(SOLVED) How do I mount a Floppy Drive?

[linuxist]

I would like to use floppy drive to transfer the occasional word doc to another computer.

The floppy drive is not visible in the left hand pane of my primary & slave drive (logged in as user).

Here is the info from 'Floppy Drive' in 'local disk' in 'Control Centre'
Mount point: /media/floppy
Device: fd0
Name: H1440
Type: auto
Options: umask=0,user,iocharset=utf8,noauto,flush

Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

[djohnston]

linuxist,

This one's a bit more complicated. Unlike a USB device, inserting a floppy into the drive will not cause it to be auto-detected. You need a mount point, which it looks like you already have.

1. Open a terminal and enter:

cat /etc/fstab

There should be an entry that reads:

/dev/fd0 /media/floppy auto umask=0,users,iocharset=utf8,noauto,flush,exec 0 0

If you already have the entry, you are ready for the next steps. If there is no line like that, you need to add it to the /etc/fstab file. You need root privileges to edit that file.

2. Check to see that the mount point already exists. In the terminal, enter:

ls /media

You should see floppy in the contents. If the directory does not already exist, you need to create one as user root. To do so, open a terminal and enter:

su
md /media/floppy
chmod 755 /media/floppy
exit


3. You'll probably want an easy way to access the contents of your floppy disks from your file manager. I don't know which file manager you're using. I'm using PCManFM. I navigated to the /media directory in the file manager, then dragged and dropped the floppy folder from the right window pane to the left one. In the picture below, you can see the contents of a mounted floppy that are displayed by first mounting the floppy, then clicking on the floppy icon in the left pane of the file manager.



4. You have to manually mount and unmount each floppy disk before being able to read and copy its contents. Here are the commands to use.

mount /dev/fd0              <-- mount the floppy for reading

If you receive a message like the following:

mount: block device /dev/fd0 is write-protected, mounting read-only

it means that the write-protect tab on the floppy disk is on.

umount /media/floppy    <-- unmount the floppy

You should get no messages for a successful unmount.

5. As mentioned, the floppy drive is not polled by the hardware or the system to see if a new floppy disk has been inserted, or if one has been removed. For that reason, you need to know how to mount and unmount the floppy disks. You cannot access the contents of a floppy disk until you have first mounted it. You cannot mount another floppy disk until you have first unmounted the previous one.


You may want to create desktop files for mounting and unmounting the disks. If so, post back after you have verified that all of the above is working.

[linuxist]

Thanks. I had only limited success. Here's the results from the terminal & fstab

[linuxist@localhost ~]$ ls /media

cdrom/  cdrom2/  fd0/  floppy/

[linuxist@localhost ~]$ mount /dev/fd0

mount: /dev/fd0 is not a valid block device

[linuxist@localhost ~]$ umount /media/floppy

umount: /media/floppy is not mounted (according to mtab)


# Entry for /dev/sda1 :
UUID=a0da0ecf-3c10-479d-ac58-883f886ec809 / ext4 defaults 1 1
none /dev/pts devpts defaults 0 0
# Entry for /dev/sdb1 :
UUID=76712dde-fadc-4802-91ad-934cf0578fbb /home/david/Data ext4 acl,relatime 1 2
/dev/sr1 /media/cdrom auto umask=0,users,iocharset=utf8,noauto,ro,exec 0 0
/dev/sr0 /media/cdrom2 auto umask=0,users,iocharset=utf8,noauto,ro,exec 0 0
/dev/fd0 /media/floppy auto umask=0,user,iocharset=utf8,noauto,flush 0 0
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
none /tmp tmpfs defaults 0 0
# Entry for /dev/sda5 :
UUID=defe26d5-e19b-47d8-a00f-7532ea0ba6d7 swap swap defaults 0 0
# Entry for /dev/sdb5 :
UUID=c7cf4efd-f3ab-4242-abaa-984a8357deca swap swap defaults 0 0

I notice the line /dev/fd0 ..... reads 'user'. The 2 above it read 'users'.
I assume I should add the missing letter 's' (I didn't type that line in fstab)
I have the floppy folder in the left pane in 'root'. I don't have it in 'user'

[T6]

i am impressed to know that there is still people whit floppy drives and floppy discs

i had enough problems with floppies in the past to dump the 2 or 3 i still had and store the 2 floppy drives i still had, usb replaced floppy along time ago

i remember that old pollack made a very good reply about this topic some months ago but possibly the information is more than covered here by the excellent reply made by djohnston

[djohnston]

Replace your existing fstab line:

/dev/fd0 /media/floppy auto umask=0,user,iocharset=utf8,noauto,flush 0 0

with:

/dev/fd0 /media/floppy auto umask=0,users,iocharset=utf8,noauto,flush,exec 0 0

You are correct. It should be users. You are missing the exec option, as well.

Reboot after verifying the changes are correct. Try again.

EDIT: Also, with the right fstab entry, you do not need root privileges to mount, unmount, read or copy from floppy disks.

[djohnston]

i am impressed to know that there is still people whit floppy drives and floppy discs

Each of my two older machines has a floppy drive. Neither can boot from a USB drive directly. But, I can boot from a USB drive on each machine by first booting a PLOP floppy disk, then passing control to the USB boot device.

[T6]

that is a excellent reason to use a floppy, also a excellent reason to use cdrom or change mainboard, eventually you won't be able to use floppy

[djohnston]

that is a excellent reason to use a floppy, also a excellent reason to use cdrom or change mainboard, eventually you won't be able to use floppy

Well, both machines can boot from a CD. I've received two tubs of still unused floppies since last year. I doubt whether I'll use them all. As far as the motherboard replacements, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. 

[T6]

good luck with the floppies, i would personally convert them into art but considering using them, no

[Xenaflux]

T6

Did you follow a special course in brainwashing, or is this natural ?

 

[Tony]

i am impressed to know that there is still people whit floppy drives and floppy discs

Each of my two older machines has a floppy drive. Neither can boot from a USB drive directly. But, I can boot from a USB drive on each machine by first booting a PLOP floppy disk, then passing control to the USB boot device.

That's a great feature then in my mind as around the Pentuim 4(ish) range of Comps we started seeing Floppiesless, and floppied machines which could or couldn't Boot from a USB Drive, dependant on the BIOS.
Is there info on the Forum djohnston (suppose I'll search) or you have a specific article online describing how to:

"...Neither can boot from a USB drive directly. But, I can boot from a USB drive on each machine by first booting a PLOP floppy disk, then passing control to the USB boot device."

Reason I raise this is a lotta people like to 'try out' a Linux Distro on an old machine laying about, than go head first with their pride and joy.
There's a project I'm working on now where this could be real handy.
Very interesting, thankyou.
 

[Just17]

You should find a few threads discussing PLOP on the forum.

It works well.

[T6]

it is natural, there, just for you  





i found this post from old-pollack, i don't understand much but seems to be the same information posted before

[Xenaflux]

it is natural,   Wink

I can live with that !

there, just for you

Beautiful. Thanks

[linuxist]

djohnston
Thanks. All you told me so far is done & working ok.
1 Yes please, I want to create desktop files for mounting and unmounting the disks. (Your post #1)

2 Just for info . . here is the line in Mtab entry
/dev/fd0 /media/floppy vfat ro,nosuid,nodev,users,umask=0,iocharset=utf8,flush 0 0
(I don't know if it's relevant or correct)

3 Your comment in post #4
"EDIT: Also, with the right fstab entry, you do not need root privileges to mount, unmount, read or copy from floppy disks".
That would be really helpful not to have to go to root - so I would appreciate the right fstab entry.
Thank you. I look forward to your next post.