HOWTO fix floppy disk mounting issues

[tseliot]

The following guide aims to fix a common Breezy bug which doesn't allow your floppy disk to be mounted.

Open Terminal or Konsole and type:

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

OR

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

Enable the backports i.e. add the following lines at the end of the file:

deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu breezy-backports main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://ubuntu-backports.mirrormax.net/ breezy-extras main restricted universe multiverse

Save the file and exit.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install pmount

Then:

sudo gedit /etc/fstab

OR

sudo nano /etc/fstab

You will see a line which begins with /dev/fd0. Replace it with the following:

/dev/fd0        /media/floppy0  auto    rw,user,noauto  0       0

Save the file and exit.

Now you can access your floppy disk from your favourite filemanager with a mouse click.

Enjoy!

Alberto

[manicka]

I have added this howto to the Ubuntu Document Storage Facility

[stanz]

Hi All,
Thanks for the instructions, I'm looking around for all info, i can remember!
I've been trying to acess a floppy, that has gif's & jpeg's on it- and I've not been about to mount or get to them.
I've followed your instructs- and found my file to be like that, already.
My response is: Unable to mount the selected volumn.
Warning: device /dev/fd0 is already handled by /etc/fstab,
supplied label ignored
mount: I could not determine the filesystem type, and none was
specified
Error:could not excute pmount

I'm not understanding this. Is this all, because i saved this disk, in M$ ?
Supply 'file type'? How, When?
I'm clueless, but continue searching for answers...
Any advise ya got~ be welcomed!
Thanks...

[tastyturkey]

Now I can mount a floppy in Ubuntu Breezy but I cannot write to it.

What do I modify to allow writing to a floppy in Ubuntu Breezy?

[tseliot]

Hi All,
Thanks for the instructions, I'm looking around for all info, i can remember!
I've been trying to acess a floppy, that has gif's & jpeg's on it- and I've not been about to mount or get to them.
I've followed your instructs- and found my file to be like that, already.
My response is: Unable to mount the selected volumn.
Warning: device /dev/fd0 is already handled by /etc/fstab,
supplied label ignored
mount: I could not determine the filesystem type, and none was
specified
Error:could not excute pmount

I'm not understanding this. Is this all, because i saved this disk, in M$ ?
Supply 'file type'? How, When?
I'm clueless, but continue searching for answers...
Any advise ya got~ be welcomed!
Thanks...

Weird... Did you install the latest version of "pmount" ?

[tseliot]

Now I can mount a floppy in Ubuntu Breezy but I cannot write to it.

What do I modify to allow writing to a floppy in Ubuntu Breezy?

If your fstab looks like mine, try this:
If you use GNOME:
sudo nautilus
and then try to access your floppy (and write it) from it.

Oh, and another thing (which I know to be too naive ) make sure that your floppy disk is not protected from writing.

[NeTo]

If your fstab looks like mine, try this:
If you use GNOME:
sudo nautilus
and then try to access your floppy (and write it) from it.

Oh, and another thing (which I know to be too naive ) make sure that your floppy disk is not protected from writing.

If that doesn't work, you could try to change the line in fstab to the following (assuming you'll use only floppies formatted with FAT):

/dev/fd0        /media/floppy0  vfat    rw,user,noauto  0       0

It seems that the filesystem isn't automatically recognized for some floppies.

[handy]

I allready had the current version of pmount, & the prescribed line for fd0, tried it with vfat also, still no sign of life in the old floppy? It works fine on xp?

Any suggestions are wellcome?

Thanks.

[tseliot]

I allready had the current version of pmount, & the prescribed line for fd0, tried it with vfat also, still no sign of life in the old floppy? It works fine on xp?

Any suggestions are wellcome?

Thanks.

Could you try an Ubuntu Dapper livecd and see if you can use your floppy there?

[handy]

Could you try an Ubuntu Dapper livecd and see if you can use your floppy there?

Thanks for your reply!

I'll have a go at that later in the week, & let you know here, how it went...