SG_FORMAT(8)

NAME

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

SYNOPSIS

sg_format [--cmplst=0|1]  [--count=COUNT]  [--dcrt]  [--early]  [--fmt-
pinfo=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 (C) 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.

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See also