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Old 09-03-2010, 09:55 AM   #1
schachwizard
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Floppy drive doesn't display files


I'm new to these forums, as well as Linux, but hopefully you guys can help me. I've been considering erasing Windows off my hard disk to gain some space, but until then, I want to know that I can do everything I'll want to do.

I've followed many tutorials and threads on the internet, but they never work for me. I added several files to a floppy in Windows, and the floppy works fine in all the Windows computers I've tried. However, when I boot into Ubuntu 10.04, I click on the Floppy Drive in nautilus, but it says "Unable to mount location. No media in drive." From the terminal, it seems that I can mount the floppy (no error message, and the floppy drive clicks), but when I navigate to a folder in /mnt or /media, the folder is empty.

Any ideas? Thank you in advance for any help.
 
Old 09-03-2010, 10:51 AM   #2
knudfl
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Welcome to LQ. .. .. ..

Floppy is considered unimportant by the Ubuntu people.
( I think, it was Ubuntu 8.10, having no floppy at all.
Then it came back, partly.)
Ubuntu 10.04 is the first with no rights for the user.
Even when the 'fstab' says "user,noauto" !

A workaround : sudo mkdir /mnt/floppy
sudo gedit /etc/fstab , and then add this new line :
/dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy vfat user,noauto 0 0
( Please hit <Enter> at line end, to have a "newline".)

Then you can mount dos and vfat. And read.
If you want to write to floppy : sudo cp <path>/<file> /mnt/floppy

If you have ext3 floppies, please create a new mount point e.g. /mnt/floppy3
... and add an "ext3 line" to fstab, with the new mount point.
...
Good luck.
 
Old 09-03-2010, 11:02 AM   #3
schachwizard
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This worked, however, when I restarted my computer to test it again, I could not view the files anymore.

Did I not make the change permanent somehow, or is there something I need to do every time I want to use a floppy?
 
Old 09-03-2010, 11:23 AM   #4
knudfl
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Not very convenient, but 'mount /mnt/floppy' must be done every time,
after a restart.

And changing floppy : umount /mnt/floppy
Then again 'mount /mnt/floppy' for the next floppy.

..
 
Old 09-03-2010, 11:34 AM   #5
schachwizard
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When I do 'mount /mnt/floppy', the drive clicks. However, when I browse to the folder, there are no files, unlike before I restarted. The Floppy Drive icon in nautilus still gives me the same error: "Unable to mount location. No media in the drive."

When I try 'umount /mnt/floppy', the terminal says: "umount: /mnt/floppy is not mounted (according to mtab)".

What to do?
 
Old 09-03-2010, 01:11 PM   #6
knudfl
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About 'umount /mnt/floppy' : You are right ... not working as expected.

And getting worse .. and more complicated :
http://www.ubuntugeek.com/tiphow-to-...in-ubuntu.html
1) sudo mount -t vfat /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy/
2) sudo nautilus ( to watch )
... But it's also only working one time.
3) sudo umount /dev/fd0

Another one here, bugs.launchpad.net
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...ks/+bug/599915 :
Workaround: Mounting the floppy with the command "udisks --mount /dev/fd0"

There seems to be a bug somewhere. Will try the "udisks --mount" later.
..
 
Old 09-03-2010, 02:15 PM   #7
schachwizard
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Thank you very much. This worked even after a restart. I just added an alias to my .bashrc where mountfloppy = 'sudo mount -t vfat /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy/ | sudo nautilus', and umountfloppy = 'sudo umount /dev/fd0'.

Soon, I will wipe Windows from my computer.

How do I add "[SOLVED]" to my thread title?
 
  


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