Radio Shack TRS-80 Model II Reference Manual page 119

Utility Programs
FORMAT
Erase and Initialize a Diskette
FORMAT drive {options}
drive
Specifies which drive is to be used for the format operation.
drive
is the drive number. 0, 1,2, or 3. If omitted,
TRSDOS
will
prompt you for the drive number.
{} If no options are given,
TRSDOS
will use defaults, as given
below.
ABS
Tells
TRSDOS
notto warn the operator if the destination
diskette contains data. If
ASS
is omitted,
TRSDOS
will always warn
the operator before overwriting a version 2.0 diskette which
contains file data.
10
=
diskette-name Tells
TRSDOS
the name to assign to the
diskette. If omitted,
TRSDOS
will be used.
PW =
password Tells
TRSDOS
the master password to assign to
the diskette. If omitted,
PASSWORD
will be used. The master
password allows access to all user files (via the
PROT
command), and also allows full
BACKUP
privileges.
DIR =
tracknumber Tells
TRSDOS
where to place the primary
directory. If this option is omitted, track 44 will be used. The
primary directory may be placed on any track from 1-76.
Warning:
SYSTEM/SYS
requires 7 tracks following directory if
diskette is not a data diskette.
ALT
=
tracknumber
Tells
TRSDOS
where to place the alternate
directory. If tracknumber= 00, no alternate directory will be
created. Ifthe
ALT
option is omitted, the primary directory track
number plus swill be used. If the specified or computed
tracknumber>76, track
1
will be used.
verification level
FULL
NONE
is one of the following:
Reads each sector and compares the
value against what was written during
initialization.
No verification is done.
If no verification level is specified,
FULL
is used.
This program initializes a diskette by defining the tracks and sectors. and writing
system information onto the diskette. (For more information on the
TRSDOS
diskette format, see Technical Information.)
The diskette may be blank (new or bulk-erased) or it may already be formatted.
When you re-format a diskette, all previous information is lost.
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