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  1. Introduction
  2. About Linux
  3. Installation and getting started
  4. Logging in and out
  5. Basic Linux Commands
  6. Linux Files and File Permissions
  7. Linux Directory Structure
  8. Finding Files
  9. Linux Help
  10. Setting Time
  11. Devices
  12. Tips
  13. Accessing Other Filesystems
  14. Accessing Removable Media
  15. Making and Managing Filesystems
  16. Emergency Filesystems and Procedures
  17. LILO and Runlevels
  18. Init
  19. Environment, Shell Selection, and Startu
  20. Linux Kernel
  21. Package Installation and Printing
  22. Configuration, Logging and CRON
  23. Keys and Terminal Configuration
  24. Sound Configuration
  25. Managing Users
  26. Passwords
  27. Process Control
  28. Configuration and Diagnostic Tools
  29. Overall Configuration
  30. Using PAM
  31. Basic Network Setup
  32. Tools and Terms
  33. Novell and Printing
  34. Inetd Services
  35. Xinetd Services
  36. Other Network Services
  37. FTP and Telnet
  38. Samba
  39. Identd (auth)
  40. X Configuration
  41. X Use
  42. Using X Remotely
  43. X Documentation
  44. DNS
  45. DHCP and BOOTP
  46. Apache
  47. NFS
  48. PPP
  49. Mail
  50. Routing
  51. IP Masquerading
  52. Proxy Servers and ipchains
  53. UUCP
  54. News
  55. NIS
  56. Network Security
  57. Secure Shell
  58. Text Processing
  59. Shell Programming
  60. Emacs
  61. VI
  62. Recommended Reading
  63. Credits

Accessing Removable Media

Making a Linux Filesystem on a Floppy

  1. Use fdformat /dev/fd0H1440
  2. To make a filesystem on the disk type "mkfs –t filesystem –c /dev/fd0H1440" where filesystem is the type of filesystem, usually ext2 (linux native).
  3. Mount the filesystem "mount –t ext2 /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy

Mounting floppy and CD-ROM drives

mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppyTo mount a floppy
umount /dev/fd0To unmount a floppy
mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdromTo mount a cdrom or
mount -t iso9660 -r /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom Another way to mount a CD-ROM with type specified or mount -t auto /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom

Note the CDROM may be on the secondary controller as a master (/dev/hdc) or slave (/dev/hdd). In fact, your /dev/cdrom is probably actually a softlink to one of these two devices, if you have an IDE interface. If you use SCSI, you will probably use something like /dev/sda1 or 2, etc.

Mounting a parallel port zip drive:
mount -t vfat /dev/sda4 /mnt/zipdrive

Note: in all these examples, the mount points must exist, be empty, and not already have a device mounted on them. Also you must unmount the device before removing it.

Setting up Removable and External Filesystems to Automatically mount when used

  1. The program "autofs" must be setup to run as a daemon upon system startup. To do this with Redhat Linux, use the program "linuxconf" and select "Control", "Control panel", "Control Service activity". Activate "autofs" using the menu selections.
  2. Edit the file "/etc/auto.master" to the following: 
        /mnt     /etc/auto.misc   --timeout 20
    The above example sets the program to unmount the device after 20 seconds.
  3. Edit the file "/etc/auto.misc" adding lines like: 
          cd	-fstype=iso9660,ro	:/dev/cdrom
      fl	-fstype=auto		:/dev/fd0
    This will cause the cd-rom to be mounted when you access the directory "/mnt/cd" and the floppy to be mounted when you access "/mnt/fl". The directories "/mnt/cd" and "mnt/fl" must not exist in order for this to work.
  4. To use automount, put a cd in the CD-ROM drive and type "ls /mnt/cd" or "cd /mnt/cd".