![[BACK]](/cvsweb/icons/back.gif){kind=icon}
Return to floppydisks CVS log ![[TXT]](/cvsweb/icons/text.gif){kind=icon}
![[DIR]](/cvsweb/icons/dir.gif){kind=icon}
Up to [MW Coherent from dump] / coherent / a / usr / man / COHERENT|
Return to floppydisks CVS log | Up to [MW Coherent from dump] / coherent / a / usr / man / COHERENT |
1.1 root 1:
2:
3: floppy disks Technical Information floppy disks
4:
5:
6:
7:
8: The COHERENT system lets you read or write to floppy disks, using
9: a variety of different formats. You can choose the format that
10: best suits the task at hand.
11:
12: ***** Disks Supported *****
13:
14: COHERENT lets you use either 3.5-inch or 5.25-inch disks, in
15: either high or low density; what you use depends upon the type of
16: hardware that you have. The following table gives some commonly
17: used diskette device names and formats:
18:
19:
20: _D_e_v_i_c_e _n_a_m_e_S_e_c_t_o_r_s/_T_r_a_c_k _H_e_a_d_s _S_e_c_t_o_r_s _B_y_t_e_s_F_o_r_m_a_t
21: /dev/f9a0 9 2 720 360 KB5.25"
22: /dev/f9a1 9 2 720 360 KB5.25"
23: /dev/fqa0 9 2 1440 720 KB 3.5"
24: /dev/fqa1 9 2 1440 720 KB 3.5"
25: /dev/fha0 15 2 2400 1.2 MB5.25"
26: /dev/fha1 15 2 2400 1.2 MB5.25"
27: /dev/fva0 18 2 2880 1.44 MB3.5"
28: /dev/fva1 18 2 2880 1.44 MB3.5"
29:
30:
31: Device names ending in `0' indicate drive A:, names ending in `1'
32: indicate drive B:. For a fuller description of COHERENT's
33: floppy-disk devices, see the Lexicon entry for ffdd.
34:
35: ***** MS-DOS Format *****
36:
37: COHERENT lets you read or write to floppy disks that contain MS-
38: DOS file systems. Both tasks use the command ddooss. This command
39: is discussed in full in its Lexicon entry.
40:
41: To read files from a MS-DOS disk, use the ddooss command's -xx
42: option, with the appropriate device name for the floppy-disk
43: device that you will be using (as given in the above table). For
44: example, to read file ffrreedd.eexxee from a low-density, 5.25-inch MS-
45: DOS floppy disk in drive A, use the following command:
46:
47:
48: dos -x /dev/f9a0 fred.exe
49:
50:
51: The following command reads all files from a high-density, 5.25-
52: inch MS-DOS floppy disk in drive B:
53:
54:
55: dos -x /dev/fha1
56:
57:
58: To write a file to a preformatted MS-DOS floppy disk, use the -rr
59: option to the MS-DOS command. For example, to write file
60: ffrreedd.mmss, which contains text, to a low-density, 5.25-inch MS-DOS
61: floppy disk in drive A, use the following command:
62:
63:
64: COHERENT Lexicon Page 1
65:
66:
67:
68:
69: floppy disks Technical Information floppy disks
70:
71:
72:
73:
74:
75: dos -ra /dev/f9a0 fred.ms
76:
77:
78: Note that the `a' flag in the command line tells COHERENT to
79: convert linefeeds to the linefeed/carriage return combination, as
80: used by MS-DOS. You will want to use this flag _o_n_l_y when
81: transferring text files to or from an MS-DOS floppy disk.
82:
83: The following command copies all files in the current directory
84: to a high-density, 3.5-inch MS-DOS floppy disk in drive B:
85:
86:
87: dos -r /dev/fva1
88:
89:
90: Note that when you copy a file to an MS-DOS floppy disk, COHERENT
91: observes the MS-DOS file-name conventions: it permits only eight
92: characters to the left of the period, and only three characters
93: to the right of it.
94:
95: (It should be noted in passing that you can use the ddooss command
96: to read files from or write files to an MS-DOS partition on your
97: hard disk. All that is necessary is to replace the name of
98: floppy-disk device with that of the hard-disk device for the
99: partition in question. See the Lexicon entry for aatt for a list
100: of hard-disk devices; see the entry for ffddiisskk for information on
101: how to read the layout of your hard disk; and see the entry for
102: ddooss for details of how to use the command.)
103:
104: Finally, COHERENT lets you format a floppy disk and create an MS-
105: DOS file system on it. To do so, you must use the command
106: ffddffoorrmmaatt as well as ddooss. ffddffoorrmmaatt is described in detail in its
107: Lexicon article.
108:
109: To format a high-density, 5.25-inch floppy disk in drive B and
110: write an MS-DOS file system onto it, use the following commands:
111:
112:
113: /etc/fdformat -av /dev/fha1
114: dos -F /dev/fha1
115:
116:
117: To write files to your newly created file system, use the -rr
118: option to the ddooss command, as described above.
119:
120: ***** COHERENT Format *****
121:
122: If you wish, you can create a COHERENT file system on a floppy
123: disk, mount it, and manipulate the files on it with standard
124: COHERENT commands. This is a good illustration of the fact that
125: to COHERENT a file system is a file system, whether it resides on
126: a hard, a floppy disk, or any other mass-storage device. You can
127: use such mountable floppy disks as an easy method of backing up
128:
129:
130: COHERENT Lexicon Page 2
131:
132:
133:
134:
135: floppy disks Technical Information floppy disks
136:
137:
138:
139: files, or as a flexible extension to any other file system that
140: you have currently mounted.
141:
142: To create a COHERENT file system on a floppy disk, you must use
143: the commands ffddffoorrmmaatt, bbaaddssccaann, and mmkkffss. Each is described in
144: detail in its own Lexicon article. The following example creates
145: a COHERENT file system on a high-density, 3.5-inch floppy disk
146: placed in drive B:
147:
148:
149: /etc/fdformat -a /dev/fva1
150: /etc/badscan -v -o proto /dev/fva1 2880
151: /etc/mkfs /dev/fva1 proto
152: rm proto
153:
154:
155: In this example, command ffddffoorrmmaatt formatted the disk. bbaaddssccaann
156: then scanned the disk for any bad blocks, and wrote its results
157: into file pprroottoo. Finally, command mmkkffss reads pprroottoo and used its
158: contents to create a COHERENT file system on the disk.
159:
160: Now that the file system is created on the disk, you must mount
161: it. While it is customary to mount file systems under directory
162: `/', you are not required to do it. For example, if your login
163: identifier is ffrreedd and your home directory is /uussrr/ffrreedd, you can
164: mount the floppy disk's file system onto a subdirectory of
165: /uussrr/ffrreedd and so make the floppy disk, in effect, an extension of
166: your home directory. The following command does this for the 3.-
167: 5-inch disk we formatted in the above example:
168:
169:
170: /etc/mount /dev/fva1 /usr/fred/temp
171:
172:
173: Now, all files you copy into directory /uussrr/ffrreedd/tteemmpp using the
174: ccpp command will be written directly onto the floppy disk. Note
175: that you may need to log in as the superuser rroooott and use the
176: command cchhoowwnn to ensure that ffrreedd owns the file system on that
177: floppy disk. For details on cchhoowwnn, see its entry in the Lexicon.
178:
179: One last point about mounting file systems: before you remove a
180: COHERENT-formatted floppy disk from its drive, you mmuusstt first use
181: the command /eettcc/uummoouunntt to unmount its file system. If you do
182: not, all data that COHERENT has stored in its buffers will not be
183: written to the disk, and may be lost. Worse, if you remove one
184: COHERENT disk and insert another without unmounting the old disk
185: and mounting the new one, COHERENT will write all data in its
186: buffers onto the new disk without regard for what that disk
187: contains; in all likelihood, this will trash the file system on
188: the new disk and render its data unreadable. So, the lesson is:
189: _a_l_w_a_y_s _u_n_m_o_u_n_t _a _f_l_o_p_p_y _d_i_s_k _b_e_f_o_r_e _y_o_u _r_e_m_o_v_e _i_t!. To unmount
190: the floppy disk we used in our previous example, use the command:
191:
192:
193:
194:
195:
196: COHERENT Lexicon Page 3
197:
198:
199:
200:
201: floppy disks Technical Information floppy disks
202:
203:
204:
205: /etc/umount /dev/fva1
206:
207:
208: By the way, that's not a misprint: the command is uummoouunntt, not
209: ``unmount''.
210:
211: ***** Raw Format *****
212:
213: Finally, COHERENT lets you use floppy disks in their raw form as
214: a backup medium, much as you would use magnetic tape on a larger
215: computer. You must first use the command ffddffoorrmmaatt with the -vv
216: option to format the floppy disks you will be using; it is also
217: wise to label and number the disks so you can keep them in some
218: reasonable order. Then you can use any of COHERENT's archiving
219: utilities, such as uussttaarr, ccppiioo, or dduummpp to archive directories or
220: entire file systems onto the disks. It is recommended that you
221: format a generous supply of floppy disks before you begin; if you
222: run short of disks while archiving your files, you will have to
223: abort, format more disks, and begin again. For details on how to
224: use the archiving programs, see their respective entries in the
225: Lexicon.
226:
227: ***** See Also *****
228:
229: bbaaddssccaann, ccppiioo, ddooss, dduummpp, ffdd, ffddffoorrmmaatt, mmkkffss, mmoouunntt, tteecchhnniiccaall
230: iinnffoorrmmaattiioonn, uummoouunntt, uussttaarr
231:
232:
233:
234:
235:
236:
237:
238:
239:
240:
241:
242:
243:
244:
245:
246:
247:
248:
249:
250:
251:
252:
253:
254:
255:
256:
257:
258:
259:
260:
261:
262: COHERENT Lexicon Page 4
263:
264:
This archive runs on limited infrastructure. Preserving old code on modern bandwidth. Automated agents are requested to crawl responsibly.