[SOLVED] Unable to access my floppy drive

[junkjunk]

I'm unable to access my floppy drive.
I've installed PCLinuxOS 2010 onto a computer that is less than a year old (Compaq QC5210F).
All of the hardware works under Windows XP.
Under PCLinuxOS, the internal floppy drive fails to read or write (it uses the standard floppy hardware interface, not USB).

Specifically:
- format new floppy disk using Windows XP (test the disk to make sure it works)
- remove new floppy disk
- boot into PCLinuxOS 2010
- load new formatted floppy disk into floppy drive
- open Dolphin
- click on "Floppy ..."
    For about 30 seconds, I can hear the drive trying to access the disk.  Then it stops.
    The Dolphin window still shows the contents of "~/Home", instead of the contents of the floppy.
- click on "Floppy ..." a second time
    I get the following error message:
    "An error occurred while accessing the 'Floppy Drive', the system responded:
     org.freedesktop.Hal.Device.Volume.AlreadyMounted: Device /dev/fd0 is already mounted."

What am I doing wrong?

[Old-Polack]

I'm unable to access my floppy drive.
I've installed PCLinuxOS 2010 onto a computer that is less than a year old (Compaq QC5210F).
All of the hardware works under Windows XP.
Under PCLinuxOS, the internal floppy drive fails to read or write (it uses the standard floppy hardware interface, not USB).

Specifically:
- format new floppy disk using Windows XP (test the disk to make sure it works)
- remove new floppy disk
- boot into PCLinuxOS 2010
- load new formatted floppy disk into floppy drive
- open Dolphin
- click on "Floppy ..."
    For about 30 seconds, I can hear the drive trying to access the disk.  Then it stops.
    The Dolphin window still shows the contents of "~/Home", instead of the contents of the floppy.
- click on "Floppy ..." a second time
    I get the following error message:
    "An error occurred while accessing the 'Floppy Drive', the system responded:
     org.freedesktop.Hal.Device.Volume.AlreadyMounted: Device /dev/fd0 is already mounted."

What am I doing wrong?

Have you tried navigating to the directory where the floppy is mounted?

[junkjunk]

old-polack, thank-you for the help.

I checked "/proc/mounts" and found that "/dev/fd0" was mounted in "/media/disk".
I navigated to  "/media/disk/" and found that it holds the contents of the floppy disk.
One problem solved.

Next problem.
Unfortunately, if I swap the floppy disk with another disk, "/media/disk/" does not update.
It does not show the contents of the new disk (it continues to show the contents of the first disk, not the new second disk).
In an attempt to force it to update the contents, I tried clicking on "Floppy ..." in Dolphin.  That failed.  Just an error message.
So how do I unmount a floppy, and remount a new floppy?  (I have not found an unmount option in Dolphin.)

Windows XP does this floppy mount/unmount automatically.
My readings on the web indicate that KDE 4.2 and above should mount/unmount a floppy automatically. (http://forums.opensuse.org/get-help-here/hardware/422165-floppy-disk-drive-problem.html).  Unfortunately, this feature does not seem to be working in PCLinuxOS 2010.
Is there anyway to get PCLinuxOS/KDE/Dolphin to mount/unmount a floppy automatically?

(I'm sorry if my questions are basic.  I'm trying to make the transition from XP to Linux.  I appreciate your help.)

Edit:
After further reading, this auto mount/unmount problem appears to be a 2+ year old bug in KDE/Hal that still hasn't been fixed.
(http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=153923)
So I started looking for a work around.
KDE/Hal and the original Linux mount/umount systems do not handle floppy disks in the same manner.
I discovered that when using Dolphin/KDE/Hal, mounting the floppy in Dolphin does not include the floppy in "/etc/fstab".
This difference leads to further problems.
As su, I unmounted the floppy using "umount /media/disk".  But then I couldn't get Dolphin to mount a new floppy.
So I can't use the original Linux approach to unmount a floppy, because it breaks the next mount attempt by Dolphin/KDE/Hal.
So how do I manually tell "Dolphin/KDE/Hal" to unmount the floppy (without having to reboot the whole system)?

[Old-Polack]

Thank-you for the help old-polack,

Shouldn't clicking on "Floppy ..." in Dolphin take me to the mounted directory of the floppy?

I checked "/proc/mounts" and found that "/dev/fd0" was mounted in "/media/disk".
I navigated to  "/media/disk/" and found that it holds the contents of the floppy disk.
One problem solved.

Unfortunately, if I swap the floppy disk with another disk, "/media/disk/" does not update.
It does not show the contents of the new disk (it continues to show the contents of the first disk, not the new second disk).
In an attempt to force it to update the contents, I tried clicking on "Floppy ..." in Dolphin.  That failed.  Just an error message.
So how do I unmount a floppy, and remount a new floppy?

Windows XP does this floppy mount/unmount automatically.
Is there anyway to get Linux to mount/unmount a floppy automatically?

(I'm sorry if my questions are basic.  I'm trying to make the transition from XP to Linux.  I appreciate your help.)

 
From the command line,

$ umount /media/floppy

If there is a line in /etc/fstab for the floppy, like this one;

/dev/fd0    /mnt/floppy    auto    rw,user,noauto,exec   0 0

and if the /mnt/floppy directory has been created, one can right click the desktop and choose Create New --> Link to Device --> Floppy Device. On the Device tab, choose the proper device from the drop down menu box at the top. Click the generic icon and select the Floppy device icon from amongst the choices. Click the OK button at the bottom.

You now have a launcher icon on the desktop to mount a floppy. Here's the silly part. Insert a floppy, then click the icon. You get this;



Click the OK button to remove the error window.

Right click the Floppy Device launcher and choose Open With --> KWrite. You'll see this;

[Desktop Action Format]
Exec=kfloppy %v
Name=Format
Name[af]=Formaat
Name[ar]=تهيئة
Name[as]=আকৃতি
Name[be@latin]=Farmatuj
Name[be]=Фармат
Name[bg]=Форматиране
Name[bn]=ফরম্যাট
Name[bn_IN]=বিন্যাস
Name[br ]=Furmadiñ
Name[ca@valencia]=Format
Name[ca]=Format
Name[cs]=Formát
Name[csb]=Fòrmat
Name[cy]=Fformat
Name[da]=Format
Name[de]=Formatieren
Name[el]=Μορφή
Name[en_GB]=Format
Name[eo]=Formato
Name[es]=Formato
Name[et]=Vorming
Name[eu]=Formatua
Name[fa]=قالب
Name[fi]=Formatoi
Name[fr]=Format
Name[fy]=Formattearje
Name[ga]=Formáid
Name[gl]=Formato
Name[gu]=બંધારણ
Name[he]=אתחל
Name[hi]=फॉर्मेट
Name[hne]=फार्मेट
Name[hr ]=Oblik
Name[hsb]=Format
Name[hu]=Formázás
Name[id]=Format
Name[is]=Snið
Name[it]=Formatta
Name[ja]=フォーマット
Name[ka]=ფორმატი
Name[kk]=Пішім
Name[km]=ទ្រង់ទ្រាយ
Name[kn]=ಸಪಾಟುಗೊಳಿಸು/ವಿನ್ಯಾಸ
Name[ko]=포맷
Name[ku]=Formatkirin
Name[lt]=Formatuoti
Name[lv]=Formatēt
Name[mai]=प्रारूप
Name[mk]=Формат
Name[ml]=രീതി
Name[mr]=स्वरुप
Name[ms]=Format
Name[nb]=Format
Name[nds]=Formateren
Name[nl]=Formatteren
Name[nn]=Format
Name[oc]=Format
Name[or]=ଶୈଳୀ
Name[pa]=ਫਾਰਮੈਟ
Name[pl]=Format
Name[pt]=Formatar
Name[pt_BR]=Formato
Name[ro]=Format
Name[ru]=Формат
Name[se]=Formáhtta
Name[si]=සංයුතිය
Name[sk]=Formát
Name[sl]=Formatiraj
Name[sr@ijekavian]=Формат
Name[sr@ijekavianlatin]=Format
Name[sr@latin]=Format
Name[sr]=Формат
Name[sv]=Format
Name[ta]=வடிவம்
Name[te]=ఫార్మెట్
Name[tg]=Формат
Name[th]=รูปแบบ
Name[table ][tr ][td ]=Biçim
Name[uk]=Формат
Name[uz@cyrillic]=Формат қилиш
Name[uz]=Format qilish
Name[vi]=Định dạng
Name[wa]=Abwesner
Name[x-test]=xxFormatxx
Name[xh]=Ifomati
Name[zh_CN]=格式化
Name[zh_TW]=格式

[Desktop Entry]
Actions=Format;
Dev=/dev/fd0
Icon=3floppy_mount
MountPoint=/mnt/floppy
ReadOnly=false
Type=FSDevice
UnmountIcon=media-floppy
X-KDE-Priority=TopLevel

Delete or comment # the line highlighted in blue, then save the file. This makes no sense at all, but do it. As near as I can tell, the lack of this line forces mount to source /etc/fstab for the mount point, where it also finds that the user does have permission to mount the device.

Clicking the launcher will now mount the floppy, and open Dolphin at the mount point. Right clicking the launcher will offer either Mount or Unmount, options, depending on the current state of the floppy. If you've written to the floppy, close the Dolphin window then right click the launcher, select Unmount, but wait for the floppy drive light to stop blinking, before removing the disk. The system sometimes holds back part of the write process, and only completes it when the unmount command is given. If you don't wait, your files could become corrupted.

[junkjunk]

Old-Polack, Thank-you!
You went out of your way to help.  I appreciate it.
Your instructions worked!
Beautiful!
Again, thanks!

For other people who may be interested, below is Old-Polack's procedure in a text only form (you can easily save it):

Add an icon to the Desktop that will mount and unmount the floppy disk
 - open a terminal window
   . su
   . enter your password
   . umount /media/floppy <- you might get an error message.  Ignore it.
   . edit "/etc/fstab"
   . add: "/dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto rw,user,noauto,exec 0 0"
   . save and close
   . close the terminal window
 - on the Desktop:
   . right click->Create New->Link to Device->Floppy Device
   . select "Device" tab
   . choose "/dev/fd0" from the drop down menu
   . click on the generic icon (lower left side) labeled "Unmounted Icon"
   . select the "media-floppy" icon
   . OK
 - insert a floppy disk
 - click on "Floppy Device Icon" on Desktop
   . An error pop-up will appear.  Ignore it.  Click "OK" to get rid of it.
   . right click->Floppy Device Icon->Open With->KWrite
   . Place a "#" in front of "MountPoint=/mnt/floppy".  It should look like "# MountPoint=/mnt/floppy".
   . Save and close
 - To mount and unmount the floppy from the Desktop:
   . Left  click->Floppy Device Icon          <- mounts   floppy and opens Dolphin at the mount point
   . Right click->Floppy Device Icon->Unmount <- unmounts floppy

[Old-Polack]

Old-Polack, Thank-you!
You went out of your way to help.  I appreciate it.
Your instructions worked!
Beautiful!
Again, thanks!

For other people who may be interested, below is Old-Polack's procedure in a text only form (you can easily save it):

Add an icon to the Desktop that will mount and unmount the floppy disk
 - open a terminal window
   . su
   . enter your password
   . umount /media/floppy <- you might get an error message.  Ignore it.
   . edit "/etc/fstab"
   . add: "/dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto rw,user,noauto,exec 0 0"
   . save and close
   . close the terminal window
 - on the Desktop:
   . right click->Create New->Link to Device->Floppy Device
   . select "Device" tab
   . choose "/dev/fd0" from the drop down menu
   . click on the generic icon (lower left side) labeled "Unmounted Icon"
   . select the "media-floppy" icon
   . OK
 - insert a floppy disk
 - click on "Floppy Device Icon" on Desktop
   . An error pop-up will appear.  Ignore it.  Click "OK" to get rid of it.
   . right click->Floppy Device Icon->Open With->KWrite
   . Place a "#" in front of "MountPoint=/mnt/floppy".  It should look like "# MountPoint=/mnt/floppy".
   . Save and close
 - To mount and unmount the floppy from the Desktop:
   . Left  click->Floppy Device Icon          <- mounts   floppy and opens Dolphin at the mount point
   . Right click->Floppy Device Icon->Unmount <- unmounts floppy

You left out one step, while in the root terminal.

[root@localhost ~]# mkdir /mnt/floppy            <Enter>

This creates the mount point directory referred to in the /etc/fstab line.

[junkjunk]

Old-Polack, thank-you for the correction.  Below is your updated procedure:

Add an icon to the Desktop that will mount and unmount the floppy disk
 - open a terminal window
   . su
   . enter your password
   . umount /media/floppy <- you might get an error message.  Ignore it.
   . mkdir /mnt/floppy
   . edit "/etc/fstab"
   . add: "/dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto rw,user,noauto,exec 0 0"
   . save and close
   . close the terminal window
 - on the Desktop:
   . right click->Create New->Link to Device->Floppy Device
   . select "Device" tab
   . choose "/dev/fd0" from the drop down menu
   . click on the generic icon (lower left side) labeled "Unmounted Icon"
   . select the "media-floppy" icon
   . OK
 - insert a floppy disk
 - click on "Floppy Device Icon" on Desktop
   . An error pop-up will appear.  Ignore it.  Click "OK" to get rid of it.
   . right click->Floppy Device Icon->Open With->KWrite
   . Place a "#" in front of "MountPoint=/mnt/floppy".  It should look like "# MountPoint=/mnt/floppy".
   . Save and close
 - To mount and unmount the floppy from the Desktop:
   . Left  click->Floppy Device Icon          <- mounts   floppy and opens Dolphin at the mount point
   . Right click->Floppy Device Icon->Unmount <- unmounts floppy