DASDFMT(8) DASDFMT(8) NAME dasdfmt - formatting of DASD (ECKD) disk drives. SYNOPSIS dasdfmt [-hptvyLVF] [-m step |--hashmarks step] [-b blockSize |--blocksize blockSize] [-l volser |--label volser] [-d diskLayout |--disk_layout diskLayout] diskSpec DESCRIPTION dasdfmt formats a DASD (ECKD) disk drive to prepare it for usage with Linux for S/390. WARNING: Careless usage of dasdfmt can result in LOSS OF DATA. OPTIONS -t or --test Disables any modification of the disk drive. asdfmtjust prints out, what it would do. -v Increases verbosity. -y Start formatting without further user-confirmation. -L or --no_label Omit the writing of a disk label after formatting. -V or --version Print version number and exit. -F Formats the device without checking, if the device is mounted or used as swap space. -d diskLayout or --disk_layout=diskLayout Formats the device with compatible disk layout or linux disk layout. diskLayout is either cdl for the compatible disk layout (default) or ldl for the linux disk layout. Compatible disk layout means a special handling of the first two tracks of the volume. This enables other S/390 or zSeries operating systems to access this device (e.g. for backup purposes). -p or --progressbar Print a progress bar while formatting. Do not use this option if you are using a 3270 console. -m step or --hashmarks=step Print a hashmark every step cylinders. The value step has to be within range [1,1000], otherwise it will be set to the default, which is 10. You can use this option to see the progress of for matting in case you are not able to use the progress bar option -p, e.g. with a 3270 terminal. -b blockSize or --blocksize=blockSize Specify blocksize to be used. blocksize must be a positive integer and always be a power of two. Due to some limitations in the driver, it is strongly recommended to use a blockSize of 4096. -l volser or --label=volser Specify the volume serial number or volume identi fier to be written to disk after formatting. If no label is specified, a sensible default is used. volser is interpreted as ASCII string and is auto matically converted to uppercase and then to EBCDIC. e.g. -l LNX001 or --label=DASD01 The volser identifies by serial number the volume on which the partition resides or will reside. A volume serial number is 1 through 6 alphanumeric, national ($, #, @), or special characters; enclose a serial number that contains special characters, other than hyphens, in apostrophes. If the number is shorter than six characters, it is padded with trailing blanks. Do not code a volume serial number as SCRTCH, PRI VAT, or Lnnnnn (L with five numbers); these are used in OS/390 messages to ask the operator to mount a volume. Do not code a volume serial number as MIGRAT, which is used by the OS/390 Hierarchical Storage Manager DFSMShsm for migrated data sets. diskSpec This parameter specifies the device to be format ted. It also can be given in two variants: -f /dev/dasd/xxxx/device or --device=/dev/dasd/xxxx/device or -n devnum or --devno=devnum The first form use the commonly used UNIX device notation where xxxx is the four-letter device num ber. The second form uses simply the device num ber. In case you are not using the device file system, please specify for the commonly used UNIX device notation: -f /dev/dasdx or --device=/dev/dasdx where x is one or more lowercase letter(s). The second form using simply the device number is equal to the case using the device file system. BUGS None so far ;-) SEE ALSO "LINUX for S/390 Device Drivers and Installation Commands" at http://www10.software.ibm.com/developerworks/opensource/linux390/docu/l390dd08.pdf AUTHOR This man-page was written by Fritz Elfert and updated by Volker Sameske Thu Jun 5 2001 DASDFMT(8)