Re: [Info-mtools] Trouble accessing 2M formatted disks

[Yuri van Oers]

According to the mtools documentation at
http://www.gnu.org/software/mtools/manual/mtools.html#SEC10
"Mtools recognizes these formats transparently where supported."

Which makes me think I'm supposed to use /dev/fd0 (which it does by
default), instead of /dev/fd0u* .

Nevertheless, I did try adjusting mtools.conf so it uses other device
files, but none of them worked.

The device files look fine to me:
$ ls -l /dev/fd0*
brw-rw---- 1 root floppy 2,   0 Sep 18  2012 /dev/fd0
brw-rw---- 1 root floppy 2,  84 Sep 18  2012 /dev/fd0u1040
brw-rw---- 1 root floppy 2,  88 Sep 18  2012 /dev/fd0u1120
brw-rw---- 1 root floppy 2,  28 Sep 18  2012 /dev/fd0u1440
brw-rw---- 1 root floppy 2, 124 Sep 18  2012 /dev/fd0u1600
brw-rw---- 1 root floppy 2,  44 Sep 18  2012 /dev/fd0u1680
brw-rw---- 1 root floppy 2,  60 Sep 18  2012 /dev/fd0u1722
brw-rw---- 1 root floppy 2,  76 Sep 18  2012 /dev/fd0u1743
brw-rw---- 1 root floppy 2,  96 Sep 18  2012 /dev/fd0u1760
brw-rw---- 1 root floppy 2, 116 Sep 18  2012 /dev/fd0u1840
brw-rw---- 1 root floppy 2, 100 Sep 18  2012 /dev/fd0u1920
brw-rw---- 1 root floppy 2,  12 Sep 18  2012 /dev/fd0u360
brw-rw---- 1 root floppy 2,  16 Sep 18  2012 /dev/fd0u720
brw-rw---- 1 root floppy 2, 120 Sep 18  2012 /dev/fd0u800
brw-rw---- 1 root floppy 2,  52 Sep 18  2012 /dev/fd0u820
brw-rw---- 1 root floppy 2,  68 Sep 18  2012 /dev/fd0u830

Thanks & regards,
Yuri

On 09/17/12 13:11, Federico Bianchi wrote:
> You are using the correct device (since /dev/fd0 usually meant - means?
> - standard 1440KB floppy discs), aren't you? Once upon a time (at least
> up to 2.4 kernels), installing superformat you got "ad hoc" devices such
> as /dev/fd0u1722 or the likes; I am not sure this is still relevant
> nowadays.
> 
> Anyway, I'd suggest having a careful look at the fdutils web site to
> assure everything is set up properly: you can find it at
> http://www.fdutils.linux.lu/
> 
> Best regards
> 
>              Federico Bianchi
>             Dipartimento di Storia delle Arti
>             Universita` di Pisa
>             via Trieste, 38 - I-56126 Pisa (Italy)
>             tel.(+39) 050 221 6 024; fax (+39) 050 221 6 001
>             e-mail: <address@hidden>
>             ===================================================
>             !DISCLAIMER!: my e-mail reflects _my_own_ opinions!
>             ===================================================
> 
> On Mon, 17 Sep 2012, Ignatios Souvatzis wrote:
> 
>> Hi,
>>
>> On Sun, Sep 16, 2012 at 11:59:29PM +0200, Yuri van Oers wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> These last few days I've been trying to access some old floppy disks
>>> I found, formatted with 2M. I was pleased to read that 2M is
>>> supported under Linux, but my efforts have been unsuccessful so far.
>>>
>>> My understanding is that 2M support should be transparant. However, I
>>> get:
>>>
>>> $ mdir
>>> Can't set disk parameters for A: Operation not permitted
>>> Cannot initialize 'A:'
>>
>> Not knowing the details of Linux wrt. this question, I have two
>> questions:
>>
>> a) can you run mdir as root on this disk?
>> b) can you read the disk with dd as root?
>>
>> Regards,
>>     -is
>