How to format a new system disk

Surprisingly enough, the process of formatting a new system disk is, shall we say, less than intuitive. With all the graphical glitz inherent to most aspects of the system, I must admit that I expected to be able to select "Install System Software" from the menu and go from there.

Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. Here's what you have to do:

My thanks to Greg Douglas for talking me through these steps, and being an altogether great guy.

Go to the command monitor by selecting it from the menu.
For a list of your system hardware, type hinv at the prompt. Write down the processor ID (IP8, IP12, etc).
Boot sash (the Stand-Alone Shell) by typing
```
	boot -f dksc(0,4,8)sashIP12
```
The IP12 above should be the processor ID you wrote down in the second step above.
Boot FX, the disk utility program, by typing
```
        boot -f dksc(0,4,7)stand/fx.IP12
```
Again, the IP12 above should be the processor ID you wrote down in the second step above.
Answer yes to the Extended mode, all options? question. It will go through a long and involved little ritual, with numerous ominious looking notices. All these notices really mean is that the disk has not yet been formatted, so the system doesn't recognize it.
When it's done, you will see a menu. Type a for automatic setup. The disk will be formatted, which will take a while. It looks like if the format doesn't take close to the claimed time, something is wrong. I had a disk that was supposed to take 60 minutes but actually took 20. The full disk exercise then crashed and burned with unrecoverable errors around 10 minutes into the test. So perhaps you shouldn't celebrate if you seem to have a fast format. Then the system will go through a very detailed check of the disk, which takes about 15-20 minutes if it's working right. One disk I had didn't finish it for 12 hours, but that was because something was wrong with the disk or its installation. If error messages start constantly streaming on your screen, even if they look harmless ("soft error", for instance), the disk probably won't work.
You will be returned from the menu. Select the Install System option and proceed as the prompts direct.
It's worth noting that there are a few heart-stopping messages the first time you run the install system on a new disk. It will say some really ugly looking things about missing this and missing that, and then it will finally realize what's up and offer to make a new file system on your disk. Most heart-stoppingly of all, it will do this twice, first for the root file system and second for /usr. So be prepared for this and don't worry too much.
Unlike on a Linux system, mkfs runs very fast on a SGI. My guess is that most of the real preparation is done during the format and exercise portions that came before.
Install will take an amazingly long time, by the way, even though it's being done from a CD. You'll be pretty continuously updated on progress.
When it's done, you will see a prompt offering to install from another CD. Type 'quit' to exit, and you'll find it still goes through a bewildering and time-consuming ritual before letting you restart the system for the first time.
In other words, be prepared to wait. A lot.

My thanks to Greg Douglas, Tim Laren of Instanet and Paul Bruggeman for help and moral support during this time of crisis.