by Sformat 3.1 has been released.
Sformat allows formatting/partitioning/analysis/repairing of SCSI disks
Sformat runs on sparc and motorola on SunOS / Solaris 2.x or later.
NEW features of sformat-3.1:
- Online help for all input
- Byteorder in defect list data corredted (preventive for x86)
- Disk queueing parameters settable
- Added extra questions to prevent unwanted disk modification
- Write label only if disk has been formatted or
Label has been mofified.
- allow shifting of a partition with '>>'
- Vstart & Vend option will work on:
-verify, -randrw & -seek
- Display seek timings with -seek
- Reassign only one bad block at a time
to hack a IBM firmware bug.
- Print percentage of format time.
- Better check if a parameter really needs to be
provided by the user.
- As only to select label if there is more than one
Label for this disk in the database
- Some new disks added to the database
This is a preliminary public version of the sformat utility.
This version is binary for Solaris and SunOS (sparc) only.
You need to unpack the tar file too to get all files needed.
SunOS: sformat-3.1.sparc-sunos4.tar.Z
Solaris: sformat-3.1.tar.Z
There will be source with GPL in the second week of January 1997.
(I need to complete the english troff manual first).
The main advantages to the Sun format utility are:
- Working surface analyze that will detect
defective blocks that are going to get bad.
- Analyzing program that detects defective
bearings in the disk (-randrw).
- Will repair nealy any defective disk, that
has no firmware bug or electric defect.
- Allows to clear the grown defect list if a disk.
- Disk geometry and label geometry are separated.
- Large database of disks including firmware
specials.
- You need no desk calculator to generate
a partition table.
Shorthands for:
- MBytes
- cylinders/head/sectors
- size partition to end on end of disk
- partition following another partition
- partition ending before another partition
- shifting partition on the disk
(allows growing part 0 and shrinking part 1)
- Partition consistency checker with graphical
display.
- Mode page interpreter allows to set easily
all mode pages you will ever find in a manual,
sformat needs not to know about them.
There is an old german documentation located in
/opt/schily/doc and a currently growing nroff/troff document
in sformat.1
To view the troff document, type:
nroff -man sformat.1 | more -s
The disk database is located in /opt/schily/etc/sformat.dat
The 'sformat' program is Copyright 1986-1997 J?rg Schilling,
it is supplied binary in tar format and is tested
on Solaris 2.3, Solaris 2.4 & Solaris 2.5 (sparc).
And on SunOS 4.1.x on Motorola & Sparc.
The first version of sformat has been made in 1986.
Sformat is the first SCSI disk formatting/analyzing/repairing that runs on
SunOS/Solaris. The first release of sformat has been made for SunOS 3.0
(two years before Sun introduced their format utility). Sformat source
including 10 years of competence in SCSI disk handling will be
available within the next few weeks.
You *need* the SCSI general driver 'scg' in order to run sformat.
The 'scg' driver is Copyright 1986-1995 J?rg Schilling,
it is supplied binary in pkgadd(1m) format and is tested
on Solaris 2.3, Solaris 2.4 & Solaris 2.5 (sparc).
To install get:
SCHILYscg.sparc.tar.Z The scg driver in pkgadd format (sparc).
sformat-3.1.tar.Z The sformat for Solaris distribution.
NOTE: These tar archives are 100% ansi compatible. Solaris 2.x tar and GNU
tar may get some minor trouble.
The files are located on:
ftp://ftp.fokus.gmd.de/pub/unix/sformat/ ...
ftp://ftp.fokus.gmd.de/pub/unix/kernel/scg/ ...
Joerg Schilling
(really J?rg Schilling if you have ISO-8859-1)
If you have questions mail to:
--
URL: http://www.fokus.gmd.de/usr/schilling J"org Schilling