svcadm(8)을 검색하려면 섹션에서 8 을 선택하고, 맨 페이지 이름에 svcadm을 입력하고 검색을 누른다.
format(8)
format(8) System Administration Commands format(8)
NAME
format - disk partitioning and maintenance utility
SYNOPSIS
format [-emMqrs] [-f command-file | -n] [-l log-file] [-d disk-name]
[disk-list]
format -L label-type -d disk-name
DESCRIPTION
format enables you to format, label, repair, and analyze disks on your
system. There are limitations to what can be done to the system disk
while the system is running, in which case format may be run while
booted off of an alternate device, such as install media.
disk-list is a list of disks in the form c?t?d?, /dev/rdsk/c?t?d?s?, or
/dev/chassis/?/disk. With the last two forms, shell wildcard specifica‐
tions are supported. For example, specifying /dev/rdsk/c2* causes for‐
mat to work on all drives connected to controller c2 only. If no disk-
list is specified, format lists all the disks present in the system
that can be administered by format.
Removable media devices are listed only when users execute format in
expert mode (option -e). This feature is provided for backward compati‐
bility. Use rmformat(1) for rewritable removable media devices.
OPTIONS
The following options are supported:
-d disk-name
Specify which disk should be made current upon entry into the pro‐
gram. The disk is specified by its logical name (for instance, -d
c0t1d0 or /dev/chassis/SYS/HD0/disk). This can also be accomplished
by specifying a single disk in the disk list.
-e
This option switches the behavior of several format command fea‐
tures to expert mode.
o Enables SCSI expert menu
o Shows removable media devices
o The label menu entry allows changing a label type from
SMI/VTOC to EFI. This can also be achieved by using the
-L option non-interactively
o Prints partition table in expert mode
Note -
The -e option is not recommended for casual use.
-f command-file
Take command input from command-file rather than the standard in‐
put. The file must contain commands that appear just as they would
if they had been entered from the keyboard. With this option, for‐
mat does not issue continue? prompts; there is no need to specify
y(es) or n(o) answers in the command-file. In non-interactive mode,
format does not initially expect the input of a disk selection num‐
ber. The user must specify the current working disk with the -d
disk-name option when format is invoked, or specify disk and the
disk selection number in the command-file. The last command in the
command-file should be quit or q.
-l log-file
Log a transcript of the format session to the indicated log-file,
including the standard input, the standard output and the standard
error.
-L label-type
Immediately, and non-interactively, write a default label of type
label-type, to the disk specified with -d. label-type must be ei‐
ther efi or vtoc. Existing label, if any, will be overwritten with
label-type. On an x86 machine, the whole disk will default to one
Solaris partition labeled with label-type; all fdisk partitions
will be lost.
-m
Enable extended messages. Provides more detailed information in the
event of an error.
-M
Enable extended and diagnostic messages. Provides extensive infor‐
mation on the state of a SCSI device's mode pages, during format‐
ting.
-n
Prints information about disks and exit. The disks are not modi‐
fied. The -n option is not allowed with -f and -L.
-q
Show less verbose initial disk list.
-r
Reload disk information directly from drives on startup, instead of
using cached values. This may be time consuming.
-s
Silent. Suppress all of the standard output. Error messages are
still displayed. This is generally used in conjunction with the -f
option.
USAGE
When you invoke format with no options or with the -e, -l, -m, -M, or
-s options, the program displays a numbered list of available disks and
prompts you to specify a disk by list number. If the machine has more
than a screenful of disks, press SPACE to see the next screenful of
disks.
You can specify a disk by list number even if the disk is not displayed
in the current screenful. For example, if the current screen shows
disks 11-20, you can enter 25 to specify the twenty-fifth disk on the
list. If you enter a number for a disk that is not currently displayed,
format prompts you to verify your selection. If you enter a number from
the displayed list, format silently accepts your selection.
After you specify a disk, format displays its main menu. This menu en‐
ables you to perform the following tasks:
analyze
Run read, write, compare tests, and data purge. The data purge
function implements the National Computer Security Center Guide to
Understanding Data Remnance (NCSC-TG-025 version 2) Overwriting Al‐
gorithm. See NOTES. Note that the purge function attempts to over‐
write data may not work as expected when not operating directly on
physical media (such as when accessing an iSCSI LUN) or on some
forms of physical media which have their own mapping layer between
the OS and the raw blocks on disk (such as hardware level bad block
handling).
backup
Search for backup labels.
cache
Enable, disable, and query the state of the write cache and read
cache. This menu item only appears when format is invoked with the
-e option, and is only supported on SCSI devices.
current
Display the device name, the disk geometry, and the pathname to the
disk device.
defect
Retrieve and print defect lists. This option is supported only on
SCSI devices. IDE disks perform automatic defect management. Upon
using the defect option on an IDE disk, you receive the message:
Controller does not support defect management
or disk supports automatic defect management.
disk
Choose the disk that will be used in subsequent operations (known
as the current disk.)
fdisk
Run the fdisk(8) program to create a fdisk partition for Solaris
software (x86 based systems only).
format
Format and verify the current disk. This option is supported only
on SCSI devices. IDE disks are pre-formatted by the manufacturer.
Upon using the format option on an IDE disk, you receive the mes‐
sage:
Cannot format this drive. Please use your
manufacturer-supplied formatting utility.
inquiry
Display the vendor, product name, and revision level of the current
drive.
label
Write a new label to the current disk.
partition
Create and modify slices.
quit
Exit the format menu.
repair
Repair a specific block on the disk.
type
Select (define) a disk type.
verify
Read and display labels. Print information such as the number of
cylinders, alternate cylinders, heads, sectors, and the partition
table.
volname
Label the disk with a new eight character volume name.
EXIT STATUS
The following exit values are returned:
0 Successful completion.
>0 An error occurred. A non-zero exit status is also returned in
case format encounters EOF while reading input, e.g., if it is
terminated with ^D instead of quit or q in interactive mode or,
in the case of non-interactive mode (option -f), if the command
file does not end with a quit or q command.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(7) for descriptions of the following attributes:
tab() box; cw(2.75i) |cw(2.75i) lw(2.75i) |lw(2.75i) ATTRIBUTE TYPEAT‐
TRIBUTE VALUE _ Availabilitysystem/core-os
SEE ALSO
rmformat(1), sd(4D), attributes(7), fmthard(8), prtvtoc(8)
Managing Devices in Oracle Solaris 11.4
x86 Only
fdisk(8)
WARNINGS
Cylinder 0 contains the partition table (disk label), which can be
overwritten if used in a raw disk partition by third party software. On
x86-based systems, this usage could cause the cylinder information to
be off by one, and some difference in the capacity as a consequence,
depending on whether the disk is labeled and whether the whole disk is
designated as a single Oracle Solaris partition. Note that the CHS
(Cylinder/Head/Sector) geometry might be logical only to maintain back‐
ward compatibility, which has no physical bearing to the actual disk
device.
format supports writing EFI-compliant disk labels in order to support
disks or LUNs with capacities greater than one terabyte. However, care
should be exercised since many software components, such as filesystems
and volume managers, are still restricted to capacities of two terabyte
or less.
By default, on an unlabeled disk, EFI labels will be written on disks
larger than 2 TB. When format is invoked with the -e option, on writing
the label, the label type can be chosen. GPT (EFI) enabled SPARC
firmware and UEFI x86 firmware are required to boot these EFI-labeled
drives.
NOTES
format provides a help facility you can use whenever format is expect‐
ing input. You can request help about what information is expected by
simply entering a question mark (?) and format prints a brief descrip‐
tion of what type of input is needed. If you enter a ? at the menu
prompt, a list of available commands is displayed.
For SCSI disks, formatting is done with both Primary and Grown defects
list by default. However, if only Primary list is extracted in defect
menu before formatting, formatting will be done with Primary list only.
Changing the state of the caches is only supported on SCSI devices, and
not all SCSI devices support changing or saving the state of the
caches.
The NCSC-TG-025 algorithm for overwriting meets the DoD 5200.28-M (ADP
Security Manual) Eraser Procedures specification. The NIST Guidelines
for Media Sanitization (NIST SP 800-88) also reference this algorithm.
HISTORY
The options -n, -q, and -r were added in Oracle Solaris 11.4.84.
Prior to Oracle Solaris 11.4, each disk was opened and its label was
re-read on format start-up. For performance reasons, starting with Ora‐
cle Solaris 11.4, the label information displayed in the initial disk
list is read from OS cached data. The label is re-read when a particu‐
lar disk is selected.
Use the option -r to force re-reading label information from every disk
on format start-up.
Oracle Solaris 11.4 23 Jun 2025 format(8)