formatiing a floppy

swamprat · 06-15-2007, 06:18 PM

I know this is really a simple thing to do...in windows xp it's a snap.

But, newbie can't find out how to format a floppy disk either in a terminal window of the Suse 10.2 panels.

I've been looking and trying for over an hour now and can't seem to find where and/or how to do this operator.

Any help will be much appreciated.

dxqcanada · 06-15-2007, 06:20 PM

If you have mtools installed then it is simple ... mformat

swamprat · 06-15-2007, 09:51 PM

I loaded down mtools but still can't get mformat to work.

I first did a low level format of the diskette but mformat still didn't work.

Can you supply a sample command?

2damncommon · 06-15-2007, 10:17 PM

How does "mkdosfs /dev/fd0" work on an unmounted floppy?

TigerOC · 06-16-2007, 03:34 AM

Use the generic command;

fdformat /dev/fd0 (assuming you only have one floppy drive the number is zero)

This will perform a low level format on the disk

You must then lay down a basic files system as posted above;

mkdosfs /dev/fd0

Most of the GUI desktops have tools to do this; KDE use the menu K button -> System -> Floppy Formatter

swamprat · 06-18-2007, 11:46 AM

Thanks TigerOC and all...

dxqcanada · 06-18-2007, 12:40 PM

mformat

do not mount the floppy in Linux ... mtools will perform this itself.
http://mtools.linux.lu/mtools.html#SEC56

mformat a: