---
name: "fdformat"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "fdutils"
version: "4.3-6"
release: "Debian 1.3 (Bo)"
platforms: ["linux", "openbsd"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/fdformat"
---

# fdformat(1)

Low-level formats a floppy disk

## NAME

fdformat - Low-level formats a floppy disk

## SYNOPSIS

**fdformat** **\[ -n \]** device

## DESCRIPTION

**fdformat** does a low level format on a floppy disk. *device* is usually one of the following (for floppy devices, the major = 2, and the minor is shown for informational purposes only):

```
/dev/fd0u360
/dev/fd0u1200
/dev/fd0u360
/dev/fd0u360
/dev/fd0u720
/dev/fd0u720
/dev/fd0u360
/dev/fd0u720
/dev/fd0u1440
/dev/fd1d360
/dev/fd1h1200
/dev/fd1D360
/dev/fd1H360
/dev/fd1D720
/dev/fd1H720
/dev/fd1h360
/dev/fd1h720
/dev/fd1H1440
The generic floppy devices, /dev/fd0 and /dev/fd1, will fail to work with
fdformat
when a non-standard format is being used, or if the format has not been
autodetected earlier.  In this case, use
setfdprm(8)
to load the disk parameters.
```

## OPTIONS

- **-n**

  No verify.  This option will disable the verification that is performed after the format.

## SEE ALSO

[**fd**(4)](/fd/4.md), [**setfdprm**(8)](/setfdprm/8.md), [**superformat**(1)](/superformat/1.md)

## AUTHOR

Werner Almesberger (almesber@nessie.cs.id.ethz.ch) wrote the original C program. Michael Meskes (meskes@informatik.rwth-aachen.de) wrote the replacement shell script.