Product Manual - Disc Drive SCSI-2/SCSI-3 Interface (Vol. 2; Ver. 2), Rev. E 123
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The Format Unit command (Table 5.2.1-3) ensures that the medium is formatted so all of the user address-
able data blocks can be accessed. There is no guarantee that the medium has or has not been altered. In
addition, the medium may be certified and control structures may be created for the management of the
medium and defects.
For systems which support disconnection, the disc drive disconnects while executing the Format Unit com-
mand.
This command is implemented in the drive for mandatory features and a subset of the available optional
features of the ANSI SCSI-2 specification as defined in the following paragraphs.
The drive allows an initiator to specify (or not specify) sectors which are to be reallocated during the format
process. The format parameters to be specified in the Format Unit command are defined in Table 5.2.1-4.
The FORMAT UNIT command shall be rejected with RESERVATION CONFLICT status if the logical unit is
reserved, or any extent reservation, from any initiator, is active in the specified logical unit.
During the format operation, the target shall respond to commands as folows:
1.
In response to all commands except REQUEST SENSE and INQUIRY, the target shall return CHECK
CONDITION status unless a reservation conflict exists in which case RESERVATION CONFLICT status
shall be returned.
2.
In response to the INQUIRY command, the target shall respond as commanded.
3.
In response to the REQUEST SENSE command, unless an error has occurred, the target shall return a
sense key of NOT READY and an additional sense code of LOGICAL UNIT NOT READY FORMAT IN
PROGRESS. Refer to section 11.4 of individual drive model Vol. 1 Product manaul to see if the drive
supports format progress indication, or deferred error handling in case of an error occurrance during
formatting.
