Re: [gentoo-user] Mounting floppy disks

["J. Roeleveld" <joost@antarean.org>]

On Tuesday, December 11, 2012 11:59:52 PM Paul Hartman wrote:
> For some reason, when I mount floppy disk (standard HD 3.5" VFAT disk)
> it does nothing. No error, just nothing... I have not tried this in
> well over a year, but it used to work.
> 
> The /dev/fd0 device works normally, I can access it with mtools and
> use dd and even access disks in virtual machines running mswindows.
> 
> Furthermore, if I make an image of the disk using dd and then loop
> mount that image, it works! But when I try to mount my normal
> /mnt/floppy fstab entry that I've had for years, or manually "mount -t
> vfat /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy" there is disk activity, but it never shows
> up in /proc/mounts and is not mounted for me afterward. If I add "-v"
> to mount, it tells me that it mounted, but it didn't actually...
> either that or it has unmounted itself instantly before I can see it.
> 
> Can anyone else mount floppies? Is there some floppy magic I have
> forgotten over the years? Thanks for any tips!

Paul,

I can't remember the last time I actually mounted a floppy disk. I found " 
mtools " to be very usefull for dealing with floppy-disks:

[I] sys-fs/mtools
     Available versions:  4.0.13 4.0.15 ~4.0.16 ~4.0.17 {{X}}
     Installed versions:  4.0.15(10:46:41 AM 08/02/2012)(-X)
     Homepage:            http://mtools.linux.lu/                                                                                                                                                                                            
     Description:         utilities to access MS-DOS disks from Unix without 
mounting them                                                                                                                                                   

Not sure why it's installed on my desktop as it doesn't actually have a 
floppydrive ;)

--
Joost