fdformat

Low-level format a floppy disk

SYNTAX
      fdformat [ -n ] device

OPTIONS
       -n     No verify.  This will disable the verification
              that is performed after the format.

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 pur­
poses only):

              /dev/fd0d360  (minor = 4)
              /dev/fd0h1200 (minor = 8)
              /dev/fd0D360  (minor = 12)
              /dev/fd0H360  (minor = 12)
              /dev/fd0D720  (minor = 16)
              /dev/fd0H720  (minor = 16)
              /dev/fd0h360  (minor = 20)
              /dev/fd0h720  (minor = 24)
              /dev/fd0H1440 (minor = 28)

              /dev/fd1d360  (minor = 5)
              /dev/fd1h1200 (minor = 9)
              /dev/fd1D360  (minor = 13)
              /dev/fd1H360  (minor = 13)
              /dev/fd1D720  (minor = 17)
              /dev/fd1H720  (minor = 17)
              /dev/fd1h360  (minor = 21)
              /dev/fd1h720  (minor = 25)
              /dev/fd1H1440 (minor = 29)

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.

"Does it look like this has any bad or missing sectors to you?"

Related Linux Bash commands:

format - Format disks or tapes
mtools - Manipulate MS-DOS files
fd(4), setfdprm(8), mkfs(8), emkfs(8)

Equivalent Windows XP commands:

FORMAT - Format a disk