[SLE] Floppy Disk Question
I am just curious about floppy formatting. I like the KFloppy interface but have found it somewhat unreliable. When I format it in dos format it seems to work but sometimes I end up loosing data after using the disks. Since I don't share my disks much anymore since I have everything networked I figured I would be better off using ext2fs. It is also an option in KFloppy so that would make it easy. .. .not! When I use KFloppy to format in ext2fs after doing the format I get a long stream of kernel errors from the verify process. So my question is: What is the best filesystem to use for my floppies and what is the best way to format them? As a sidenote I know that the config in yast that I stored on a floppy used minix format by default, is that related or is there a reason for that? -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Darren R. Weber drw@linuxfan.com ICQ# 2849193 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To unsubscribe send e-mail to suse-linux-e-unsubscribe@suse.com For additional commands send e-mail to suse-linux-e-help@suse.com Also check the FAQ at http://www.suse.com/Support/Doku/FAQ/
On Tue, 28 Dec 1999, Darren R. Weber wrote:
I am just curious about floppy formatting. I like the KFloppy interface but have found it somewhat unreliable. When I format it in dos format it seems to work but sometimes I end up loosing data after using the disks. Since I don't share my disks much anymore since I have everything networked I figured I would be better off using ext2fs. It is also an option in KFloppy so that would make it easy. .. .not! When I use KFloppy to format in ext2fs after doing the format I get a long stream of kernel errors from the verify process. So my question is: What is the best filesystem to use for my floppies and what is the best way to format them?
Darren, I also use KFloppy... in fact I have just finished formatting as ext2 a previously dos formatted floppy and received no error messages. Actually, mounting and using it seems perfectly ok. I suspect that there's something wrong with your installation... Cheers, Alvaro
As a sidenote I know that the config in yast that I stored on a floppy used minix format by default, is that related or is there a reason for that?
-- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Darren R. Weber drw@linuxfan.com ICQ# 2849193 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- To unsubscribe send e-mail to suse-linux-e-unsubscribe@suse.com For additional commands send e-mail to suse-linux-e-help@suse.com Also check the FAQ at http://www.suse.com/Support/Doku/FAQ/
-- To unsubscribe send e-mail to suse-linux-e-unsubscribe@suse.com For additional commands send e-mail to suse-linux-e-help@suse.com Also check the FAQ at http://www.suse.com/Support/Doku/FAQ/
On Tue, 28 Dec 1999, you wrote:
On Tue, 28 Dec 1999, Darren R. Weber wrote:
I am just curious about floppy formatting. I like the KFloppy interface but have found it somewhat unreliable. When I format it in dos format it seems to work but sometimes I end up loosing data after using the disks. Since I don't share my disks much anymore since I have everything networked I figured I would be better off using ext2fs. It is also an option in KFloppy so that would make it easy. .. .not! When I use KFloppy to format in ext2fs after doing the format I get a long stream of kernel errors from the verify process. So my question is: What is the best filesystem to use for my floppies and what is the best way to format them?
Darren,
I also use KFloppy... in fact I have just finished formatting as ext2 a previously dos formatted floppy and received no error messages. Actually, mounting and using it seems perfectly ok. I suspect that there's something wrong with your installation...
Cheers,
Alvaro
That was my first thought, but this is not an error I get with every disk every time. It happens sometimes and sometimes it doesn't. I also have 3 different installs of SuSE and I have the same spiratic problem with each. I then thought maybe I was getting bad disks and I checked them. On more than one occasion a disk that lost data after dos formatting with kfloppy worked fine after formatting in win95. I don't use windows except when at work and I don't like having to use my wife's computer every time I want to format a floppy. I just know there has to be a more reliable way to do it all on my linux computer and not worry about loosing data. Thanks for the guess though. -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Darren R. Weber drw@linuxfan.com ICQ# 2849193 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To unsubscribe send e-mail to suse-linux-e-unsubscribe@suse.com For additional commands send e-mail to suse-linux-e-help@suse.com Also check the FAQ at http://www.suse.com/Support/Doku/FAQ/
On Tue, 28 Dec 1999, Darren R. Weber wrote:
That was my first thought, but this is not an error I get with every disk every time.
To actually *answer* your question (as I avoided last time), use: `mke2fs /dev/fd0' or (the old way) `mkfs -t ext2 /dev/fd0' -- -=|JP|=- Jon Pennington | Atipa Linux Solutions -o) jpennington@atipa.com | http://www.atipa.com /\\ Kansas City, MO, USA | 816-241-2641 _\_V -- To unsubscribe send e-mail to suse-linux-e-unsubscribe@suse.com For additional commands send e-mail to suse-linux-e-help@suse.com Also check the FAQ at http://www.suse.com/Support/Doku/FAQ/
On Tue, 28 Dec 1999, Darren R. Weber wrote:
I am just curious about floppy formatting. I like the KFloppy interface but have found it somewhat unreliable.
hehehe <madness> 1. Go to a windows box, hard-format a floppy. 2. Take the floppy to a Linux/Unix box, and `dd if=/dev/fd0 of=/etc/floppy.img' 3. `gzip /etc/floppy.img' 4. Make a shell script that unzips and dd's from /etc/floppy.img.gz every time you need to format a floppy :) </madness> On alternatives to dd: use `cat'. It does the same thing, but makes it's own buffers. This is in reference to LenZ' recommendation to use `cp'. -- -=|JP|=- Jon Pennington | Atipa Linux Solutions -o) jpennington@atipa.com | http://www.atipa.com /\\ Kansas City, MO, USA | 816-241-2641 _\_V -- To unsubscribe send e-mail to suse-linux-e-unsubscribe@suse.com For additional commands send e-mail to suse-linux-e-help@suse.com Also check the FAQ at http://www.suse.com/Support/Doku/FAQ/
On Tue, 28 Dec 1999, you wrote:
On Tue, 28 Dec 1999, Darren R. Weber wrote:
I am just curious about floppy formatting. I like the KFloppy interface but have found it somewhat unreliable.
hehehe
<madness> 1. Go to a windows box, hard-format a floppy. 2. Take the floppy to a Linux/Unix box, and `dd if=/dev/fd0 of=/etc/floppy.img' 3. `gzip /etc/floppy.img' 4. Make a shell script that unzips and dd's from /etc/floppy.img.gz every time you need to format a floppy :) </madness>
On alternatives to dd: use `cat'. It does the same thing, but makes it's own buffers. This is in reference to LenZ' recommendation to use `cp'.
-- -=|JP|=- Jon Pennington | Atipa Linux Solutions -o)
Thanks for the suggestion. That sounds like a good setup. I think I'll actually set up 2 scripts. One for dos formats and one for ex2fs formats. I think I will stick with dd. It's not like I have to remember the commands if I put them in a script. -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Darren R. Weber drw@linuxfan.com ICQ# 2849193 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To unsubscribe send e-mail to suse-linux-e-unsubscribe@suse.com For additional commands send e-mail to suse-linux-e-help@suse.com Also check the FAQ at http://www.suse.com/Support/Doku/FAQ/
On Tue, 28 Dec 1999, you wrote:
On Tue, 28 Dec 1999, Darren R. Weber wrote:
I am just curious about floppy formatting. I like the KFloppy interface but have found it somewhat unreliable.
hehehe
<madness> 1. Go to a windows box, hard-format a floppy. 2. Take the floppy to a Linux/Unix box, and `dd if=/dev/fd0 of=/etc/floppy.img' 3. `gzip /etc/floppy.img' 4. Make a shell script that unzips and dd's from /etc/floppy.img.gz every time you need to format a floppy :) </madness>
On alternatives to dd: use `cat'. It does the same thing, but makes it's own buffers. This is in reference to LenZ' recommendation to use `cp'.
-- -=|JP|=- Jon Pennington | Atipa Linux Solutions -o)
Just a quick follow-up. I wrote a quick script copied an image and even saved it with the label "SuSE Floppy" :-) I did compress it with gzip and set the script to uncompress a copy in the tmp dir when it's running then remove it when done. Tested it back and forth between a few computers with a few files and it seems to work great. Thanks again for the help. Now to add a switch to the script for ex2fs. . .hmmm. :-) -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Darren R. Weber drw@linuxfan.com ICQ# 2849193 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To unsubscribe send e-mail to suse-linux-e-unsubscribe@suse.com For additional commands send e-mail to suse-linux-e-help@suse.com Also check the FAQ at http://www.suse.com/Support/Doku/FAQ/
participants (3)
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jpennington＠atipa.com -
novo＠uiuc.edu -
weberdr＠bellsouth.net