MKFS(8)

NAME
mkfs - construct a filesystem

SYNOPSIS
/etc/mkfs special size [ nsect [ ntrack [ blksize [ fragsize [ ncpg [ minfree [ rps [ nbpi ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ]

DESCRIPTION
mkfs constructs a filesystem by writing on the special file special. mkfs is actually a compatibility interface to the newfs(8) command; in general the newfs(8) is preferred. The numeric size specifies the number of sectors in the filesystem. mkfs builds a filesystem with a root directory; mkfs no longer builds a lost+found directory, as the fsck(8) command is now capable of creating this when needed. The number of inodes is calculated as a function of the filesystem size.

The following optional arguments allow finer control over the parameters of the filesystem:

nsect
    Specifies the number of sectors per track on the disk.

ntrack
    Specifies the number of tracks per cylinder on the disk.

blksize
    Gives the primary block size for files on the filesystem. It must be a power of two, selected from 4096 or 8192.

fragsize
    Gives the fragment size for files on the filesystem. Represents the smallest amount of disk space that will be allocated to a file. It must be a power of two, selected from the range 512 to 8192.

ncpg
    Specifies the number of disk cylinders per cylinder group.

minfree
    Specifies the minimum percentage of free disk space allowed. Once the filesystem capacity reaches this threshold, only the superuser is allowed to allocate disk blocks. The default value is 10%.

rps Specifies the number of revolutions per second, if a disk does not revolve at 60 revolutions per second.

nbpi
    Specifies the number of bytes per inode, if a filesystem will have more or less than the average number of files. Used to increase or decrease the number of inodes that are created.

SEE ALSO
newfs(8), fsck(8), tunefs(8), dir(5), fs(5)

BUGS
There should be some way to specify bad blocks.