Read the following information if you want to see a conceptual view of the format utility and it uses before proceeding to the "how-to" or reference sections.
The format utility is a system administration tool used to prepare hard disk drives for use on your Solaris system. The format utility cannot be used on diskette drives, CD-ROM drives, or tape drives.
Table 21-5 shows the features and associated benefits that the format utility provides.
Table 21-5 Features and Benefits of the format Utility
Feature |
Benefit |
---|---|
Searches your system for all attached disk drives |
|
Retrieves disk labels |
Used in repair operations |
Repairs defective sectors |
Allows administrators to repair disk drives with recoverable errors instead of sending the drive back to the manufacturer |
Formats and analyzes a disk |
Creates sectors on the disk and verifies each sector |
Partitions a disk |
Divides a disk so individual file systems can be created on separate slices |
Labels a disk |
Writes disk name and configuration information to the disk for future retrieval (usually for repair operations) |
All of the options of the format utility are fully described in Chapter 25, The format Utility (Reference).
Disk drives are partitioned and labeled by the Solaris installation program as part of installing the Solaris release. You may need to use the format utility when:
Displaying slice information
Dividing a disk into slices
Adding a disk drive to an existing system
Formatting a disk drive
Repairing a disk drive
The main reason a system administrator uses the format utility is to divide a disk into disk slices. These steps are covered in Chapter 23, SPARC: Adding a Disk (Tasks) and Chapter 24, x86: Adding a Disk (Tasks).
See Table 21-6 for guidelines on using the format utility.
Use format To ... |
Considerations ... |
Where to Go ... |
---|---|---|
Format a disk |
| |
Replace a system disk |
|
Chapter 23, SPARC: Adding a Disk (Tasks) or Chapter 24, x86: Adding a Disk (Tasks) or if the system must be reinstalled, Solaris Advanced Installation Guide |
Divide a disk into slices |
|
Chapter 23, SPARC: Adding a Disk (Tasks) or Chapter 24, x86: Adding a Disk (Tasks) |
Add a secondary disk to an existing system |
|
Chapter 23, SPARC: Adding a Disk (Tasks) or Chapter 24, x86: Adding a Disk (Tasks) |
Repair a disk drive |
|
In most cases, disks are formatted by the manufacturer or reseller and do not need to be reformatted when you install the drive. To determine whether or not a disk is formatted, use the format utility. See "How to Determine If a Disk is Formatted" for more information.
If you determine that a disk is not formatted, use the format utility to format the disk.
Formatting a disk accomplishes two steps:
Preparing disk media for use
Compiling a list of disk defects based on a surface analysis
Formatting is a destructive process--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 causing recurring problems, you can use the format utility to do a surface analysis, but be careful to use only the commands that do not destroy data. See "How to Format a Disk" for details.
A small percentage of total disk space available for data is used to store defect and formatting information. This percentage varies according to disk geometry, and decreases as the disk ages and develops more defects.
Formatting may take anywhere from a few minutes to several hours, depending on the type and size of the disk.