DOC HOME SITE MAP MAN PAGES GNU INFO SEARCH PRINT BOOK
 
Administering filesystems

Creating filesystems on floppy disks

Creating a filesystem on a floppy disk is similar to creating a filesystem on a hard disk. Floppy disk filesystems are portable and can be mounted on any UNIX system. Use the special directory, /mnt, to mount filesystems that do not have a specified mounting point.

To make a portable filesystem on a floppy disk, use the Floppy Filesystem Manager located in the Filesystems directory of the SCOadmin hierarchy:

  1. Enter the number of the floppy disk type on which you are creating the filesystem.

    For example, enter 4 to create a filesystem on a 1.44 MB 3.5 inch disk (135tpi, double-sided, 18-sectors-per-track).

  2. If you have more than one floppy disk drive, you are prompted for the disk drive (0 or 1) on which to create the floppy disk filesystem. Enter the drive number and press <Enter>.

    For example, to create the filesystem on the primary floppy disk drive, enter 0.

  3. When prompted, insert the floppy disk in the appropriate drive and press <Enter>.

  4. If you have already formatted the disk, enter n at the prompt; the filesystem is created immediately.
    If you have not formatted the disk, enter y. You see messages like:
       formatting /dev/type
       track 00 head 0
    
    The track and head numbers count up as the disk is formatted. (If the /etc/default/format file contains VERIFY=Y, the format is also verified after formatting.) See the format(C) manual page.

  5. At the prompt for filesystem type, enter y to use EAFS, the default filesystem type. To use a different filesystem type, enter n and enter the filesystem type at the prompt. Valid filesystem types for floppy disk filesystems are AFS, DTFS, EAFS, HTFS, S51K, and XENIX. See ``Supported filesystem types''.

  6. You see messages as the filesystem is created and then checked with fsck(ADM). Press <Enter> to return to the Floppy Filesystem menu. Enter q to quit.

Your floppy disk now contains a filesystem. Mount the filesystem directly from the command line, using mount(ADM) or add the filesystem mount information to the system and mount the filesystem with the Filesystem Manager. Once you mount a floppy disk filesystem, you can use it just as you would a hard disk filesystem.


NOTE: For system security, do not allow users to mount floppy disk filesystems. However, if your system requires that users mount floppy disk filesystems, you must first add the mount configuration for the filesystem to the system and select the ``Can Users Mount'' option. See ``Enabling users to mount filesystems''.

See also:


Next topic: Checking and repairing filesystems
Previous topic: DOS filesystem limitations

© 2003 Caldera International, Inc. All rights reserved.
SCO OpenServer Release 5.0.7 -- 11 February 2003