BLKTOOL(8)

💖 BLKTOOL(8) 💖

okay so bestie, welcome to BLKTOOL, section 8 of the System Manager's Manual. it's a block device tool. it's giving "i know what your hard drive is doing at all times." let's get into it ✨

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🦋 NAME 🦋

blktool — Display or change block device settings. that's the whole thing. short, sweet, iconic. 💅

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

blktool [options] device [acoustic-mgmt nnn]
blktool [options] device [block-sz nnn]
blktool [options] device [bus-id]
blktool [options] device [bus-state nnn]
blktool [options] device [class]
blktool [options] device [cd-speed nnn]
blktool [options] device [defect-mgmt off|on]
blktool [options] device [dev-keep-settings off|on]
blktool [options] device [dev-read-ahead off|on]
blktool [options] device [dma off|on]
blktool [options] device [geometry]
blktool [options] device [i2o-rcache nnn]
blktool [options] device [i2o-wcache nnn]
blktool [options] device [id]
blktool [options] device [keep-settings off|on]
blktool [options] device [media unlock|lock]
blktool [options] device [multiple-count nnn]
blktool [options] device [no-write-err off|on]
blktool [options] device [pio-data 16-bit|32-bit]
blktool [options] device [pio-mode nnn]
blktool [options] device [pm-mode nnn]
blktool [options] device [queue-depth nnn]
blktool [options] device [read-ahead nnn]
blktool [options] device [readonly off|on]
blktool [options] device [reread-part]
blktool [options] device [reset]
blktool [options] device [sector-sz]
blktool [options] device [sleep]
blktool [options] device [standby]
blktool [options] device [unmask-irq off|on]
blktool [options] device [version]
blktool [options] [version]
blktool [options] device [wcache off|on]

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✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

okay so here's the tea: blktool is used for querying and/or changing settings of a block device. you point it at a device, you ask it questions, or you tell it what to do. main character energy for your storage stack fr fr. 🫶

device is the name of the block device to query or modify. like, the actual thing you're poking at. no device, no vibes.

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💅 OPTIONS 💅

• -f — for a few commands, blktool will flush the buffers of the block device out to disk, before performing the requested command. specify this option — that's "force" — and it disables any flushing blktool would attempt to do. so it's not "do it harder," it's "don't bother flushing first." iykyk. 🙈
• -t class — where class is one of 'ide', 'ata', 'scsi', 'i2o', or 'auto', to override the default auto-detection of device class. you're basically telling it "bestie i already know what this is, stop guessing." 🔥

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👑 COMMANDS 👑

• acoustic-mgmt — query or set the underlying device's acoustic level. yes, your drive can be quiet or loud. slay. 🎀
• block-sz — query or set device block size.
• bus-id — query device bus id.
• bus-state — query or set device bus state (0 off, 1 on, 2 tristate).
• class — query the detected (or overridden, via -t) device class. typically this will result in 'ATA' or 'SCSI' for most devices. detection is based on device major; thus your SATA device may appear as 'SCSI'. yeah, that's just how it is. 🦋
• cd-speed — set CD-ROM device speed (in Kbytes/sec).
• defect-mgmt — toggle the underlying device's defect management. it's obsolete, so, like, it's there, but it's giving vintage. 💀
• dev-keep-settings — toggle the underlying device's revert-to-defaults-on-reset feature.
• dev-read-ahead — toggle the underlying device's read-ahead feature.
• dma — toggle DMA data transfer. omitting the on/off argument will print the current state.
• geometry — query device geometry (cylinders / heads / sectors / etc.).
• i2o-rcache — query or set an I2O block device's read cache.
• i2o-wcache — query or set an I2O block device's write cache.
• id — query IDENTIFY [PACKET] DEVICE data.
• keep-settings — keep settings across device resets. omitting the on/off argument will print the current state.
• media — lock in (or unlock) a removable device.
• multiple-count — set multiple count for use in READ/WRITE MULTIPLE commands.
• no-write-err — toggle ignore-write-errors flag. omitting the on/off argument will print the current state.
• pio-data — ATA PIO data transfer via 16-bit or 32-bit I/O. omitting the on/off argument will print the current state.
• pio-mode — set the underlying ATA device's PIO data transfer mode.
• pm-mode — set the underlying device's Advanced Power Management mode.
• queued-depth — query or set the underlying device's queue depth.
• read-ahead — query or set block device read-ahead (in units of sectors).
• readonly — toggle block device read-only setting. omitting the on/off argument will print the current state.
• reread-part — re-read partition table.
• reset — execute device reset.
• sector-sz — query device sector size.
• sleep — put device to sleep immediately. night night bestie 😴💤
• standby — put device in standby mode.
• unmask-irq — toggle unmasked irqs. omitting the on/off argument will print the current state.
• version — print version number and exit.
• wcache — toggle the underlying device's writeback cache.

not me noticing the synopsis says queue-depth and the command list says queued-depth — we keep both exactly as written, no editing, no "fixing", periodt. 💅

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💀 BUGS 💀

inevitably there are some. 😭 please report any you find. be a good citizen about it.

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🎀 AUTHOR 🎀

blktool was written by Jeff Garzik. king behavior, honestly. 👑

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🌈 AVAILABILITY 🌈

blktool is available over the Web on the SourceForge site at http://sourceforge.net/projects/gkernel/ — go, run, don't walk. 🧚

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and that's the whole page, bestie!! 🥳 this was blktool version 4, from August 2004 — yeah she's an elder but she still ate. go forth and query your block devices. mwah 💖🌸