Description of the statements

VSN = vsn
Volume serial number (must be specified)

The alphanumeric value, max. 6 characters, is written in the volume serial number field of the standard volume label (SVL). If the volume is to be initialized for later use as a public volume, the following should be noted, depending on the length of the pubset ID:

• single character ID for the pubset
  The volume serial number begins with the characters PUB. The fourth character is the pubset ID. The final two characters must be numeric, e.g. PUBA01. Zeros in these two positions identify a volume as the system residence, e.g. PUBA00.

• two- to four-character ID for the pubset
  The first characters are the pubset identifier. The end of the identifier is indicated by a period in the next position. The conventions applying to the remaining positions are as follows:

  • NK2 (8K, 64K) disks:
    digits (0..9) and letters (A..Z) are permissible
    Examples
    VSN with two-character pubset identifier: RZ.90Z
    VSN with three-character pubset identifier: KH2.W0
    VSN with four-character pubset identifier: AFLN.8

  • NK2 (6K) disks:
    The last character must be a digit or a letter from the set A..V. All other positions must contain zeros.
    Examples
    VSN with two-character pubset identifier: AB.005
    VSN with three-character pubset identifier: ABC.0F
    VSN with four-character pubset identifier: ABCD.0

DEVICE = device-type
Device type (must be specified if no UNIT was specified).
Type of disk to be initialized/repaired.
The permissible values for this statement: see the “System Installation” manual [7 (Related publications)].

The DEVICE specification may be omitted if the device has already been specified in a UNIT statement.

CHECK = SCRATCH
Entry (default value) when no specific volume is to be initialized. VOLIN reports on the volume assigned and asks whether it can be overwritten.

CHECK = vsn
Volume serial number (max. 6 characters).
Old volume serial number of the disk to be initialized. Only a volume bearing this volume serial number will be initialized. Following assignment, the volume is overwritten without first requesting confirmation from the user.

UNIT = mn
Mnemonic device name.
mn is the 2- or 4-character name assigned to a particular device at hardware generation. This statement must be entered if the user wishes to specify a particular device for initialization. If the statement UNIT=mn is not specified, either the system selects an available device of the correct type, or the operator does so by responding to the MOUNT message.

The DEVICE specification may be omitted if the device has already been specified in a UNIT statement.

The initialization is not carried out if the DEVICE and UNIT specifications contradict each other.

FMT = YES
The disk is to be overwritten with a specific bit pattern once during the initialization run (default value). YES is equivalent to FMT=1 (see FMT=n below).

FMT = NO
Initialization of the disk is to be carried out without overwriting.

FMT = n
The disk is to be overwritten with a specific bit pattern “n” times during the initialization run. n is a decimal number between 0 and 10.
0 is equivalent to FMT=NO, i.e. no overwriting. In each overwrite pass, a specific test pattern is recorded. For a new pass, the test pattern is changed to the next one in the (cyclical) sequence.

FMT is ignored for Thin Devices . Thin devices can only be recognized with SHC-OSD.

UNAME = name
Owner name consisting of up to 10 alphanumeric characters and written in the name field of the SVL. The first character must be a letter or one of the following characters: If no value is specified, blanks are used.

F1SIZE = n
Decimal number (1 - 32766).
This statement applies only to private volumes. The decimal number is the number of PAM blocks to be reserved for the format 1 label. If necessary, the specified value is rounded up to give an integral number of units. A maximum of about 16 files can be cataloged in one block.
If no value is specified, 1000 PAM blocks are allocated for the F1 label on a private volume. (For compatibility reasons, the keyword VTOC may be used instead of F1SIZE.)

FORMAT = UNCHANGED
The volume type is to remain unchanged. This value assumes the volume has a valid SVL. Otherwise value K is used by default.

FORMAT = K
The volume is to be usable with PAM keys.

FORMAT = NK(PHYSICAL-BLOCK-SIZE = 2K(ALLOCATION-UNIT = 6/8/64))
The volume is to be usable without PAM keys. Only the NK DMS access methods are permissible. The block size is to be 2 Kbytes, the smallest allocation unit (i.e. the smallest memory unit provided by the system) is to be 6, 8 or 64 Kbytes.
Default for ALLOCATION UNIT is 6 Kbytes.

PHYSICAL-BLOCK-SIZE = 2K
Length of the minimum transfer unit (TU), i.e. size (in Kbytes) of the smallest possible data block for transfer between the disk and main memory.

ALLOCATION-UNIT = 6 / 8 / 64
Minimum allocation unit in Kbytes, i.e. smallest unit in memory made available by the system when a file is created.

Restrictions

The following can be specified for public volumes only:
FORMAT=NK(PHYSICAL-BLOCK-SIZE=2K(ALLOCATION-UNIT=8))
FORMAT=NK(PHYSICAL-BLOCK-SIZE=2K(ALLOCATION-UNIT=64))

EOT = YES
The set of statements is to be concluded with the current input line and initialization carried out. (All statements in the current input line are processed.)

END
VOLIN is to be terminated after the current set of statements has been processed. (For reasons of compatibility, H or HALT may be used instead of END. Apart from END or HALT no other statements will be accepted in the input line.)