2 .TH mtools 1 "21Nov21" mtools-4.0.36
4 mtools - utilities to access DOS disks in Unix.
18 Mtools is a collection of tools to allow Unix systems to manipulate
19 MS-DOS files: read, write, and move around files on an MS-DOS
20 file system (typically a floppy disk). Where reasonable, each program
21 attempts to emulate the MS-DOS equivalent command. However,
22 unnecessary restrictions and oddities of DOS are not emulated. For
23 instance, it is possible to move subdirectories from one subdirectory
26 Mtools is sufficient to give access to MS-DOS file systems. For
27 instance, commands such as \fR\&\f(CWmdir a:\fR work on the \fR\&\f(CWa:\fR floppy
28 without any preliminary mounting or initialization (assuming the default
29 \&\fR\&\f(CW\(ifSYSCONFDIRmtools.conf\(is\fR works on your machine). With mtools, one can
30 change floppies too without unmounting and mounting.
32 .SH Where\ to\ get\ mtools
34 Mtools can be found at the following places (and their mirrors):
39 http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/mtools/mtools-4.0.36.tar.gz
47 These patches are named
48 \&\fR\&\f(CWmtools-\fR\fIversion\fR\fR\&\f(CW-\fR\fIddmm\fR\fR\&\f(CW.taz\fR, where version
49 stands for the base version, \fIdd\fR for the day and \fImm\fR for the
50 month. Due to a lack of space, I usually leave only the most recent
53 There is an mtools mailing list at info-mtools @ gnu.org . Please
54 send all bug reports to this list. You may subscribe to the list at
55 https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-mtools. (N.B. Please
56 remove the spaces around the "@". I left them there in order to fool
57 spambots.) Announcements of new mtools versions will also be sent to
58 the list, in addition to the Linux announce newsgroups. The mailing
59 list is archived at http://lists.gnu.org/pipermail/info-mtools/
61 .SH Common\ features\ of\ all\ mtools\ commands
63 .SS Options\ and\ filenames
64 MS-DOS filenames are composed of a drive letter followed by a colon, a
65 subdirectory, and a filename. Only the filename part is mandatory, the
66 drive letter and the subdirectory are optional. Filenames without a
67 drive letter refer to Unix files. Subdirectory names can use either the
68 \&'\fR\&\f(CW/\fR' or '\fR\&\f(CW\e\fR' separator. The use of the '\fR\&\f(CW\e\fR' separator
69 or wildcards requires the names to be enclosed in quotes to protect them
70 from the shell. However, wildcards in Unix filenames should not be
71 enclosed in quotes, because here we \fBwant\fR the shell to expand
74 The regular expression "pattern matching" routines follow the Unix-style
75 rules. For example, `\fR\&\f(CW*\fR' matches all MS-DOS files in lieu of
76 `\fR\&\f(CW*.*\fR'. The archive, hidden, read-only and system attribute bits
77 are ignored during pattern matching.
79 All options use the \fR\&\f(CW-\fR (minus) as their first character, not
80 \&\fR\&\f(CW/\fR as you'd expect in MS-DOS.
82 Most mtools commands allow multiple filename parameters, which
83 doesn't follow MS-DOS conventions, but which is more user-friendly.
85 Most mtools commands allow options that instruct them how to handle file
86 name clashes. See section name clashes, for more details on these. All
87 commands accept the \fR\&\f(CW-V\fR flags which prints the version, and most
88 accept the \fR\&\f(CW-v\fR flag, which switches on verbose mode. In verbose
89 mode, these commands print out the name of the MS-DOS files upon which
90 they act, unless stated otherwise. See section Commands, for a description of
91 the options which are specific to each command.
95 The meaning of the drive letters depends on the target architectures.
96 However, on most target architectures, drive A is the first floppy
97 drive, drive B is the second floppy drive (if available), drive J is a
98 Jaz drive (if available), and drive Z is a Zip drive (if available). On
99 those systems where the device name is derived from the SCSI id, the Jaz
100 drive is assumed to be at SCSI target 4, and the Zip at SCSI target 5
101 (factory default settings). On Linux, both drives are assumed to be the
102 second drive on the SCSI bus (/dev/sdb). The default settings can be
103 changes using a configuration file (see section Configuration).
105 The drive letter : (colon) has a special meaning. It is used to access
106 image files which are directly specified on the command line using the
107 \&\fR\&\f(CW-i\fR options.
114 mcopy -i my-image-file.bin ::file1 ::file2 .
122 This copies \fR\&\f(CWfile1\fR and \fR\&\f(CWfile2\fR from the image file
123 (\fR\&\f(CWmy-image-file.bin\fR) to the \fR\&\f(CW/tmp\fR directory.
125 You can also supply an offset within the image file by including
126 \&\fR\&\f(CW@@\fR\fIoffset\fR into the file name.
133 mcopy -i my-image-file.bin@@1M ::file1 ::file2 .
141 This looks for the image at the offset of 1M in the file, rather than
144 .SS Current\ working\ directory
146 The \fR\&\f(CWmcd\fR command (\(ifmcd\(is) is used to establish the device and
147 the current working directory (relative to the MS-DOS file system),
148 otherwise the default is assumed to be \fR\&\f(CWA:/\fR. However, unlike
149 MS-DOS, there is only one working directory for all drives, and not one
152 .SS VFAT-style\ long\ file\ names
154 This version of mtools supports VFAT style long filenames. If a Unix
155 filename is too long to fit in a short DOS name, it is stored as a
156 VFAT long name, and a companion short name is generated. This short
157 name is what you see when you examine the disk with a pre-7.0 version
159 The following table shows some examples of short names:
165 Long name MS-DOS name Reason for the change
166 --------- ---------- ---------------------
167 thisisatest THISIS~1 filename too long
168 alain.knaff ALAIN~1.KNA extension too long
169 prn.txt PRN~1.TXT PRN is a device name
170 \&\&.abc ABC~1 null filename
171 hot+cold HOT_CO~1 illegal character
179 As you see, the following transformations happen to derive a short
183 Illegal characters are replaced by underscores. The illegal characters
184 are \fR\&\f(CW;+=[]',\e"*\e\e<>/?:|\fR.
187 Extra dots, which cannot be interpreted as a main name/extension
188 separator are removed
191 A \fR\&\f(CW~\fR\fIn\fR number is generated,
194 The name is shortened so as to fit in the 8+3 limitation
196 The initial Unix-style file name (whether long or short) is also called
197 the \fIprimary\fR name, and the derived short name is also called the
198 \&\fIsecondary\fR name.
205 mcopy /etc/motd a:Reallylongname
211 \&\fR Mtools creates a VFAT entry for Reallylongname, and uses REALLYLO as
212 a short name. Reallylongname is the primary name, and REALLYLO is the
218 mcopy /etc/motd a:motd
224 \&\fR Motd fits into the DOS filename limits. Mtools doesn't need to
225 derivate another name. Motd is the primary name, and there is no
228 In a nutshell: The primary name is the long name, if one exists, or
229 the short name if there is no long name.
231 Although VFAT is much more flexible than FAT, there are still names
232 that are not acceptable, even in VFAT. There are still some illegal
233 characters left (\fR\&\f(CW\e"*\e\e<>/?:|\fR), and device names are still
240 Unix name Long name Reason for the change
241 --------- ---------- ---------------------
242 prn prn-1 PRN is a device name
243 ab:c ab_c-1 illegal character
251 As you see, the following transformations happen if a long name is
255 Illegal characters are replaces by underscores,
258 A \fR\&\f(CW-\fR\fIn\fR number is generated,
262 When writing a file to disk, its long name or short name may collide
263 with an already existing file or directory. This may happen for all
264 commands which create new directory entries, such as \fR\&\f(CWmcopy\fR,
265 \&\fR\&\f(CWmmd\fR, \fR\&\f(CWmren\fR, \fR\&\f(CWmmove\fR. When a name clash happens, mtools
266 asks you what it should do. It offers several choices:
268 \&\fR\&\f(CWoverwrite\fR\
269 Overwrites the existing file. It is not possible to overwrite a
270 directory with a file.
272 \&\fR\&\f(CWrename\fR\
273 Renames the newly created file. Mtools prompts for the new filename
275 \&\fR\&\f(CWautorename\fR\
276 Renames the newly created file. Mtools chooses a name by itself, without
280 Gives up on this file, and moves on to the next (if any)
282 To chose one of these actions, type its first letter at the prompt. If
283 you use a lower case letter, the action only applies for this file only,
284 if you use an upper case letter, the action applies to all files, and
285 you won't be prompted again.
287 You may also chose actions (for all files) on the command line, when
290 \&\fR\&\f(CW-D\ o\fR\
291 Overwrites primary names by default.
293 \&\fR\&\f(CW-D\ O\fR\
294 Overwrites secondary names by default.
296 \&\fR\&\f(CW-D\ r\fR\
297 Renames primary name by default.
299 \&\fR\&\f(CW-D\ R\fR\
300 Renames secondary name by default.
302 \&\fR\&\f(CW-D\ a\fR\
303 Autorenames primary name by default.
305 \&\fR\&\f(CW-D\ A\fR\
306 Autorenames secondary name by default.
308 \&\fR\&\f(CW-D\ s\fR\
309 Skip primary name by default.
311 \&\fR\&\f(CW-D\ S\fR\
312 Skip secondary name by default.
314 \&\fR\&\f(CW-D\ m\fR\
315 Ask user what to do with primary name.
317 \&\fR\&\f(CW-D\ M\fR\
318 Ask user what to do with secondary name.
320 Note that for command line switches lower/upper differentiates between
321 primary/secondary name whereas for interactive choices, lower/upper
322 differentiates between just-this-time/always.
324 The primary name is the name as displayed in Windows 95 or Windows NT:
325 i.e. the long name if it exists, and the short name otherwise. The
326 secondary name is the "hidden" name, i.e. the short name if a long name
329 By default, the user is prompted if the primary name clashes, and the
330 secondary name is autorenamed.
332 If a name clash occurs in a Unix directory, mtools only asks whether
333 to overwrite the file, or to skip it.
335 .SS Case\ sensitivity\ of\ the\ VFAT\ file\ system
337 The VFAT file system is able to remember the case of the
338 filenames. However, filenames which differ only in case are not allowed
339 to coexist in the same directory. For example if you store a file called
340 LongFileName on a VFAT file system, mdir shows this file as LongFileName,
341 and not as Longfilename. However, if you then try to add LongFilename to
342 the same directory, it is refused, because case is ignored for clash
345 The VFAT file system allows you to store the case of a filename in the
346 attribute byte, if all letters of the filename are the same case, and if
347 all letters of the extension are the same case too. Mtools uses this
348 information when displaying the files, and also to generate the Unix
349 filename when mcopying to a Unix directory. This may have unexpected
350 results when applied to files written using an pre-7.0 version of DOS:
351 Indeed, the old style filenames map to all upper case. This is different
352 from the behavior of the old version of mtools which used to generate
353 lower case Unix filenames.
355 .SS high\ capacity\ formats
357 Mtools supports a number of formats which allow storage of more data on
358 disk than usual. Due to different operating system abilities, these
359 formats are not supported on all operating systems. Mtools recognizes
360 these formats transparently where supported.
362 In order to format these disks, you need to use an operating system
363 specific tool. For Linux, suitable floppy tools can be found in the
364 \&\fR\&\f(CWfdutils\fR package at the following locations~:
369 \&\fR\&\f(CWhttp://www.fdutils.linux.lu/.
377 See the manual pages included in that package for further detail: Use
378 \&\fR\&\f(CWsuperformat\fR to format all formats except XDF, and use
379 \&\fR\&\f(CWxdfcopy\fR to format XDF.
381 .SS \ \ More\ sectors
383 The oldest method of fitting more data on a disk is to use more sectors
384 and more cylinders. Although the standard format uses 80 cylinders and
385 18 sectors (on a 3 1/2 high density disk), it is possible to use up to
386 83 cylinders (on most drives) and up to 21 sectors. This method allows
387 to store up to 1743K on a 3 1/2 HD disk. However, 21 sector disks are
388 twice as slow as the standard 18 sector disks because the sectors are
389 packed so close together that we need to interleave them. This problem
390 doesn't exist for 20 sector formats.
392 These formats are supported by numerous DOS shareware utilities such as
393 \&\fR\&\f(CWfdformat\fR and \fR\&\f(CWvgacopy\fR. In his infinite hubris, Bill Gate$
394 believed that he invented this, and called it \fR\&\f(CW\(ifDMF disks\(is\fR, or
395 \&\fR\&\f(CW\(ifWindows formatted disks\(is\fR. But in reality, it has already existed
396 years before! Mtools supports these formats on Linux, on SunOS and on
399 .SS \ \ Bigger\ sectors
400 By using bigger sectors it is possible to go beyond the capacity which
401 can be obtained by the standard 512-byte sectors. This is because of the
402 sector header. The sector header has the same size, regardless of how
403 many data bytes are in the sector. Thus, we save some space by using
404 \&\fIfewer\fR, but bigger sectors. For example, 1 sector of 4K only takes
405 up header space once, whereas 8 sectors of 512 bytes have also 8
406 headers, for the same amount of useful data.
408 This method permits storage of up to 1992K on a 3 1/2 HD disk.
410 Mtools supports these formats only on Linux.
414 The 2m format was originally invented by Ciriaco Garcia de Celis. It
415 also uses bigger sectors than usual in order to fit more data on the
416 disk. However, it uses the standard format (18 sectors of 512 bytes
417 each) on the first cylinder, in order to make these disks easier to
418 handle by DOS. Indeed this method allows you to have a standard sized
419 boot sector, which contains a description of how the rest of the disk
422 However, the drawback of this is that the first cylinder can hold less
423 data than the others. Unfortunately, DOS can only handle disks where
424 each track contains the same amount of data. Thus 2m hides the fact that
425 the first track contains less data by using a \fIshadow
426 FAT\fR. (Usually, DOS stores the FAT in two identical copies, for
427 additional safety. XDF stores only one copy, but tells DOS that it
428 stores two. Thus the space that would be taken up by the second FAT copy
429 is saved.) This also means that you should \fBnever use a 2m disk
430 to store anything else than a DOS file system\fR.
432 Mtools supports these formats only on Linux.
436 XDF is a high capacity format used by OS/2. It can hold 1840 K per
437 disk. That's lower than the best 2m formats, but its main advantage is
438 that it is fast: 600 milliseconds per track. That's faster than the 21
439 sector format, and almost as fast as the standard 18 sector format. In
440 order to access these disks, make sure mtools has been compiled with XDF
441 support, and set the \fR\&\f(CWuse_xdf\fR variable for the drive in the
442 configuration file. See section Compiling mtools, and \(ifmiscellaneous variables\(is,
443 for details on how to do this. Fast XDF access is only available for
444 Linux kernels which are more recent than 1.1.34.
446 Mtools supports this format only on Linux.
448 \&\fBCaution / Attention distributors\fR: If mtools is compiled on a
449 Linux kernel more recent than 1.3.34, it won't run on an older
450 kernel. However, if it has been compiled on an older kernel, it still
451 runs on a newer kernel, except that XDF access is slower. It is
452 recommended that distribution authors only include mtools binaries
453 compiled on kernels older than 1.3.34 until 2.0 comes out. When 2.0 will
454 be out, mtools binaries compiled on newer kernels may (and should) be
455 distributed. Mtools binaries compiled on kernels older than 1.3.34 won't
456 run on any 2.1 kernel or later.
459 All the Mtools commands return 0 on success, 1 on utter failure, or 2
460 on partial failure. All the Mtools commands perform a few sanity
461 checks before going ahead, to make sure that the disk is indeed an
462 MS-DOS disk (as opposed to, say an ext2 or MINIX disk). These checks
463 may reject partially corrupted disks, which might otherwise still be
464 readable. To avoid these checks, set the MTOOLS_SKIP_CHECK
465 environmental variable or the corresponding configuration file variable
466 (see section global variables)
468 An unfortunate side effect of not guessing the proper device (when
469 multiple disk capacities are supported) is an occasional error message
470 from the device driver. These can be safely ignored.
472 The fat checking code chokes on 1.72 Mb disks mformatted with pre-2.0.7
473 mtools. Set the environmental variable MTOOLS_FAT_COMPATIBILITY (or the
474 corresponding configuration file variable, \(ifglobal variables\(is) to
475 bypass the fat checking.
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