MKEXFATFS(8)

📦 version 1.4.0, in alpine 3.24, arch rolling, nixpkgs unstable, opensuse-leap 16.0

💅 MKEXFATFS(8) — mkexfatfs, from the System Manager's Manual, section 8 🎀

okay so bestie, buckle up, because we're making a file system today and honestly? it's giving main character energy ✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

mkexfatfs — create an exFAT file system. that's it, that's the whole vibe. you point it at a device and it makes an exFAT file system appear. iconic behavior honestly 💖

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

mkexfatfs [ -i volume-id ] [ -n volume-name ] [ -p partition-first-sector ]
          [ -s sectors-per-cluster ] [ -V ] device

(yeah the original wraps that line too, she's long, we respect her 🙈)

💫 DESCRIPTION 💫

mkexfatfs creates an exFAT file system on a block device. device is a special file corresponding to the partition on the device — like, the actual thing you're formatting, not just any old path, okay? 🫶

⚠️ big important heads-up: if this is an MBR partition, then the file system type should be set to 0x07 (NTFS/exFAT) — otherwise other operating systems may refuse to mount the file system. no cap, set it right or they'll just ghost you 😭

✨ OPTIONS ✨

Command line options available, aka the little knobs you can twist:

  • -i volume-id — a 32-bit hexadecimal number. by default a value based on current time is set, so she picks a lil timestamp for herself 🕰️
  • -n volume-name — volume name (label), up to 15 characters. by default no label is set. keep it short and cute, 15 char max, that's the law 💅
  • -p partition-first-sector — first sector of the partition starting from the beginning of the whole disk. so here's the tea: the exFAT super block has a field for this value but in fact it's optional and does not affect anything 🙈. default is 0.
  • -s sectors-per-cluster — number of physical sectors per cluster (cluster is an allocation unit in exFAT, iykyk). must be a power of 2, i.e. 1, 2, 4, 8, etc. cluster size can not exceed 32 MB. default cluster sizes are: 4 KB if volume size is less than 256 MB, 32 KB if volume size is from 256 MB to 32 GB, 128 KB if volume size is 32 GB or larger. she scales with you, queen 👑
  • -V — print version and copyright. just a lil flex, no formatting happens 💀

🌈 EXIT CODES 🌈

Zero is returned on successful creation. any other code means an error. so if you see 0, slay, you ate 💖 if not... girl, something went wrong 🍓

🧚 AUTHOR 🧚

Andrew Nayenko — the legend who made this happen 🫶

⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

mkfs(8), fdisk(8) — go read those too bestie, they're the supporting cast 🦋

okay that's the whole page! this was brought to you by the System Manager's Manual, dated January 2014 💜 now go forth and format responsibly, and remember: setting the partition type to 0x07 is the bare minimum, periodt 💅✨

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