The Format utility is the central tool for administering disks. The utility enables you to perform a range of tasks from discovering the types of disks to verifying that these disks are known to the system.
Launch the utility by issuing the format command. The command displays a list of disks on the system and prompts you to select a disk. After you select the disk, the Format Menu appears as follows:
FORMAT MENU: disk – select a disk type – select (define) a disk type partition – select (define) a partition table current – describe the current disk format – format and analyze the disk fdisk – run the fdisk program (x86 only) repair – repair a defective sector label – write label to the disk analyze – surface analysis defect – defect list management backup – search for backup labels verify – read and display labels save – save new disk/partition definitions inquiry – show vendor, product and revision volname – set 8-character volume name !<cmd> – execute <cmd>, then return format>
At the format > prompt, type the action that you want to perform. Depending on the action that you choose, you are prompted to type further actions. To exit, type quit.
For more information, see the format(1M) man page as well as Chapter 10, The Format Utility (Reference).
The format –e command launches the utility that enables you to write EFI-compliant disk labels to support disks with capacities greater than 1 Tbyte. However, many software components are still limited to 1 Tbye size or less. Therefore, use this command syntax with caution. For examples of how to use the format –e command, see Creating Disk Labels.
The following additional commands are also available for administering disks such as displaying disk information:
fdisk(1M) for x86 systems