How do I free up disk space on a floppy after I have erased a file from the disk? For example, I erased a 500 Mb file from a floppy, which is now empty, but when I try to save a large file to the same disk, it states that it is full. Any help would be appreciated..

Mark

k i might be missing something, but we have to get someting straight here, because otherwise i know i personally am unable to answer this without the solution to this question....how do you fit 500megs on a floppy?

I have this problem too (?it might have something to do with supermount on Mandrake). Think it occasionally gets fixed by mkfsvfat?, i.e. making a new file system on the disk.

This is a real bugger of a problem and I too would greatly appreciate an answer.

Oops! Sorry, I meant 500k. Thanks for pointing this out!

Mark

By what method are you deleting files? Have you tried using the rm command in a console window?

Hope am not hijacking this thread or something. Am only assuming mine is the same problem as mleschis.

Would normally delete by doing rm /mnt/floppy/filename at the black screen, I should think.

Problem is thing insists the disc is full and so won't put stuff in it. Had assumed it fault of cheap discs or iffy drive but if someone else has the problem then maybe not. It can make making multi-archive backups to floppies almost impossible. Incidentally mkfs?, make filesystem of some kind, often won't work properly.

I am not good with all of the linux commands, so I don't use the console very much - I'm a recently converted MSWindows guy. This problem crops up primarily when I delete files using Konqueror (highlight on the file name and press the delete key, or right click on the mouse and select delete from the dialogue box). Can't linux reclaim the residual space left on the floppy after a file is erased? Is there a special command or process for accomplishing this, or is this just the way linux works?

Mark

Linux is normally able to write to and delete files from a floppy the same as Windows, IE space is reclaimed after deletion.
While the floppy is mounted, run "df -h /dev/fd0" in a terminal to see the used and free space.
Occasional reformatting of a floppy is a good idea if it is used a lot.

My experience with Konqueror suggests other possibilities, too . To avoid problems like these I do the following things (in the order of the desired results):

1. Never go on /mnt/floppy coming from a different device / mount point.

2. Open Konqueror by right-clicking on the floppy's symbol on the desktop and choosing mount (which openes an instance of Konqueror).

3. Do what you have to do .

4. umount

5. Then check results like described above (i.e. goto 2.).

6. Addendum: Konqueror has its surprises (dunno why).

7. Addendum-addendum: It would be nice if you used the User CP to show your distro and version, makes answering sometimes easier and more to the point ... .

Thank you for the suggestions so far......

The floppy problems I am encountering occurs with the two linux distributions I am experimenting with: ELX and Mandrake. I understand that both distributions employ “supermount” to access the floppy drive. Even after unmounting the floppy and then placing it into a windows floppy drive, it still shows the space formerly occupied by the deleted file as being unavailable. The only way I can reclaim the space is by formatting the floppy again. Anybody have ideas why this occurs?


Mark

You might try going to the fstab, 'file system table', file as root and commenting out the supermount line; replacing this line with an ordinary /mnt/floppy line not using supermount, so that floppies would need to be mounted and unmounted with the mount and umount commands.

Does this fix the problem?

(Anyway, is supermount of much utility? It seems to be there solely to make things more Windowy.)

Regret cannot do this myself at present.

Well, I guess I prefer having the computer do the mounting / unmounting rather than doing it manually. Am I correct in assuming, then, that working with floppies in linux doesn't offer the same functionality as in windows (e.g., being able to simply pop floppies in and out of the drive & recover freed-up space, all in one motion)?

Mark

Understandably so, after all, that's what the box is used and good for .

No, the functionalities are the same, with the difference, that you have to umount before popping the floppy medium out (or type "synch" at a console), since you have to flush the write buffers.

Did you try my above suggestions (post #9)?

It was my understanding that with supermount you could put the floppy in or remove it at whim without mounting or unmounting.

mleschis- when you delete a file the space should immediately be available for something else. If that is not happenening there is a malfunction.

Piping in a bit late here... but is this happening with all floppies? Or just one? It could be a disk problem. I use mandrake with supermount and have not had this happen that i've noticed.