Keep the following in mind when formatting diskettes:
For information on diskette names, see Table 18–1.
Diskettes that are not named (that is, they have no “label”) are assigned the default name of noname.
A Solaris system can format diskettes for use on both Solaris and DOS systems. However, the hardware platform imposes some limitations. These limitations are summarized in the following table.
Platform Type |
Diskettes Format Type |
---|---|
SPARC based systems |
UFS |
|
MS-DOS or NEC-DOS (PCFS) |
|
UDFS |
x86 based systems |
UFS |
|
MS-DOS or NEC-DOS (PCFS) |
|
UDFS |
Diskettes formatted for UFS are restricted to the hardware platform on which they were formatted. In other words, a UFS diskette formatted on a SPARC based platform cannot be used for UFS on an x86 platform, nor can a diskette formatted on an x86 platform be used on a SPARC based platform. This is because the SPARC and x86 UFS formats are different. SPARC uses little-endian bit coding, x86 uses big-endian.
A complete format for SunOS file systems consists of the basic “bit” formatting plus the structure to support a SunOS file system. A complete format for a DOS file system consists of the basic “bit” formatting plus the structure to support either an MS-DOS or an NEC-DOS file system. The procedures required to prepare a diskette for each type of file system are different. Therefore, before you format a diskette, consider which procedure to follow. For more information, see Formatting Removable Media (Task Map).
On a Solaris system (either SPARC or x86), you can format diskettes with the following densities.
Diskette Size |
Diskette Density |
Capacity |
---|---|---|
3.5” |
High Density (HD) |
1.44 Mbytes |
3.5” |
Double Density (DD) |
720 Kbytes |
By default, the diskette drive formats a diskette to a like density. This default means that a 1.44 Mbyte drive attempts to format a diskette for 1.44 Mbytes, whether the diskette is in fact a 1.44 Mbyte diskette or not, unless you instruct it otherwise. In other words, a diskette can be formatted to its capacity or lower, and a drive can format to its capacity or lower.