Can't copy files to floppy in GNOME

drewblay · 06-16-2005, 08:51 PM

I am getting the following error message when trying to copy files (dragging and dropping) to my floppy disk in GNOME.

Code:

Error "Invalid parameters" while copying.

This error message dose not appear if I try to copy a file from within a terminal window. The file actually copies over and there is no problems if I use a terminal.

Here is what my /etc/fstab looks like (thought I don't think the problem is with the fstab file since everything works fine in the terminal)

Code:

/dev/hda1        /                reiserfs    defaults         1   1
/dev/hdb1        /mnt/hd          reiserfs    defaults         1   2
/dev/cdrom       /mnt/cdrom       iso9660     noauto,user,ro   0   0
/dev/fd0         /mnt/floppy      auto        noauto,user,rw,exec 0  0
/dev/sda1        /mnt/mp3         auto        noauto,user,rw,exec 0  0
devpts           /dev/pts         devpts      gid=5,mode=620   0   0
proc             /proc            proc        defaults         0   0

I also notice this error message in dmesg after I try to copy a file by dragging and dropping

Code:

VFS: Can't find ext3 filesystem on dev fd(2,0).
UMSDOS 0.86k (compatibility level 0.4, fast msdos)

Any help would be greatly appreciated as it is really annoying having to copy all my files by command line.

jonaskoelker · 06-17-2005, 03:12 PM

Hmmm...

Could it be that Gnome assumes your floppy to be ext3-formatted?

Could you please describe step by step (and a bit too verbose

) what you do when you copy by CLI (and what response you get from the system, then (again) step by step describe what you do when you copy in the GUI.

--Jonas

drewblay · 06-17-2005, 04:43 PM

When I copy a file in the terminal I use:

Code:

cp /home/username/fileIwantTocopy.txt /mnt/floppy

and everything works fine, the file copies over I can go to the floppy and see the file, I can open the file directly from the floppy and it is intact, no errors, everything works perfectly when I do this.
However if I am in GNOME and I click on "username's Home" which opens up an nautilus file browser then go to the documents directory (or whatever directory, this instance happens to be documents) then I move that window over so that I can click on the floppy disk which is on my desktop because I mounted it. Now I have two nautilus browser windows open, one looking a a documents directory in my home folder and another looking at the floppy and then I drag a file from the documents window into the floppy window and I get the error message

Code:

Error "Invalid parameters" while copying.
Would you like to continue?
(skip) (cancel) (retry)

No matter what I click, skip, cancel or retry the error message just goes away and the file does not get copied over.
I hope this is detailed enough.

I could very well be that nautilus is assuming the floppy is an ext3 but I have no idea how to check to see if it is assuming that and or how to fix it if it does assume that, if that is the problem.

jonaskoelker · 06-17-2005, 06:04 PM

I actually hoped to see the mount commands.

One idea would be to create an ext3 floppy (will the fs fit into that space?) and try to copy via the gui. If that doesn't fail, I think we got the answer.

Preferably use the same floppy. Then again, it's probably not the floppy's fault.

hth --Jonas

rjlee · 06-19-2005, 05:51 AM

Do you see files in the floppy disk view in Nautilus?

Also, does the location bar in Nautilus show /mnt/floppy or some other directory?

I would doubt that GNOME actually cares about the underlying filesystem unless it's trying to mount the device itself. In which case, it should get the settings from /etc/fstab, which should be set to auto for the floppy disk.