System Administration Guide: Devices and File Systems

ProcedureHow to Load Removable Media

For information about removable media hardware considerations, see Removable Media Hardware Considerations.

  1. Insert the media.

  2. Ensure that the media is formatted.

    If you aren't sure, insert the media and check the status messages in the system console window, as described in Step 3. If you need to format the media, go to How to Format a Diskette (rmformat).

  3. (Optional) Notify volume management if you are using a legacy, non-USB diskette device.

    $ volcheck -v

    Two status messages are possible:

    media was found

    Volume management detected the media and will attempt to mount it in the directory described in Table 3–1.

    If the media is formatted properly, no error messages appear in the console.

    If the media is not formatted, the “media was found” message is still displayed. However, error messages similar to the following appear in the system console window:

    fd0: unformatted diskette or no diskette in the drive

    fd0: read failed (40 1 0)

    fd0: bad format

    You must format the media before volume management can mount it. For more information, see Chapter 2, Managing Removable Media (Tasks).

    no media was found

    Volume management did not detect the media. Ensure that the media is inserted properly, and run volcheck again. If unsuccessful, check the media, which could be damaged. You can also try to mount the media manually.

  4. Verify that the media was mounted by listing its contents.

    For example, do the following for a diskette:

    $ ls /floppy
    floppy0 myfiles

    Tip –

    floppy0 is a symbolic link to the actual name of the diskette. In this case, myfiles. If the diskette has no name but is formatted correctly, the system refers to it as unnamed_floppy.

    If nothing appears under the /floppy directory, the diskette was either not mounted or is not formatted properly. To find out, run the mount command and look for the line that begins with /floppy (usually at the end of the listing):

    /floppy/name on /vol/dev/diskette0/name

    If this line does not appear, the diskette was not mounted. Check the system console window for error messages.