Very Computer

by **Eddie Lawhea** » Sat, 18 Apr 1998 04:00:00

I can finally mount my floppies but how do I format them to linux native??
Or should I keep them as msdos?!?
I'm very new so thanx for the help.

by **Roy Stogn** » Sat, 18 Apr 1998 04:00:00

>I can finally mount my floppies but how do I format them to linux native??
>Or should I keep them as msdos?!?

Keep them as msdos. There isn't that much of a performance increase
to ext2fs, you don't have to worry about fragmentation on a floppy,
it's pointless to worry about security... unless you need complicated
stuff like symlinks, fifos, etc. then vfat is fine.

Oh, and you would use /sbin/mkfs.ext2 if you wanted to format them
differently.
---
Roy Stogner

by **Jamie Hoglun** » Sun, 19 Apr 1998 04:00:00

: I can finally mount my floppies but how do I format them to linux native??
: Or should I keep them as msdos?!?
: I'm very new so thanx for the help.

It depends on what you want.

The only time I ever format a floppy these days is if I want to share data
with someone else.

Tar gives you the ability to completely forget the filesystem, so if
you're just copying data for your own sake, I'd recommend tar:

tar cvf /dev/fd0 subdirectory (or file list)

tar -Mcvf /dev/fd0 subdirectory (or list of files)

The -M switch lets you use multiple floppies, in kind of 1 long stream.

With Linux, I find "tar" the easiest & most practical way to work with
diskettes. (much easier than DOS actually, since you don't have to figure
out what files will fit where)

Jamie