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System Administration Guide: Devices and File Systems Oracle Solaris 10 8/11 Information Library |
1. Managing Removable Media (Overview)
2. Managing Removable Media (Tasks)
3. Accessing Removable Media (Tasks)
4. Writing CDs and DVDs (Tasks)
5. Managing Devices (Overview/Tasks)
6. Dynamically Configuring Devices (Tasks)
7. Using USB Devices (Overview)
9. Using InfiniBand Devices (Overview/Tasks)
11. Administering Disks (Tasks)
Administering Disks (Task Map)
How to Identify the Disks on a System
How to Display Disk Slice Information
Creating and Examining a Disk Label
Recovering a Corrupted Disk Label
How to Recover a Corrupted Disk Label
12. SPARC: Setting Up Disks (Tasks)
13. x86: Setting Up Disks (Tasks)
14. Configuring Oracle Solaris iSCSI Targets and Initiators (Tasks)
15. The format Utility (Reference)
16. Managing File Systems (Overview)
17. Creating and Mounting File Systems (Tasks)
18. Using The CacheFS File System (Tasks)
19. Configuring Additional Swap Space (Tasks)
20. Checking UFS File System Consistency (Tasks)
21. UFS File System (Reference)
22. Backing Up and Restoring UFS File Systems (Overview)
23. Backing Up UFS Files and File Systems (Tasks)
24. Using UFS Snapshots (Tasks)
25. Restoring UFS Files and File Systems (Tasks)
26. UFS Backup and Restore Commands (Reference)
27. Copying Files and File Systems (Tasks)
Disks are typically 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:
Write data to the disk. However, most disks are already formatted.
Use the Oracle Solaris installation utility to install the system.
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. |
# format
A numbered list of disks is displayed.
Specify disk (enter its number): 0
[disk formatted]
Example 11-2 Determining if a Disk Is Formatted
The following example shows that disk c2t3d0 is formatted.
# format AVAILABLE DISK SELECTIONS: 0. c2t0d0 <SUN72G cyl 14087 alt 2 hd 24 sec 424> /pci@1c,600000/scsi@2/sd@0,0 1. c2t1d0 <SUN72G cyl 14087 alt 2 hd 24 sec 424> /pci@1c,600000/scsi@2/sd@1,0 2. c2t2d0 <SUN146G cyl 14087 alt 2 hd 24 sec 848> /pci@1c,600000/scsi@2/sd@2,0 3. c2t3d0 <SUN146G cyl 14087 alt 2 hd 24 sec 848> /pci@1c,600000/scsi@2/sd@3,0 Specify disk (enter its number): 3 selecting c2t3d0 [disk formatted]
Disks are formatted by the manufacturer. Reformatting a disk should occur rarely. The process is time-consuming and removes all data from the disk.
# format
A numbered list of disks is displayed.
Specify disk (enter its number): 3
Caution - Do not select the disk that contains the root file system. If you format a root pool disk, you delete the OS and any data on this disk. |
format> format The protection information is not enabled The disk will be formatted with protection type 0 Ready to format. Formatting cannot be interrupted and takes 169 minutes (estimated). Continue? yes
Beginning format. The current time is Fri Apr 1 ... Formatting... done Verifying media... pass 0 - pattern = 0xc6dec6de 14086/23/734 pass 1 - pattern = 0x6db6db6d 14086/23/734 Total of 0 defective blocks repaired.
format> quit