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System Administration Guide: Basic Administration

Formatting a Disk

Disks are formatted by the manufacturer or reseller. They usually do not need to be reformatted when you install the drive.

A disk must be formatted before you can do the following:

Caution – Caution –

Formatting a disk is a destructive process because it overwrites data on the disk. For this reason, disks are usually formatted only by the manufacturer or reseller. If you think disk defects are the cause of recurring problems, you can use the format utility to do a surface analysis. However, be careful to use only the commands that do not destroy data.

How to Determine if a Disk is Formatted

  1. Become superuser or assume an equivalent role.

  2. Invoke the format utility. 


    # format

  3. Type the number of the disk that you want to check from the list displayed on your screen. 


    Specify disk (enter its number): 0

  4. Verify that the disk you chose is formatted by noting the following message. 


    [disk formatted]

Example—Determining if a Disk Is Formatted

The following example shows that disk c0t3d0 is formatted.


# format
AVAILABLE DISK SELECTIONS:
  0. c0t1d0 <SUN1.05 cyl 2036 alt 2 hd 14 sec 72> 
     /iommu@f,e0000000/sbus@f,e0001000/espdma@f,400000/esp@f,800000/sd@1,0
  1. c0t3d0 <SUN1.05 cyl 2036 alt 2 hd 14 sec 72>
     /iommu@f,e0000000/sbus@f,e0001000/espdma@f,400000/esp@f,800000/sd@3,0
Specify disk (enter its number): 0
selecting c0t1d0
[disk formatted]

How to Format a Disk

  1. Become superuser or assume an equivalent role.

  2. Invoke the format utility.


    # format

  3. Type the number of the disk that you want to format from the list displayed on your screen.


    Specify disk (enter its number): 0
    Caution – Caution –

    Do not select the system disk. If you format your system disk, you delete the operating system and any data on this disk.

  4. To begin formatting the disk, type format at the format> prompt. Confirm the command by typing y.


    format> format
Ready to format.  Formatting cannot be interrupted
and takes 23 minutes (estimated). Continue? yes

  5. Verify that the disk format is successful by noting the following messages.


    Beginning format. The current time Tue ABC xx xx:xx:xx xxxx

Formatting...
done

Verifying media...
        pass 0 - pattern = 0xc6dec6de
   2035/12/18  

        pass 1 - pattern = 0x6db6db6d
   2035/12/18  

Total of 0 defective blocks repaired.

Example—Formatting a Disk

The following example shows how to format the disk c0t3d0. 


# format
Searching for disks...done
AVAILABLE DISK SELECTIONS:
  0. c0t1d0 <SUN1.05 cyl 2036 alt 2 hd 14 sec 72>
     /iommu@f,e0000000/sbus@f,e0001000/espdma@f,400000/esp@f,800000/sd@1,0
  1. c0t3d0 <SUN1.05 cyl 2036 alt 2 hd 14 sec 72>
     /iommu@f,e0000000/sbus@f,e0001000/espdma@f,400000/esp@f,800000/sd@3,0
Specify disk (enter its number):1
Selecting c0t3d0
[disk formatted]
format> format
Ready to format. Formatting cannot be interrupted
and takes 23 minutes (estimated). Continue? yes
Beginning format. The current time is Thu Dec  6 09:54:40 2001
Formatting ...
done
Verifying media...
        pass 0 - pattern = 0xc6dec6de
   2035/12/18  

        pass 1 - pattern = 0x6db6db6d
   2035/12/18  

Total of 0 defective blocks repaired.
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