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NAME

       sg_format  -  format  or  resize  a SCSI disk (perhaps change its block
       size)

SYNOPSIS

       sg_format    [--cmplst=0|1]    [--count=COUNT]    [--dcrt]    [--early]
       [--fmtpinfo=FPI]  [--format]  [--help] [--long] [--pfu=PFU] [--pie=PIE]
       [--pinfo] [--resize]  [--rto_req]  [--security]  [--six]  [--size=SIZE]
       [--verbose] [--version] [--wait] DEVICE

DESCRIPTION

       Not  all  SCSI direct access devices need to be formatted and some have
       vendor specific formatting procedures. SCSI disks with  rotating  media
       are  probably  the  largest  group  that do support a ’standard’ format
       operation. They are typically factory formatted to a block size of  512
       bytes   with  the  largest  number  of  blocks  that  the  manufacturer
       recommends. The manufacturer’s recommendation typically leaves aside  a
       certain  number of tracks, spread across the media, for reassignment of
       logical block addresses during the life of the disk.

       This utility can format modern SCSI disks and potentially change  their
       block  size  (if  permitted)  and  the  block  count  (i.e.  number  of
       accessible blocks on the media also known as  "resizing").  Resizing  a
       disk  to  less  than  the  manufacturer’s  recommended  block  count is
       sometimes called "short stroking" (see  NOTES  section).  Resizing  the
       block  count while not changing the block size may not require a format
       operation. The SBC-2  standard  (see  www.t10.org)  has  obsoleted  the
       "format  device" mode page. Many of the low level details found in that
       mode page are now left up to the discretion of the manufacturer.

       When this utility is used without options  (apart  from  a  DEVICE)  it
       prints  out  the  existing  block size and block count derived from two
       sources. These two sources are a block descriptor in the response to  a
       MODE  SENSE  command  and  the response to a READ CAPACITY command. The
       reason for this double check is to detect a "format corrupt" state (see
       NOTES section). This usage will not modify the disk.

       When  this utility is used with the "--format" (or "-F") option it will
       attempt to format the given DEVICE. There is a 10 second  pause  during
       which  time  the  user  is  invited  (twice  5  seconds apart) to abort
       sg_format. This occurs just prior the SCSI FORMAT  UNIT  command  being
       issued. See the NOTES section for more information.

       Recent  SBC-3  drafts add several "protection types" to the "protection
       information" introduced in the  SBC-2  standard.  See  the  "protection
       information"  section  (section 4.18 in draft SBC-3 rev 18). 8 bytes of
       protection information are added to each block (a 2 byte "logical block
       guard"  (CRC), a 2 byte "logical block application guard", and a 4 byte
       "logical block reference  tag").  A  device  that  supports  protection
       information  sets  the  "PROTECT" bit in its standard INQUIRY response.
       The "FMTPINFO" field in  in  the  FORMAT  UNIT  command  cdb  plus  the
       "Protection  Field  Usage"  in the parameter header are associated with
       protection information and can be set by this utility.

OPTIONS

       Arguments to long options are mandatory for short options as well.  The
       options  are  arranged  in  alphabetical order based on the long option
       name.

       -C, --cmplst=0 | 1
              sets the CMPLST ("complete list") bit in the FORMAT UNIT cdb  to
              0  or  1.   The  default  is  1 in which case the existing GLIST
              (grown list) is ignored.  If the value is 0  then  the  existing
              GLIST is taken into account. See the LISTS section below. Active
              when the --format option is given. In most cases this bit should
              be left set; some MO disk drives need this bit cleared. The SCSI
              to  ATA  Translation  (SAT)  standard  (prior  draft:   sat-r09)
              requires this bit to be cleared.

       -c, --count=COUNT
              where  COUNT is the number of blocks to be formatted or media to
              be resized to. Can be used with  either  --format  or  --resize.
              With  --format this option need not be given in which case it is
              assumed to be zero. With --format the  interpretation  of  COUNT
              is:
                (COUNT > 0) : only format the first COUNT blocks and READ
                              CAPACITY will report COUNT blocks after format
                (COUNT  =  0)  and  block  size unchanged : use existing block
              count
                (COUNT = 0) and block size changed : recommended maximum block
                                                     count for new block size
                (COUNT = -1) : use recommended maximum block count
                (COUNT < -1) : illegal
              With  --resize  this  option  must  be  given and COUNT has this
              interpretation:
                (COUNT > 0) : after resize READ CAPACITY will report COUNT
                              blocks
                (COUNT = 0) : after resize READ CAPACITY will report 0 blocks
                (COUNT = -1) : after resize READ CAPACITY will report its
                               maximum number of blocks
                (COUNT < -1) : illegal
              In both cases if the given COUNT exceeds the maximum  number  of
              blocks (for the block size) then the disk reports an error.  See
              NOTES section below.

       -D, --dcrt
              this option sets the DCRT  bit  in  the  FORMAT  UNIT  command’s
              parameter   list   header.   It  will  "disable  certification".
              Certification verifies that blocks are usable during the  format
              process.  Using  this  option may speed the format.  The default
              action of this utility (i.e. when this option is not  given)  is
              to  clear the DCRT bit thereby requesting "media certification".
              When the DCRT bit is set, the FOV bit must  also  be  set  hence
              sg_format does that.

       -e, --early
              this option is active when --format is given. The default action
              of this utility  is  to  poll  the  disk  every  30  seconds  to
              determine  the  progress  of  the  format  operation until it is
              finished. When this option  is  given  this  utility  will  exit
              "early"  as  soon as the format has commenced. Then the user can
              monitor the progress of the ongoing format operation with  other
              utilities  (e.g.  sg_turs(8) or sg_requests(8)). This option and
              --wait cannot both be given.

       -f, --fmtpinfo=FPI
              sets the FMTPINFO field in  the  FORMAT  UNIT  cdb  to  a  value
              between  0  and  3.   The default value is 0. The FMTPINFO field
              from SBC-3 revision 16 is a 2 bit field (bits 7 and 6 of byte  1
              in  the  cdb). Prior to that it was a single bit field (bit 7 of
              byte 1 in the cdb) and there  was  an  accompanying  bit  called
              RTO_REQ  (bit  6  of  byte 1 in the cdb). The deprecated options
              "--pinfo" and "--rto-req" represent the older usage. This option
              should  be used in their place. This option has no action unless
              --format is given.

       -F, --format
              issue a SCSI FORMAT UNIT command.  This  will  destroy  all  the
              data  held  on the media.  This option is required to change the
              block size of a disk. The user is given a 10 second  count  down
              to  ponder the wisdom of doing this, during which time control-C
              (amongst other Unix commands) can be used to kill  this  process
              before  it does any damage. See NOTES section for implementation
              details and EXAMPLES section for typical use.

       -h, --help
              print out the usage information then exit.

       -l, --long
              the default action of this utility is to assume 32  bit  logical
              block addresses.  With 512 byte block size this permits almost 2
              terabytes (almost 2 ** 41 bytes) on a single disk.  This  option
              selects  commands  and  parameters that allow for 64 bit logical
              block addresses.  Specifically this option  sets  the  "longlba"
              flag  in the MODE SENSE (10) command and uses READ CAPACITY (16)
              rather than READ CAPACITY (10). This option  does  not  set  the
              LONGLIST bit in the FORMAT UNIT command. The LONGLIST bit is set
              as required depending other parameters (e.g. when ’--pie=PIE’ is
              greater than zero).

       -P, --pfu=PFU
              sets  the  "Protection Field Usage" field in the parameter block
              associated with a FORMAT UNIT command to PFU. The default  value
              is 0, the only other defined value currently is 1. Used together
              with --fmtpinfo=FPI to specify the "protection type"  to  format
              the disk to (see SBC-3).

       -p, --pinfo
              The option is deprecated, use the --fmtpinfo=FPI option instead.
              If used, then it sets bit 7 of byte 1 in the  FORMAT  UNIT  cdb.
              Has no action unless --format is given.

       -q, --pie=PIE
              sets  the  "Protection Interval Exponent" field in the parameter
              block associated with a FORMAT UNIT command to PIE. The  default
              value is 0.  This field first appeared in SBC-3 revision 18. Has
              no action unless --format is given.

       -r, --resize
              rather than format the disk,  it  can  be  resized.  This  means
              changing the number of blocks on the device reported by the READ
              CAPACITY  command.   This  option  should  be  used   with   the
              --count=COUNT option.  The contents of all logical blocks on the
              media remain unchanged when this option is used. This means that
              any resize operation can be reversed. This option cannot be used
              together with either --format or a --size=SIZE whose argument is
              different to the existing block size.

       -R, --rto_req
              The option is deprecated, use the --fmtpinfo=FPI option instead.
              If used, then it sets bit 6 of byte 1 in the  FORMAT  UNIT  cdb.
              Has no action unless --format is given.

       -S, --security
              sets  the  "Security Initialization" (SI) bit in the FORMAT UNIT
              command’s initialization pattern descriptor within the parameter
              list.  According  to  SBC-3  the  default initialization pattern
              "shall be written using a security erasure write technique". The
              SI bit is found in SBC (1998) and SBC-2 (2005) so vendors should
              support it. SATA and parallel ATA disks have a separate  command
              called  SECURITY  ERASE  UNIT  to  perform  this  action. Recent
              versions of the hdparm utility can execute that ATA command.

       -6, --six
              Use 6 byte variants of MODE SENSE and MODE SELECT.  The  default
              action  is to use the 10 byte variants. Some MO drives need this
              option set when doing a format.

       -s, --size=SIZE
              where SIZE is the block size  (i.e.  number  of  bytes  in  each
              block)  to  format the device to.  The default value is whatever
              is currently reported by the block descriptor in  a  MODE  SENSE
              command.  This option is only active when the --format option is
              also given. If the block size given by this option is  different
              from  the  current  value  then a MODE SELECT command is used to
              change it prior to the FORMAT UNIT  command  being  started  (as
              recommended  in  the  draft standard). Recent SCSI disks usually
              have 512 byte sectors by default and allow up to 16 bytes  extra
              in  a  sector  (i.e.  528  byte  sectors).  If the given size in
              unacceptable to the disk,  most  likely  an  "Invalid  field  in
              parameter  list" message will appear in sense data (requires the
              use of ’-v’ to decode sense data).

       -v, --verbose
              increase the level of verbosity,  (i.e.  debug  output).  "-vvv"
              gives the maximum debug output.

       -V, --version
              print the version string and then exit.

       -w, --wait
              this  option  only  has  an  effect  when used together with the
              --format option. The default format action is to set the "IMMED"
              bit  in  the  FORMAT UNIT command’s (short) parameter header. If
              this option (i.e. --wait) is given then the "IMMED" bit  is  not
              set.  If --wait is given the FORMAT UNIT command waits until the
              format operation completes before returning its  response.  This
              can  be  several  hours on large disks. This utility sets a four
              hour timeout on such a FORMAT UNIT command.

LISTS

       The SBC-3 draft (revision 18) defines PLIST, CLIST, DLIST and GLIST  in
       section  4.10  on "Medium defects". Briefly, the PLIST is the "primary"
       list of manufacturer detected defects, the CLIST ("certification" list)
       contains  those  detected  during  the format operation, the DLIST is a
       list of defects that can be given to the format operation. The GLIST is
       the  grown  list  which starts in the format process as CLIST+DLIST and
       can "grow" later due to automatic reallocation (see the ARRE  and  AWRE
       bits  in  the  read-write error recovery mode page (see sdparm(8))) and
       use of the SCSI REASSIGN BLOCKS command (see sg_reassign(8)).

       The CMPLST bit  (controlled  by  the  --cmplst=0|1  option)  determines
       whether  the  existing  GLIST, when the format operation is invoked, is
       taken into account. The sg_format utility sets  the  FOV  bit  to  zero
       which causes DPRY=0, so the PLIST is taken into account, and DCRT=0, so
       the CLIST is generated and used during the format process.

       The sg_format utility does not permit a user to provide a  defect  list
       (i.e. DLIST).

NOTES

       The SBC-2 standard states that the REQUEST SENSE command should be used
       for  obtaining  a  progress  indication  when  the  format  command  is
       underway.   However,  tests  on  a selection of recent disks shows that
       TEST UNIT READY commands yield progress indications  (but  not  REQUEST
       SENSE  commands). So the current version of this utility uses TEST UNIT
       READY commands to poll the disk to find out the progress of the format.
       A new option may be required to handle this when disks catch up.

       When  the  --format  option is given without the --wait option then the
       SCSI FORMAT UNIT command is issued with the IMMED bit set which  causes
       the  SCSI  command to return after it has started the format operation.
       The --early  option  will  cause  sg_format  to  exit  at  that  point.
       Otherwise  the  DEVICE  is polled every 30 seconds with TEST UNIT READY
       commands until it reports an "all clear" (i.e. the format operation has
       completed).  Normally  these polling commands will result in a progress
       indicator (expressed as a percentage) being output to  the  screen.  If
       the user gets bored watching the progress report then sg_format process
       can be terminated (e.g. with control-C) without  affecting  the  format
       operation  which  continues.  However a bus or device reset (or a power
       cycle) will probably cause the device to become "format corrupt".

       When the --format and --wait options are both given then  this  utility
       may  take  a long time to return. In this case care should be taken not
       to send any other SCSI commands to the  disk  as  it  may  not  respond
       leaving  those  commands  queued behind the active format command. This
       may cause a timeout in the OS driver (in a lot shorter  period  than  4
       hours  applicable to some format operations). This may result in the OS
       resetting the disk leaving the format operation  incomplete.  This  may
       leave  the disk in a "format corrupt" state requiring another format to
       remedy the situation.

       When the block size (i.e. the number of bytes in each block) is changed
       on  a  disk two SCSI commands must be sent: a MODE SELECT to change the
       block size followed by a FORMAT command. If  the  MODE  SELECT  command
       succeeds  and the FORMAT fails then the disk may be in a state that the
       draft  standard  calls  "format  corrupt".  A  block  descriptor  in  a
       subsequent  MODE SENSE will report the requested new block size while a
       READ CAPACITY command will report the existing (i.e.  different)  block
       size.  Alternatively  the READ CAPACITY command may fail, reporting the
       device is not ready, potentially requiring a format.  The  solution  to
       this  situation  is  to  do a format again (and this time the new block
       size does not have to be given) or change the block size  back  to  the
       original size.

       The  SBC-2  standard states that the block count can be set back to the
       manufacturer’s  maximum  recommended  value  in  a  format  or   resize
       operation. This can be done by placing an address of 0xffffffff (or the
       64 bit equivalent) in the appropriate block descriptor field to a  MODE
       SELECT  command.  In  signed  (two’s  complement) arithmetic that value
       corresponds to ’-1’. So a --count=-1 causes the block count to  be  set
       back  to  the  manufacturer’s maximum recommended value. To see exactly
       which SCSI commands are being executed and parameters passed add "-vvv"
       to the sg_format command line.

       Short  stroking  is  a technique to trade off capacity for performance.
       Disk performance is usually highest on the  outer  tracks  (i.e.  lower
       logical  block  addresses)  so  by resizing or reformatting a disk to a
       smaller capacity, average performance will usually be increased.

       Other utilities may be useful in finding  information  associated  with
       formatting.   These   include   sg_inq(8)  to  fetch  standard  INQUIRY
       information (e.g. the PROTECT bit) and to fetch  the  extended  INQUIRY
       VPD page (e.g. RTO and GRD_CHK bits). The sdparm(8) utility can be used
       to access and potentially change the now obsolete format mode page.

       scsiformat is another utility available for formatting SCSI disks  with
       linux.  It  dates  from 1997 (most recent update) and may be useful for
       disks whose firmware is of that vintage.

       The COUNT numeric argument may include a multiplicative  suffix  or  be
       given  in  hexadecimal.  See  the  "NUMERIC  ARGUMENTS"  section in the
       sg3_utils(8) man page.

EXAMPLES

       In the first example below simply find out the existing block count and
       size  derived  from  two  sources:  a block descriptor in a MODE SELECT
       command response and from the response of a READ CAPACITY commands.  No
       changes are made:

          sg_format /dev/sdm

       Now  a  simple  format,  leaving  the block count and size as they were
       previously.  The FORMAT UNIT command is executed in IMMED mode and  the
       device is polled every 30 seconds to print out a progress indication:

          sg_format --format /dev/sdm

       Now the same format, but waiting (passively) until the format operation
       is complete:

          sg_format --format --wait /dev/sdm

       Next is a format in which the block size is changed to  520  bytes  and
       the  block  count  is set to the manufacturer’s maximum value (for that
       block size). Note, not all disks support changing the block size:

          sg_format --format --size=520 /dev/sdm

       Now a resize operation so that only the first 0x10000 (65536) blocks on
       a disk are accessible. The remaining blocks remain unaltered.

          sg_format --resize --count=0x10000 /dev/sdm

       Now resize the disk back to its normal (maximum) block count:

          sg_format --resize --count=-1 /dev/sdm

       Format with type 1 protection:

          sg_format --format --fmtpinfo=3 --pfu /dev/sdm

EXIT STATUS

       The  exit status of sg_format is 0 when it is successful. Otherwise see
       the sg3_utils(8) man page. Unless the --wait option is given, the  exit
       status  may  not reflect the success of otherwise of the format.  Using
       sg_turs(8) and sg_readcap(8) after the format operation may be wise.

AUTHORS

       Written by Grant Grundler, James Bottomley and Douglas Gilbert.

REPORTING BUGS

       Report bugs to <dgilbert at interlog dot com>.

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright © 2005-2009  Grant  Grundler,  James  Bottomley  and  Douglas
       Gilbert
       This  software  is  distributed  under  the  GPL version 2. There is NO
       warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY  or  FITNESS  FOR  A  PARTICULAR
       PURPOSE.

SEE ALSO

       sg_turs(8),    sg_requests(8),   sg_inq(8),   sg_modes(8),   sg_vpd(8),
       sg_reassign(8), sg_readcap(8) [all in sg3_utils], sdparm(8), scsiformat
       (old), hdparm(8)