SCSI address to logical disk
name. WARNING: If you use this option,
sformat is not able to check whether the
disk has mounted partitions. This may dam-
age mounted file systems.
-noparity Try to disable parity checking on all
SCSI commands that are sent by sformat.
This may not be possible in all implemen-
tations of the scg-driver.
-nowait Do not wait after formatting the disk.
Normally, sformat will prompt for a modif-
ication of the disk label and partition
table before starting to verify the disk.
If this option is in effect, sformat will
immediately start to verify the disk after
formatting.
-no_defaults Do not set heuristic defaults. If this
option is in effect, all disk parameters
must be either retrievable from disk or,
if not available, provided by the user.
-prdefect Get and print defect data. This may be
used to print the manufacturer and grown
defect list that is stored on the disk.
-prgeom Get and print geometry data. This is an
old option but it is useful to get all
mode pages that are supported by this
disk.
-prcurgeom Get and print geometry data. This is
basically the same as -prgeom except that
- prgeom will obtain the default mode
pages, -prcurgeom will report the current
values.
-Proto This option will cause sformat to gen-
erate a data base entry for the current
disk. Make sure that this data base entry
will be generated with the correct format
time. Sformat is able to compute a format
time from the disk geometry, but newer
disks seem to need more time than com-
puted. If the format time is too short,
the formatting may be aborted and the disk
will not be accessible until formatted
again completely.
-r reformat only mode (gives less messages
on label menu)
-randrw The random read/write test is a method to
find problems that may be a result of
first seeking to a new place on disk and
then writing data to it as it is fre-
quently done by the unix file system.
This is usually caused by an inode or
super block update. The above problems
may be a result of bad bearings in the
disk. If the disk does not produce errors
while this test is running, there will no
harm to the data on disk. However, if you
assume that the disk is bad, the data on
disk may get corrupted. To minimize the
risk of data loss, the first block con-
taining the disk label (partition) and the
last block containing the sinfo data (a
sformat specific area) will never be writ-
ten to.
-reassign Reassign a list of blocks sformat will
prompt for. This is the preferred command
when trying to repair a block or a list of
blocks with already known block addresses.
If you don't know the address of a defec-
tive block, use the -repair option. Sfor-
mat will first try to read the old content
of the defective block and then try to
refresh the data by writing the old data
to the block. If it fails to write to the
block, sformat will reassign the defective
block. If the block does not cause errors
after rewriting the data in it, sformat
will ask if the block should be reassigned
anyway. NOTE: there are many cases in
which a block seems to be defective but
actually is not. If for any reason, the
disk will be powered off during writing or
if there is electro magnetic noise the CRC
for a block may get corrupted without any
physical harm to the magnetic media. These
cases can be repaired by writing again to
the block.
-refresh_only Sformat will not try to reassign a block
that still fails after rewriting (refresh-
ing) the data in it. This option is use-
ful in conjunction with the -reassign and
the -repair option.
-repair This is a combination of the -verify and
-reassign option. Sformat will first ver-
ify the disk and then use the list of bad
sectors found to repair the disk.
RW=# Number of random R/W loops that is used
with the -randrw option. The default is
the number of physical sectors / 100.
This will not last too long and is enough
to cover every cylinder of the disk.
-scsi_compliant Be as SCSI-compliant as possible. This
will some old disk cause to fail in
reporting mode pages correctly and may be
used to see if a disk has these problems.
-seek Do random or full stroke seek tests on
the disk. This is done by reading data;
trying to do full stroke seek tests my be
impossible because of the cache of the
disk.
-setmodes Do a SCSI modeselect with all parameters,
that would have been necessary for a for-
mat, but do not format the disk. This
allows to modify the mode pages of a disk
without reformatting it. If the - smp
option is used in conjunction with -set-
modes the mode parameters will not be
saved. In this case, the mode parameters
of the disk will return to their old
values if a reset or a power cycle occurs.
-silent, -s Do not print out the status of failed
commands.
-smp Do not try to save mode parameters when
setting them. This option is useful if a
nearly totally damaged disk must be refor-
matted. Some disk controllers, in this
case will reject to format the disk if the
area on disk where this data will be
stored is not accessible before formatting
the disk.
-start Send a SCSI START UNIT command to the
device. This will normally spin up the
spindle motor of a disk.
-stop Send a SCSI STOP UNIT command to the dev-
ice. This will normally spin down the
spindle motor of a disk.
timeout=# This option will set the default kernel
timeout for all SCSI commands that are
send by sformat to # seconds. The default
value is 20 seconds. This option does not
affect the timeout for the format command.
-tr, -t This is an option that is only useful
with old Adaptec SCSI bridge controllers.
These controllers are not able to deal
with logical sector numbers in some cases.
Therefore these numbers have to be
translated to the cylinder/head/bfi form
before. This is done by seeking to the
named block and reading the sector header.
It may fail if the block has a bad sector
header.
V=# Set the number of verify passes that are
done after formatting a disk to #. The
default value is 5. In write verify mode,
this number is doubled because sformat
will alternate write verify and read ver-
ify passes in this case.
-verbose, -v be verbose. This options tells sformat
to dump all SCSI command descriptor blocks
and all data that is transferred to/from
the target in hexadecimal form.
-verify This options starts sformat in verify
disk (surface analysis) mode. Verifying a
disk is a method that allows to scan for
defects without modifying data on the
disk. In this mode, the controller will
read the disks without transferring data
to the computer while all error recovery
is disabled.
Vstart=# Set the first block for the - verify, -
repair, -randrw or the -seek option to #.
This is recommended when doing a surface
analysis on large disks where is is known
that the bad sector is near the end of the
disk.
Vend=# Set the last block for the - verify, -
repair, -randrw or the -seek option to #.
This is recommended when doing a surface
analysis on large disks where is is known
that the bad sectors are not at the end of
the disk.
-wrveri If this option is used in while format-
ting a disk, it tells sformat to write
verify the disk instead of only read veri-
fying it after formatting. If it is used
in combination with the - verify option,
sformat will write verify the disk without
prior formatting. In both cases, the old
data on disk will be damaged. Write veri-
fying a disk is recommended if the disk is
older than two years or has unusual
defects. Usual defects in this context are
recovered read errors and defects that
disappear when simply writing to the
defect sector.
How To Answer Questions
There are four types of questions.
o Questions that can be answered with yes or no. Yes may
be abbreviated with 'y' or 'Y'. These questions are
always assumed to be answered with no if you simply
enter carriage return. NOTE: the latter is always a
safe answer. All questions that request confirmation
for actions that may damage or modify data on disk are
formed in such a way that answering them with no or
carriage return will not harm any data. All answers to
this type of questions except [y]es or [Y]ES are inter-
preted as if no has been entered.
o Questions that need a string as input. If you simply
enter carriage return to this type of question, no
modification of the default string will be done.
o Questions that need a word selected from a list of
valid words as input. If you enter '?', you will get a
list of possible input to that question. Each word is
on a separate line an (in some cases) is followed by a
explanation how to use it.
o Questions that need a number within a certain range.
For this type of questions, sformat displays the
current value and the valid range in parenthesis. The
default radix for numbers is ten. If you need to enter
a hexadecimal number precede it with 0x if you need to
enter an octal number, precede it with 0.
^ Entering an accent circumflex '^' will set the
value to the smallest possible
$ Entering an dollar sign '$' will set the value to
the greatest possible
+ Entering a plus sign will increment the current
value by one.
- Entering a minus sign will decrement the current
value by one.
<CR> Entering a carriage return will not modify the
current value. If the default value is -1, you
need to supply a valid value to be allowed to
leave the question menu.
All questions that do not request a simple string (second
type of question) will accept a question mark '?' to display
online help.
The SCSI Selection Menu
When Sformat is started without or with insufficient parame-
ters, the SCSI menu mode is entered. A typical output in
this case looks like:
sparky joerg > sformat
sformat SCSI format/analysis/repair utilities
Release 3.1, Copyright J. Schilling
scg0 at esp0 initiator id 7
scg1 at esp1 initiator id 7
scsibus0:
c0t0d0 0) 'Quantum ' 'XP34300 ' 'F76D' Disk
c0t1d0 1) 'SEAGATE ' 'ST11200N ' '8334' Disk
2) *
c0t3d0 3) 'TOSHIBA ' 'MK537FB/ ' '6258' Disk
4) 'WANGTEK ' '5150ES SCSI-36 ' 'ESB6' Removable Tape
5) 'EXABYTE ' 'EXB-8500-85QUE ' '0428' Removable Tape
6) 'TOSHIBA ' 'XM-3401TASUNSLCD' '3593' Removable CD-ROM
7) HOST ADAPTOR
scsibus1:
c1t0d0,c1t0d1 10) 'EMULEX ' 'MD21/S2 ESDI' 'D00 ' Disk
11) *
c1t2d0 12) 'Maxoptix' 'T3-1304 ' '1.1c' Removable Disk
13) *
14) *
15) *
16) *
17) HOST ADAPTOR
Select target -1 (0 - 12)/<cr>:
The line:
c0t0d0 0) 'Quantum ' 'XP34300 ' 'F76D' Disk
shows the canonical logical disk name (in this case c0t0d0),
the menu number, the SCSI inquiry string and a description
of the device type that was found on this SCSI target. The
menu number is directly related to the SCSI target id of the
device and the SCSI bus number. Number 3 is SCSI target # 3
on SCSI bus # 0. Number 12 is SCSI target # 2 on SCSI bus #
1. Sformat is currently not able to deal with more than 8
targets on a bus.
When selecting a target (.e.g. # 0), a logical unit selec-
tion menu will be displayed.
Select target -1 (0 - 6)/<cr>:0
scsibus0 target 0:
c0t0d0 0) 'Quantum ' 'XP34300 ' 'F76D' Disk
1) 'Quantum ' 'XP34300 ' 'F76D' unsupported
2) 'Quantum ' 'XP34300 ' 'F76D' unsupported
3) 'Quantum ' 'XP34300 ' 'F76D' unsupported
4) 'Quantum ' 'XP34300 ' 'F76D' unsupported
5) 'Quantum ' 'XP34300 ' 'F76D' unsupported
6) 'Quantum ' 'XP34300 ' 'F76D' unsupported
7) 'Quantum ' 'XP34300 ' 'F76D' unsupported
Select lun -1 (0 - 7)/<cr>:
The logical unit menu has the same structure as the SCSI
target menu. If the device description contains the word
unsupported, the controller is not able to support a logical
unit of this number. If the device description contains the
word unit not present, the controller is able to support a
logical unit of this number but there is actually no device
connected.
When selecting a specific logical unit, the main thread is
entered as if a complete SCSI target specification has been
entered from the command line.
Following The Main Thread
If the main formatting thread is entered, the following
stages are encountered:
Mapping and checking
The first thing sformat does, is to map
the SCSI target/lun/busid triplet into a
logical disk name and to check if some
part of the disk is currently mounted.
This mapping will be skipped if the -
nomap options is specified. If the disk
is mounted, the user will be asked if it
is ok to continue.
Note: this is currently the one and only
question.
Inquiry The second action is getting the inquiry
data from the device. The device type
is determined from this data.
Test if device is ready
The next action is to test whether the
device is ready and to wait for the dev-
ice to become ready. When the device is
ready, it is recalibrated.
Exit for wrong device type
When the device is not a disk, a worm
media or optical memory, sformat ter-
minates.
Read sinfo data When the device is a disk, sformat tries
to read the sinfo data from the disk.
This allows the user to see if the dev-
ice has been formatted with sformat
before. If so, sformat will print out
the number of reformats and the date of
the first and last format. Sinfo is .B
sformat specific data that is hold on
the last block of the disk.
Process special commands
If options tell sformat to take special
actions (like -start or -prdefect), they
are done here. Sformat terminates after
processing them.
The formatting procedure starts
The next actions are in preparation for
formatting the disk. Several other
things can be done from this thread.
Modifying the disk label will be one
example. You need not to be in fear
that following this thread will modify
or harm data on the disk. There will be
extra questions that secure this case.
Test whether the disk is formatted
Several procedures differ if the disk is
already formatted and has a valid label.
The next parts of the main thread will give you some ques-
tions to answer. You may skip most of the questions if you
do not want to modify anything.
If some data that is definitely needed by sformat can not be
determined from the disk or the data base, sformat will
force you to answer all questions of a group. Sformat will
only ask question for parameters that are definitely needed
or may be changed on the current disk. The content of the
menus differ from disk to disk.
Read mode data
Several mode pages of the disk are read. This data and
the inquiry data is used to search in the disk data
base.
Sformat asks:
Ignore database disk parameters from 'sformat.dat'?
If you don't want the data from the data base to be
used, negotiate the appropriate question. Some disks
cannot be determined from the fetchable data. This are
mainly disks that are connected to a bridge controller
e.g. a controller from ESDI to SCSI. Sformat is able
to detect the right data in the data base for disks
with changeable media e.g. optical disks that support
different media with different capacity and geometry.
If there is more than one possible entry for this disk
in the data base,
sformat asks:
Select alternate disk type?
If the disk type menu is entered, all possible data
base entries are displayed. The current entry is
marked with '*', the default entry is marked with '+'
and the entry most similar to the current disk is
marked with '~'. A matching factor is displayed in
parenthesis. Higher values are indicating a better
match.
Read in label data
If the disk is already formatted, sformat reads in the
label and ask whether to remember this data.
Sformat asks:
Ignore old disk Label?
I you confirm this question and reformat the disk, the
old partitioning information will be lost.
Disk Parameters Menu
If you want to modify some disk parameters answer the
next question with 'y'.
Sformat asks:
Modify Disk Geometry Parameters?
This enables to modify basic data on geometry, the
interleaving factor and the defect management system.
If you want to do spindle synchronization, activate it
here.
Error Recovery
Error recovery parameters include read/write retry
count and similar.
Sformat asks:
Modify Error recovery Parameters?
Disconnect Parameter
Disconnect parameters are buffer full/empty ratio and
bus inactivity limit.
Sformat asks:
Modify Disconnect Parameters
Alternate Label
If you want to use an alternate label that may be in
the data base go into the next menu.
Sformat asks:
Select alternate Label?
The current entry is marked with '*', the default entry
is marked with '+'.
Logical Label Geometry
Sformat uses an abstract geometry in the label. This
allows to have one label for a group of disks. The
label geometry menu allows to modify this abstract
geometry.
Sformat asks:
Modify Label Geometry Parameters?
SCSI Parameters
This menu contains questions about command queuing,
defect list format and similar. Some disks do not sup-
port the default block defect list format. Specify
another format in this case here. If the disk does not
support the SCSI write-verify command, sformat allows
to split this into a SCSI write and a SCSI verify com-
mand. The data cannot be compared in this case. If
the disk type is generally flaky a data base entry can
be set up to do write verify as default after format-
ting. If the disk will not handle 1000 blocks per ver-
ify command because of a firmware bug, a smaller value
may be specified here.
Sformat asks:
Modify SCSI Parameters?
Grown Defect List
If a disk has not been formatted before or has been
refurbished, you should clear the old grown defect list
to get a clean start. If the disk has bad blocks, sfor-
mat will find them after formatting while doing the
surface analysis. If the disk has known defects you
should negotiate the next question to keep the defect
list.
Sformat asks:
Clear old grown defect list?
Mode pages
If you want to format the disk, you need to set the
mode pages before.
Sformat asks:
Set mode pages (needed for format)?
However, if you do not want to format the disk, you may
negotiate this question and will be lead to the label
modification menu.
Formatting the disk
The next question is the last one you will be asked
before starting to format the disk. If formatting has
started, you will see the progress of this process
indicated in the used up percentage of the estimated
time.
Sformat asks:
Format Disk destroys all Data. Really?
If you only want to set the mode pages, you may this
question with 'n'.
Creating and modifying the disk label
After the disk has been formatted or if the formatting
has been denied, the label menu is entered.
Sformat asks:
Print disk label?
If you want to see the current layout of the disk
label, enter 'y'.
Sformat asks:
Modify disk label?
If you want to modify the disk label enter 'y'.
Inside the label modification menu
Sformat asks:
Label: <Quantum XP34300> change ?
If you want to retain the old label name, enter <CR>,
else enter 'y'. Sformat will ask for the new Label
name.
Sformat asks:
Enter disk label: Quantum XP34300
You are left in the tty line edit mode and may modify
the input line (see termio(7) manual page).
Sformat asks:
Volume Name: <> change ?
If you want to retain the old label name, enter <CR>,
else enter 'y'. Sformat will ask for the new Volume
name.
Sformat asks:
Change partition table?
If you want to change the partition table enter 'y'.
Sformat asks:
Part Tag Flag Cylinders Startsec # of Sec
Size Blocks
0 root wm 0 - 30 0 67580
32.99MB (31/0/0)
Change ?
If you want to modify this partition enter 'y', other-
wise enter <CR> until sformat asks for the partition
you want to change.
Sformat asks:
Enter partition id Tag [root]:
Enter <CR> if the partition tag is ok for this parti-
tion, otherwise enter '?' to get a list of valid parti-
tion tags or enter the new partition tag.
Sformat asks:
Enter partition permission Flags [wm]:
Enter <CR> if the partition flag is ok for this parti-
tion, otherwise enter '?' to get a list of valid parti-
tion flags or enter the new partition flag.
Sformat asks:
Enter starting cylinder 0 (0 - 3851)/<cr>:
Enter <CR> if the starting cylinder is ok for this par-
tition, otherwise enter '?' to get a list of possible
input. XXX
Sformat asks:
Enter number of blocks 67580, 31/0/0 (0 -
8395180)/<cr>:
Enter <CR> if the size is ok for this partition, other-
wise enter '?' to get a list of possible input. XXX
Sformat asks:
Part Tag Flag Cylinders Startsec # of Sec
Size Blocks
0 root wm 0 - 30 0 67580
32.99MB (31/0/0)
Ok ?
Enter <CR> if you still want to modify the partition
record. You then will be asked again for all parame-
ters of this partition. Enter 'y' if this partition is
now ok.
If all partitions are cycled through, sformat will
display the current label.
Sformat asks:
Use this label?
If you enter 'y', sformat will update the label on disk
and go into the verify mode. Anything else will put
you into the label modification mode again.
Disk Verification
In disk verification mode, sformat will do a surface
analysis. If a bad block is encountered, sformat will
reassign this bad block. XXX
How To Format A Disk
The number of defects that SCSI disks can handle depends on
the defect mapping system they use. There are several possi-
ble systems:
The mapping system depends on the # of tracks per zone in
the SCSI disk parameters. Mapping area in this table means
spare location.
1) One mapping area at the end of the disk. (tpz == 0)
2) One mapping area per track. (tpz == 1)
3) One mapping area per cylinder. (tpz == nhead)
4) Some mapping areas on on the disk (tpz > nhead)
If all the space in the defect spare locations above is used
up, there still may be an additional mapping area at the end
of the disk. This is controlled by the alternate tracks per
volume parameter.
If your disk says no defect spare location, you may be able
to get extra space by going into the disk parameter menu of
sformat and change a value. Note: some disks tell you that
some of the values are changeable (there is a range in
parenthesis) but actually ignore the new value. You will
have to read the values after formatting to see if the new
parameters are in effect.
How To Modify A Label
Remember, don't panic. You need no desc calculator to create
or modify a partition table.
The alternate cylinders are historic relics. In good old
days (1982) when SMD disks that were not able to do defect
mapping have been used, these alternates were added to do
the defect mapping in the driver. In these days the space
occupied by these spare cylinders really has been used as
alternate (spare) space.
Currently they are only used for some copies of the primary
disk label and an outdated copy of the defect list is only
able to hold 127 defects :-(.
The label geometry cannot be changed in the partition menu.
It must be set before from the Label Parameters menu.
Print disk label? If this question is answered
with 'y', the label and parti-
tioning info will be
displayed.
Modify disk label? If this question is answered
with 'y', the label modifica-
tion menu will be entered.
Label: <Toshiba 1015MB> change ?
If this question is answered
with 'y', the name of the
label nay be modified.
Volume Name: <5.3> change ? If this question is answered
with 'y', the system V volume
name may be altered.
Change partition table? If this question is answered
with 'y', a partition menu
will be displayed.
Use this label?
Graphical Label Display
When printing the label or partition data, sformat uses a
simple ASCII graphical display to visualize the layout of
the partitions. The symbols used in this graphic display
are described below.
Example:
a I--/
b /-----------/
c I----------------------------------------------------------------------I
d partition not defined
e <--/
f /--------/
g <-------------------------------I
h /----------------------------------------------I
WARNING:
part 'e' has unaligned start.
part 'g' has unaligned start.
Used symbols:
I Used to mark the start end the end of the disk (no
error).
X Partition starts before zero or exceeds end of
disk.
/ Partition has an adjacent start or end with
another partition (no error).
+ Two or mode partitions have the start or the end
at the same position on the disk but no other par-
tition connects to this point. This is an error
that indicates that there may be unused space on
the disk.
< This partition does not connect to another parti-
tion on it's beginning. This is an error that
indicates that there may be unused space on the
disk.
> This partition does not connect to another parti-
tion on it's end. This is an error that indicates
that there may be unused space on the disk.
* Internal error in the check routines (should never
happen).
Errors:
ends behind lncyl Partition is bigger than possible.
One or more parts are not within range of part 'c'!
Partition 'c' (2) should be the whole
disk. This warning indicates a disk
that deviates from this rule.
Warnings:
unaligned start The partition starts not in conjunction
to another partition.
unaligned end The partition ends not in conjunction to
another partition.
space before start There is no partition that uses the
space between the beginning of the disk
and the beginning of this partition.
space after end There is no partition that uses the
space between the end of this partition
and the end of the disk.
Creating Disk Database Entries
EXAMPLES
FILES
SEE ALSO
DIAGNOSTICS
NOTES
BUGS
This is a draft of the manual changes may be daily.
AUTHOR
Joerg Schilling
Seestr. 110
D-13353 Berlin
Germany
Mail bugs and suggestions to:
joerg@schily.isdn.cs.tu-berlin.de or js@cs.tu-berlin.de
GMD Homepage
FOKUS Homepage
Schily's Homepage
