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 device 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 oldest 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)

COLOPHON
This page is part of release 4.16 of the Linux man-pages project. A description of the project, information about reporting bugs, and the latest version of this page, can be found at https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.