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Fruchtenstein

Member

Registered: 2024-01-12

Posts: 9  

[SOLVED] USB floppy

Bought a USB FDD to try to read floppies from my 25 year old archive, but can't mount any of them. The OS finds the new device and names it /dev/sdb:

[1346890.116543] usb 1-2: new full-speed USB device number 76 using xhci_hcd
[1346890.265638] usb 1-2: New USB device found, idVendor=0644, idProduct=0000, bcdDevice= 2.00
[1346890.265654] usb 1-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[1346890.265660] usb 1-2: Product: TEACV0.0
[1346890.265665] usb 1-2: Manufacturer: TEACV0.0
[1346890.268096] usb-storage 1-2:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[1346890.268830] scsi host1: usb-storage 1-2:1.0
[1346891.327366] scsi 1:0:0:0: Direct-Access     TEAC     USB UF000x       0.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS
[1346891.327954] sd 1:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg1 type 0
[1346891.455180] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Media removed, stopped polling
[1346891.456007] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk
[1346891.711236] sd 1:0:0:0: ioctl_internal_command return code = 402
[1346891.711249] sd 1:0:0:0: Sense Key : Data Protect [current] 
[1346891.711256] sd 1:0:0:0: Add. Sense: Medium not present
[1346892.031314] sd 1:0:0:0: ioctl_internal_command return code = 402
[1346892.031328] sd 1:0:0:0: Sense Key : Data Protect [current] 
[1346892.031334] sd 1:0:0:0: Add. Sense: Medium not present

Then I insert a disk and it's not recognized:

[1347187.007668] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] 2880 512-byte logical blocks: (1.47 MB/1.41 MiB)
[1347187.135651] sdb: detected capacity change from 0 to 2880
[1347187.647358]  sdb:
[1347190.591638] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 FAILED Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_OK cmd_age=0s
[1347190.591654] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 Sense Key : Medium Error [current] 
[1347190.591663] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 Add. Sense: Cannot read medium - unknown format
[1347190.591670] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 CDB: Read(10) 28 00 00 00 08 00 00 00 08 00 00 00
[1347190.591675] I/O error, dev sdb, sector 2048 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x80700 phys_seg 1 prio class 2

/dev/fd0 doesn't exist and I can't mount /dev/sdb:

# mount /dev/sdb /mnt/hdd/
mount: /mnt/hdd: /dev/sdb already mounted or mount point busy.
       dmesg(1) may have more information after failed mount system call.

but I can retrieve data using Photorec.

Some of those floppies I can read on a Windows computer, but can't mount under Linux. Chances are that a kernel module is missing, I guess, but I'm not sure.

I'd appreciate any ideas.

rolfie

Member

Registered: 2017-11-25

Posts: 1,067  

Re: [SOLVED] USB floppy

Can't exactly remember what I did several months ago when reading in some W98SE floppies with an USB floppy drive.

Some ideas:

Make sure you are in the floppy group.
Install mtools and dosfstools.

Then reboot and give it another try.

Fruchtenstein

Member

Registered: 2024-01-12

Posts: 9  

Re: [SOLVED] USB floppy

Mtools! It rings a bell. I'll give it a try, thanks.

Fruchtenstein

Member

Registered: 2024-01-12

Posts: 9  

Re: [SOLVED] USB floppy

It worked. I just had to replace fd0 with sdb in /etc/mtools.conf.
Thank you again.