On Sun, 22 Dec 2002, John Lowell wrote:
Everyone,
Just to make sure I'd run the mount command properly I made a second go at it using
linux:~ # mount /dev/fd0 /media/floppy
It made no difference, I still get the Invalid argument output.
Is it hopeless, doctor?
I haven't followed this thread closely, so forgive me if I'm off-base. When I first looked at all the discussion about mounting the floppy, and then saw that you formatted the floppy with Windows, my thought was "Why not use 'mtools' to copy the file instead of hassling with mount/umount?" I do this all the time with no problems, so I tried an example with the exact filename giving you trouble and got this: jcunning@cunning:~> mcopy 1040271374.1288.Sb3R:2,S a: Long file name "1040271374.1288.Sb3R:2,S" contains illegal character(s). a)utorename A)utorename-all r)ename R)ename-all s)kip S)kip-all q)uit (aArRsSq): a jcunning@cunning:~> mdir a: Volume in drive A has no label Directory for A:/ 104027~1 sb3 9276 12-22-2002 16:47 1040271374.1288.Sb3R_2,S-1 1 file 9 276 bytes 1 447 936 bytes free So, it would appear that a file containing a ":" is illegal. (Makes sense, too, since DOS/Windows use ":" as the drive letter delimiter in filenames.) You have a number of options: 1. Don't use a MSDOS-formatted floppy--use Minix instead, for example, if you don't need to read the diskette on an M$ system. 2. Rename the file before you copy it with "cp" to a mounted floppy, or 3. Use "mcopy" from the mtools package to an unmounted floppy, and let it rename the file for you. 4. Create a file that doesn't violate MSDOS rules, say with tar zvfc mymail.tgz ~/Mail/* cp mymail.tgz /media/floppy BTW, if you do use the mounted floppy approach, do NOT use '-t msdos' unless you ONLY want 8.3-style filenames. You're better off using vfat or auto for filesystem type, because it appears mount will choose vfat. That way you can use long filenames. Jim