The Ftape Tools Manual - Invoking Ftformat
-f, --file=FILE
|
Tape device to use. Default is ` | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
-h, -?, --help, --usage
|
Print help information to STDOUT. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
-V, --version
|
Print version information to STDOUT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
-d, --debug
|
Unused yet. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
-v, --verbose
|
Unused yet. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
--parsable-output
|
Terminate each message by a newline, don't use backspace or carriage return characters. Used by the GUI interface ftape-tool (see Ftape-tool). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
-L, --label=LABEL
|
Label to write to the header segment. The label will be truncated if it is longer than 44 characters. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
--omit-erase
|
Don't try to erase the cartridge using | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
--discard-header
|
Don't try to read the old header segment and discard statistics and time stamps contained therein. This affects only already formatted cartridges. This option might be useful when trying to reformat a damaged cartridge. Otherwise it shouldn't be used. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
--no-reference-bursts
|
Don't write the reference bursts, only format and verify. Only useful with preformatted cartridges. The use of this option is deprecated because of two reasons:
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
--print-header
|
Print the contents of the header segment in a keyword-value fashion. The bad sector map is also dumped. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
--verify-only[=[erase-bad-sector-map][,dont-write-header-segments][,erase-cartridge]]
|
Only update the bad sector map, don't re-format. Only possible with
already formatted cartridges. With this option one can try to
"resurrect" cartridges when the tape drive isn't capable of doing a full
format (e.g. The sub-options have the following meaning:
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
-M --dma-memory=SIZE
|
Amount of dma memory to mmap. Measured in kb.Normally not needed. This affects only the version 3.x of the ftape driver. The formatting interface has changed from version 3.x to version 4.x See Start formatting a tape track (info file ftape). See Start formatting a tape track (info file ftape-4). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
-m --mode=MODE
|
MODE has to be one out of ` | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
-p --format-parameters=PARMS
|
This option allows to overwrite the auto-detected values, or help when
the format of the inserted cartridge cannot be auto-detected (e.g. 205ft
QIC-80 cartridges versus 425ft QIC-80 cartridges). With
The meaning of the parameters is:
Alternatively, you may use the following short-cuts for various
fixed length formats. Note that each shortcut is a place holder for a
full set of `
Please refer to the development standards
to be found at the QIC organisation home page for the correct settings of QIC_STD, FORMAT_CODE, MAX_FLOPPY_HEAD, MAX_FLOPPY_TRACK, SEGMENTS_PER_TRACK, TRACKS_PER_TAPE, GAP3 and some recommended settings of FFB. Normally, you only want to use one of the short cuts, or give the desired tape format, i.e. the QIC_STD, or override the number of segments per track (use the latter with extreme prejudice). |
![]() |
Use these buttons to jump to the top menu |