# [solved] usb floppy visible as /dev/sdb without a partition

## e3k

bought a gembird usb floppy drive. when i insert it with a diskette it shows /dev/sdb but no partition is visible.

i could write dd if=freedos of=/dev/sdb and could boot that on a 386 laptop.

```
modprobe floppy

modprobe: ERROR: could not insert 'floppy': No such device
```

```
ls /dev/fd/0

lrwx------ 1 root root 64 Mar  6 19:36 /dev/fd/0 -> /dev/tty1
```

```
lsusb

Bus 007 Device 002: ID 0644:0000 TEAC Corp. Floppy
```

normal floppy support and dosfs in kernel.

>>> https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-p-7458810.html

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## NeddySeagoon

e3k,

Floppies are not partitioned. You mount the entire volume.

In days gone by, you formatted a floppy using a special /dev entry.  /dev/fd0 was only used for normal filesystem access.

```
$ ls /dev/fd0*

/dev/fd0        /dev/fd0h1476  /dev/fd0H720   /dev/fd0u1743  /dev/fd0u3840

/dev/fd0CompaQ  /dev/fd0h1494  /dev/fd0h880   /dev/fd0u1760  /dev/fd0u720

/dev/fd0d360    /dev/fd0h1660  /dev/fd0u1040  /dev/fd0u1840  /dev/fd0u800

/dev/fd0D360    /dev/fd0h360   /dev/fd0u1120  /dev/fd0u1920  /dev/fd0u820

/dev/fd0D720    /dev/fd0H360   /dev/fd0u1440  /dev/fd0u2880  /dev/fd0u830

/dev/fd0h1200   /dev/fd0h410   /dev/fd0u1660  /dev/fd0u3200

/dev/fd0h1440   /dev/fd0h420   /dev/fd0u1680  /dev/fd0u3520

/dev/fd0H1440   /dev/fd0h720   /dev/fd0u1722  /dev/fd0u360
```

is all the supported formats on fd0.

Those are the standard ones. As PC floppies are soft sectored, companies could and did write there own non standard floppy formats, including spiral tracks. I've not seen that on a PC though.

All these things depended on having a real floppy controller, not something an the end of a USB interface.

As its effectively a SCSI block device, try to low level format it like any other SCSI block device. Its been a while since I've needed to do that. 

Google suggests that you try ufiformat but its not in the ::gentoo repo.

Formatting only writes the soft sectoring information. The address and data marks and leaves the data regions empty.

It changes the floppy from erased to blank.

After a floppy is formatted, you make a filesystem on it. A journaled filesystem is a very bad choice. Try vfat.

Formatting involves a bit of trial and error at the start. The formatter writes the address and data marks on the first track, then checks the the last one has not overwritten the first one.

Spindle speed control is horrible. If the drive runs too fast, the first sector was destroyed by the last, so the formatter reduces the intersector gap and tries again ... and again.

Once it gets going, formatting tests the floppies surface.

----------

## e3k

thank you NeddySeagoon:

```
mount /dev/sdb /mnt/usb
```

works fine.

----------

## NeddySeagoon

e3k,

You don't need to partition a hard drive either but you can only put a single filesystem on it then.

Early PCs did not have HDD. The FAT filesysem of the day worked up to 32MB. (yep, mega) which was plenty for 360kB floppies and early HDD.

However, once HDD got to be bigger than 32Mb, you could only use the first 32Mb of your very expensive 40MB HDD.

The partition table hack was added as a workaround. The history of the PC is littered with backwards compatibility things like that.

----------

## Jaglover

Definition of partition - a division into portions. In other words - cutting into pieces. You can partition a floppy disk if you want to. OTOH, why partition a drive for a single filesystem? Some DOS type operating systems may not able to read it, but who cares. I'm not sure if Windows can even read a USB drive which is not partitioned.

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## e3k

 *NeddySeagoon wrote:*   

> e3k,
> 
> You don't need to partition a hard drive either but you can only put a single filesystem on it then.
> 
> Early PCs did not have HDD. The FAT filesysem of the day worked up to 32MB. (yep, mega) which was plenty for 360kB floppies and early HDD.
> ...

 you knowledge intrigues me. yes i need it for reading floppies dated in 90ties. mounts fine but when copying data from it some files seem to be broken. but not all.

----------

## NeddySeagoon

e3k,

I've lived through it. 

Once upon a time I though a 5MB HDD was huge. :)

Floppies may degauss over the years, so you can only read patches of them.

A real floppy controller may do better that a USB adapter but that mean you need to find an old PC that still has a floppy connector on the motherboard.

How badly do you need the data?

----------

## e3k

 *NeddySeagoon wrote:*   

> e3k,
> 
> I've lived through it. 
> 
> Once upon a time I though a 5MB HDD was huge. 
> ...

 i lived without that data for decades and i do not need them. just on a search for rare dos games  :Wink: 

yes the "old pc" is gone now. it had a real floppy

i remember once i had a 286 with 20MB. i knew all the file system structure. those were the times  :Smile: 

...

by the way i have a 386 laptop with a real floppy which i could hook up via a parallel port but i do not know how to send data from dos 6 (could install freedos though..)

so that is why i bought this usb floppy to transfer data from it.

----------

## NeddySeagoon

e3k,

kermit (named after the frog) certainly works over a serial link.

I have a feeling that it could use a special cable between two parallel ports too but I've not done that.

A serial link will be slow but it works.

```
$ eix kermit

* app-misc/ckermit

     Available versions:  8.0.211-r4 (~)9.0.302 {ncurses}

     Homepage:            http://www.kermitproject.org/

     Description:         combined serial and network communication software package
```

that has to be it.

----------

## Ant P.

DOS came with the InterLnk.exe program. Basically a very early predecessor to SMB. You'd connect two machines with a parallel or serial cable, run the server on one machine (this being DOS, you can't do much else while it's running), and a TSR on the client. Very slow but it was fun watching win95 try to boot over a serial line.

I doubt there's anything in Gentoo for it but I'd be surprised if someone *hasn't* written a Linux client for it out there somewhere.

----------

## e3k

 *NeddySeagoon wrote:*   

> kermit (named after the frog)

 

got now a real floppy inside a desktop capable of IDE and SATA. and i can confirm that it did read more then the modern USB thing. also i did not find any new/rare games on the floppies but on the IDE HDD.

i remember using floppies as drive A: in DOS. later used them on Solaris briefly but it has been 20 years since then. Thank you for letting me know how to mount that in current GNU/Linux.

----------

## NeddySeagoon

e3k,

My growing up with computers started when I was 10 years old or so.

I started by learning Algol on an Elliot 503 when my mother got a job as a Computer Operator.

A piece of that computer still works at TNMC

Its well worth a visit if you are in that part of the world.

----------

