NEXTSTEP PLIFloppyInit

PLI External SCSI Floppy Drive format boot block extends beyond front porch



Q:  When I try to format a floppy disk with my external SCSI floppy drive, it fails and shows an alert panel that says "Cannot initialize disk. See console for errors." In the console I see this message if it is a new unformatted disk:
/usr/etc/disk -i -h localhost -l "UntitledDisk"  /dev/rsd1a
Target 5: MEDIA ERROR; block 0H retry 1
Target 5: MEDIA ERROR; block 0H retry 2
Target 5: MEDIA ERROR; block 0H retry 3
Target 5: MEDIA ERROR; block 0H retry 4
Target 5: MEDIA ERROR; block 0H retry 5
Target 5: MEDIA ERROR; block 0H retry 6
Target 5: MEDIA ERROR; block 0H retry 7
Target 5: MEDIA ERROR; block 0H retry 8
Target 5: MEDIA ERROR; block 0H retry 9
sd1 (5,0): sense key:0x3  additional sense code:0x12
    SCSI Block in error = 0 (no valid label)
Read of sector 0 failed

If the disk have been formatted and you try to re-initialize the disk, you will see this message in the console:
/usr/etc/disk -i -h localhost -l "UntitledDisk"  /dev/rsd1a
disk name: PLI SUPER FLOPPY
disk type: removable_rw_scsi
device = /dev/rsd1a   block size = 512   capacity = 1 MBytes
Disk Format in progress...
***Format Complete***
writing disk label
boot block extends beyond front porch

How can I initialize floppy disks.


A:  This assumes your external SCSI floppy drive is at sd1.

You must be logged in as, or su'd to root.

(You type the things in bold...)

localhost:18# sdform /dev/rsd1a
device = /dev/rsd1a   block size = 512   capacity = 1 MBytes

***FORMATTING THIS DISK CAUSES ALL DISK DATA TO BE LOST***
   This will take approximately 5 minutes.

   Do you wish to proceed? (Y/anything) Y

Disk Format in progress...
***Format Complete***
localhost:19# disk /dev/rsd1a
disk name: PLI SUPER FLOPPY
disk type: removable_rw_scsi
Disk utility

disk> label
label information: print, write? write
enter host name: localhost
enter disk label: UntitledDisk 
writing disk label
disk> quit
localhost:20# newfs /dev/rsd1a
setting optimization for space with minfree less than 10
Warning: 12 sector(s) in last cylinder unallocated
/dev/rsd1a:     1392 sectors in 78 cylinders of 2 tracks, 9 sectors
        1.4Mb in 5 cyl groups (16 c/g, 0.29Mb/g, 64 i/g)
super-block backups (for fsck -b#) at:
 16, 320, 592, 896, 1168,
localhost:21# disk -e /dev/rsd1a
disk name: PLI SUPER FLOPPY
disk type: removable_rw_scsi
localhost:22#

Valid: 3.1, 3.2 68K
QAxx				[xx will be replaced by the unique QAP number]