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FD(4)                                                                   Linux Programmer's Manual                                                                  FD(4)

NAME
       fd - floppy disk device

CONFIGURATION
       Floppy  drives  are block devices with major number 2.  Typically they are owned by root:floppy (i.e., user root, group floppy) and have either mode 0660 (access
       checking via group membership) or mode 0666 (everybody has access).  The minor numbers encode the device type, drive number, and controller number.  For each de‐
       vice  type (that is, combination of density and track count) there is a base minor number.  To this base number, add the drive's number on its controller and 128
       if the drive is on the secondary controller.  In the following device tables, n represents the drive number.

       Warning: if you use formats with more tracks than supported by your drive, you may cause it mechanical damage.  Trying once if more tracks than the  usual  40/80
       are  supported  should  not  damage  it, but no warranty is given for that.  If you are not sure, don't create device entries for those formats, so as to prevent
       their usage.

       Drive-independent device files which automatically detect the media format and capacity:

       Name    Base
              minor #
       ───────────────
       fdn       0

       5.25 inch double-density device files:

       Name         Capacity   Cyl.   Sect.   Heads    Base
                      KiB                             minor #
       ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────
       fdnd360        360       40      9       2        4

       5.25 inch high-density device files:

       Name         Capacity   Cyl.   Sect.   Heads    Base
                      KiB                             minor #
       ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────
       fdnh360        360       40      9       2       20
       fdnh410        410       41     10       2       48
       fdnh420        420       42     10       2       64
       fdnh720        720       80      9       2       24
       fdnh880        880       80     11       2       80
       fdnh1200       1200      80     15       2        8
       fdnh1440       1440      80     18       2       40
       fdnh1476       1476      82     18       2       56
       fdnh1494       1494      83     18       2       72
       fdnh1600       1600      80     20       2       92

       3.5 inch double-density device files:

       Name         Capacity   Cyl.   Sect.   Heads    Base
                      KiB                             minor #
       ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────
       fdnu360        360       80      9       1       12
       fdnu720        720       80      9       2       16
       fdnu800        800       80     10       2       120
       fdnu1040       1040      80     13       2       84
       fdnu1120       1120      80     14       2       88

       3.5 inch high-density device files:

       Name         Capacity   Cyl.   Sect.   Heads    Base
                      KiB                             minor #
       ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────
       fdnu360        360       40      9       2       12
       fdnu720        720       80      9       2       16

       fdnu820        820       82     10       2       52
       fdnu830        830       83     10       2       68
       fdnu1440       1440      80     18       2       28
       fdnu1600       1600      80     20       2       124
       fdnu1680       1680      80     21       2       44
       fdnu1722       1722      82     21       2       60
       fdnu1743       1743      83     21       2       76
       fdnu1760       1760      80     22       2       96
       fdnu1840       1840      80     23       2       116
       fdnu1920       1920      80     24       2       100

       3.5 inch extra-density device files:

       Name         Capacity   Cyl.   Sect.   Heads    Base
                      KiB                             minor #
       ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────
       fdnu2880       2880      80     36       2       32
       fdnCompaQ      2880      80     36       2       36
       fdnu3200       3200      80     40       2       104
       fdnu3520       3520      80     44       2       108
       fdnu3840       3840      80     48       2       112

DESCRIPTION
       fd special files access the floppy disk drives in raw mode.  The following ioctl(2) calls are supported by fd devices:

       FDCLRPRM
              clears the media information of a drive (geometry of disk in drive).

       FDSETPRM
              sets the media information of a drive.  The media information will be lost when the media is changed.

       FDDEFPRM
              sets the media information of a drive (geometry of disk in drive).  The media information will not be lost when the media is changed.  This  will  disable
              autodetection.  In order to reenable autodetection, you have to issue an FDCLRPRM.

       FDGETDRVTYP
              returns the type of a drive (name parameter).  For formats which work in several drive types, FDGETDRVTYP returns a name which is appropriate for the old‐
              est drive type which supports this format.

       FDFLUSH
              invalidates the buffer cache for the given drive.

       FDSETMAXERRS
              sets the error thresholds for reporting errors, aborting the operation, recalibrating, resetting, and reading sector by sector.

       FDSETMAXERRS
              gets the current error thresholds.

       FDGETDRVTYP
              gets the internal name of the drive.

       FDWERRORCLR
              clears the write error statistics.

       FDWERRORGET
              reads the write error statistics.  These include the total number of write errors, the location and disk of the first write error, and  the  location  and
              disk of the last write error.  Disks are identified by a generation number which is incremented at (almost) each disk change.

       FDTWADDLE
              Switch the drive motor off for a few microseconds.  This might be needed in order to access a disk whose sectors are too close together.

       FDSETDRVPRM
              sets various drive parameters.

       FDGETDRVPRM
              reads these parameters back.

       FDGETDRVSTAT
              gets the cached drive state (disk changed, write protected et al.)

       FDPOLLDRVSTAT
              polls the drive and return its state.

       FDGETFDCSTAT
              gets the floppy controller state.

       FDRESET
              resets the floppy controller under certain conditions.

       FDRAWCMD
              sends a raw command to the floppy controller.

       For more precise information, consult also the <linux/fd.h> and <linux/fdreg.h> include files, as well as the floppycontrol(1) manual page.

FILES
       /dev/fd*

NOTES
       The  various  formats  permit reading and writing many types of disks.  However, if a floppy is formatted with an inter-sector gap that is too small, performance
       may drop, to the point of needing a few seconds to access an entire track.  To prevent this, use interleaved formats.

       It is not possible to read floppies which are formatted using GCR (group code recording), which is used by Apple II and Macintosh computers (800k disks).

       Reading floppies which are hard sectored (one hole per sector, with the index hole being a little skewed) is not supported.  This used to be  common  with  older
       8-inch floppies.

SEE ALSO
       chown(1), floppycontrol(1), getfdprm(1), mknod(1), superformat(1), mount(8), setfdprm(8)

Linux                                                                          2020-08-13                                                                          FD(4)