.TH MFORMAT 1
.SH NAME
mformat \- add an MSDOS filesystem to a low-level formatted diskette.
.SH SYNOPSIS
.in +.5i
.ti -.5i
.B mformat
.RB [ \-t
.IR tracks ]
.RB [ \-h
.IR heads ]
.RB [ \-s
.IR sectors ]
.RB [ \-l
.IR volume-label ]
.RB [ \-S
.IR sizecode ]
.RB [ \-2
.IR sectors-on-track-0 ]
.RB [ \-M
.IR software-sector-size ]
.RB [ \-aXC ]
.RB [ \-H
.IR hidden-sectors ]
.IB drive :
.in -.5i
.SH DESCRIPTION
.B Mformat
adds a minimal MSDOS filesystem (boot sector, FAT, and root directory) to
a diskette that has already been formatted by a Unix low-level format.
.PP
The follow options are supported: (The S, 2, 1 and M options may not exist
if this copy of mtools has been compiled without the USE_2M option)
.TP
.B \-t
The number of tracks (not cylinders).
.TP
.B \-h
The number of heads (sides).
.TP
.B \-s
The number of sectors per track. If the 2m option is given, number of
512-byte sector equivalents on generic tracks (i.e. not head 0 track).
If the 2m option is not given, number of physical sectors per track
(which may be bigger than 512 bytes).
.TP
.B \-l
An optional volume label.
.TP
.B \-S
The sizecode. The size of the sector is 2 ^ (sizecode + 7).
.TP
.B \-2
2m format. The parameter to this option describes the number of
sectors on track 0, head 0. This option is recommended for sectors
bigger than normal.
.TP
.B \-1
don't use a 2m format, even if the current geometry of the disk is a 2m 
geometry.
.TP
.B \-M
software sector size. This parameter describes the sector size in bytes used
by the MSDOS filesystem. By default it is the physical sector size.
.TP
.B \-a
If this option is given, an Atari style serial number is generated.
Ataris store their serial number in the OEM label.
.TP
.B \-X
formats the disk as an Xdf disk. Xdf disk are used by OS/2. This
format can hold 1756k, and is faster than the equivalent 2m
formats. The disk has first to be low-level formatted using the
xdfcopy utility included in the fdutils package.
.TP
.B \-C
creates the disk image file to install the MSDOS filesystem on
it. Obviously, this is useless on physical devices such as floppies
and hard disk partitions.
.TP
.B \-H
number of hidden sectors. This parameter is useful for formatting hard
disk partition, which are not aligned on track boundaries (i.e. first
head of first track doesn't belong to the partition, but contains a
partition table). In that case the number of hidden sectors is in
general the number of sectors per cylinder. This is untested.
.TP
.B \-n
serial number.
.PP
To format a diskette at a density other than the default, you must supply
(at least) those command line parameters that are different from the
default.
.PP
.B Mformat
returns 0 on success or 1 on failure.
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR mlabel (1),
.BR mtools (1).
.SH BUGS
Requires a low-level format utility from Unix.
.PP
Doesn't detect (or record) bad block information.