2 .TH mtools 1 "21Mar23" mtools-4.0.43
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-4.0.43.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
86 file name clashes. See section name clashes, for more details on these.
88 All commands accept the \fR\&\f(CW-i\fR flag which allows to specify an
89 image file (See section drive letters).
91 All commands accept the \fR\&\f(CW-V\fR flag which prints the version, and
92 most accept the \fR\&\f(CW-v\fR flag, which switches on verbose mode. In
93 verbose mode, these commands print out the name of the MS-DOS files
94 upon which they act, unless stated otherwise. See section Commands, for a
95 description of the options which are specific to each command.
99 The meaning of the drive letters depends on the target architectures.
100 However, on most target architectures, drive A is the first floppy
101 drive, drive B is the second floppy drive (if available), drive J is a
102 Jaz drive (if available), and drive Z is a Zip drive (if available). On
103 those systems where the device name is derived from the SCSI id, the Jaz
104 drive is assumed to be at SCSI target 4, and the Zip at SCSI target 5
105 (factory default settings). On Linux, both drives are assumed to be the
106 second drive on the SCSI bus (/dev/sdb). The default settings can be
107 changes using a configuration file (see section Configuration).
109 The drive letter : (colon) has a special meaning. It is used to access
110 image files which are directly specified on the command line using the
111 \&\fR\&\f(CW-i\fR options.
118 mcopy -i my-image-file.bin ::file1 ::file2 .
126 This copies \fR\&\f(CWfile1\fR and \fR\&\f(CWfile2\fR from the image file
127 (\fR\&\f(CWmy-image-file.bin\fR) to the \fR\&\f(CW/tmp\fR directory.
129 You can also supply an offset within the image file by including
130 \&\fR\&\f(CW@@\fR\fIoffset\fR into the file name.
137 mcopy -i my-image-file.bin@@1M ::file1 ::file2 .
145 This looks for the image at the offset of 1M in the file, rather than
148 .SS Current\ working\ directory
150 The \fR\&\f(CWmcd\fR command (\(ifmcd\(is) is used to establish the device and
151 the current working directory (relative to the MS-DOS file system),
152 otherwise the default is assumed to be \fR\&\f(CWA:/\fR. However, unlike
153 MS-DOS, there is only one working directory for all drives, and not one
156 .SS VFAT-style\ long\ file\ names
158 This version of mtools supports VFAT style long filenames. If a Unix
159 filename is too long to fit in a short DOS name, it is stored as a
160 VFAT long name, and a companion short name is generated. This short
161 name is what you see when you examine the disk with a pre-7.0 version
163 The following table shows some examples of short names:
169 Long name MS-DOS name Reason for the change
170 --------- ---------- ---------------------
171 thisisatest THISIS~1 filename too long
172 alain.knaff ALAIN~1.KNA extension too long
173 prn.txt PRN~1.TXT PRN is a device name
174 \&\&.abc ABC~1 null filename
175 hot+cold HOT_CO~1 illegal character
183 As you see, the following transformations happen to derive a short
187 Illegal characters are replaced by underscores. The illegal characters
188 are \fR\&\f(CW;+=[]',\e"*\e\e<>/?:|\fR.
191 Extra dots, which cannot be interpreted as a main name/extension
192 separator are removed
195 A \fR\&\f(CW~\fR\fIn\fR number is generated,
198 The name is shortened so as to fit in the 8+3 limitation
200 The initial Unix-style file name (whether long or short) is also called
201 the \fIprimary\fR name, and the derived short name is also called the
202 \&\fIsecondary\fR name.
209 mcopy /etc/motd a:Reallylongname
215 \&\fR Mtools creates a VFAT entry for Reallylongname, and uses REALLYLO as
216 a short name. Reallylongname is the primary name, and REALLYLO is the
222 mcopy /etc/motd a:motd
228 \&\fR Motd fits into the DOS filename limits. Mtools doesn't need to
229 derivate another name. Motd is the primary name, and there is no
232 In a nutshell: The primary name is the long name, if one exists, or
233 the short name if there is no long name.
235 Although VFAT is much more flexible than FAT, there are still names
236 that are not acceptable, even in VFAT. There are still some illegal
237 characters left (\fR\&\f(CW\e"*\e\e<>/?:|\fR), and device names are still
244 Unix name Long name Reason for the change
245 --------- ---------- ---------------------
246 prn prn-1 PRN is a device name
247 ab:c ab_c-1 illegal character
255 As you see, the following transformations happen if a long name is
259 Illegal characters are replaces by underscores,
262 A \fR\&\f(CW-\fR\fIn\fR number is generated,
266 When writing a file to disk, its long name or short name may collide
267 with an already existing file or directory. This may happen for all
268 commands which create new directory entries, such as \fR\&\f(CWmcopy\fR,
269 \&\fR\&\f(CWmmd\fR, \fR\&\f(CWmren\fR, \fR\&\f(CWmmove\fR. When a name clash happens, mtools
270 asks you what it should do. It offers several choices:
272 \&\fR\&\f(CWoverwrite\fR\
273 Overwrites the existing file. It is not possible to overwrite a
274 directory with a file.
276 \&\fR\&\f(CWrename\fR\
277 Renames the newly created file. Mtools prompts for the new filename
279 \&\fR\&\f(CWautorename\fR\
280 Renames the newly created file. Mtools chooses a name by itself, without
284 Gives up on this file, and moves on to the next (if any)
286 To chose one of these actions, type its first letter at the prompt. If
287 you use a lower case letter, the action only applies for this file only,
288 if you use an upper case letter, the action applies to all files, and
289 you won't be prompted again.
291 You may also chose actions (for all files) on the command line, when
294 \&\fR\&\f(CW-D\ o\fR\
295 Overwrites primary names by default.
297 \&\fR\&\f(CW-D\ O\fR\
298 Overwrites secondary names by default.
300 \&\fR\&\f(CW-D\ r\fR\
301 Renames primary name by default.
303 \&\fR\&\f(CW-D\ R\fR\
304 Renames secondary name by default.
306 \&\fR\&\f(CW-D\ a\fR\
307 Autorenames primary name by default.
309 \&\fR\&\f(CW-D\ A\fR\
310 Autorenames secondary name by default.
312 \&\fR\&\f(CW-D\ s\fR\
313 Skip primary name by default.
315 \&\fR\&\f(CW-D\ S\fR\
316 Skip secondary name by default.
318 \&\fR\&\f(CW-D\ m\fR\
319 Ask user what to do with primary name.
321 \&\fR\&\f(CW-D\ M\fR\
322 Ask user what to do with secondary name.
324 Note that for command line switches lower/upper differentiates between
325 primary/secondary name whereas for interactive choices, lower/upper
326 differentiates between just-this-time/always.
328 The primary name is the name as displayed in Windows 95 or Windows NT:
329 i.e. the long name if it exists, and the short name otherwise. The
330 secondary name is the "hidden" name, i.e. the short name if a long name
333 By default, the user is prompted if the primary name clashes, and the
334 secondary name is autorenamed.
336 If a name clash occurs in a Unix directory, mtools only asks whether
337 to overwrite the file, or to skip it.
339 .SS Case\ sensitivity\ of\ the\ VFAT\ file\ system
341 The VFAT file system is able to remember the case of the
342 filenames. However, filenames which differ only in case are not allowed
343 to coexist in the same directory. For example if you store a file called
344 LongFileName on a VFAT file system, mdir shows this file as LongFileName,
345 and not as Longfilename. However, if you then try to add LongFilename to
346 the same directory, it is refused, because case is ignored for clash
349 The VFAT file system allows you to store the case of a filename in the
350 attribute byte, if all letters of the filename are the same case, and if
351 all letters of the extension are the same case too. Mtools uses this
352 information when displaying the files, and also to generate the Unix
353 filename when mcopying to a Unix directory. This may have unexpected
354 results when applied to files written using an pre-7.0 version of DOS:
355 Indeed, the old style filenames map to all upper case. This is different
356 from the behavior of the old version of mtools which used to generate
357 lower case Unix filenames.
359 .SS high\ capacity\ formats
361 Mtools supports a number of formats which allow storage of more data on
362 disk than usual. Due to different operating system abilities, these
363 formats are not supported on all operating systems. Mtools recognizes
364 these formats transparently where supported.
366 In order to format these disks, you need to use an operating system
367 specific tool. For Linux, suitable floppy tools can be found in the
368 \&\fR\&\f(CWfdutils\fR package at the following locations~:
373 \&\fR\&\f(CWhttp://www.fdutils.linux.lu/.
381 See the manual pages included in that package for further detail: Use
382 \&\fR\&\f(CWsuperformat\fR to format all formats except XDF, and use
383 \&\fR\&\f(CWxdfcopy\fR to format XDF.
385 .SS \ \ More\ sectors
387 The oldest method of fitting more data on a disk is to use more sectors
388 and more cylinders. Although the standard format uses 80 cylinders and
389 18 sectors (on a 3 1/2 high density disk), it is possible to use up to
390 83 cylinders (on most drives) and up to 21 sectors. This method allows
391 to store up to 1743K on a 3 1/2 HD disk. However, 21 sector disks are
392 twice as slow as the standard 18 sector disks because the sectors are
393 packed so close together that we need to interleave them. This problem
394 doesn't exist for 20 sector formats.
396 These formats are supported by numerous DOS shareware utilities such as
397 \&\fR\&\f(CWfdformat\fR and \fR\&\f(CWvgacopy\fR. In his infinite hubris, Bill Gate$
398 believed that he invented this, and called it \fR\&\f(CW\(ifDMF disks\(is\fR, or
399 \&\fR\&\f(CW\(ifWindows formatted disks\(is\fR. But in reality, it has already existed
400 years before! Mtools supports these formats on Linux, on SunOS and on
403 .SS \ \ Bigger\ sectors
404 By using bigger sectors it is possible to go beyond the capacity which
405 can be obtained by the standard 512-byte sectors. This is because of the
406 sector header. The sector header has the same size, regardless of how
407 many data bytes are in the sector. Thus, we save some space by using
408 \&\fIfewer\fR, but bigger sectors. For example, 1 sector of 4K only takes
409 up header space once, whereas 8 sectors of 512 bytes have also 8
410 headers, for the same amount of useful data.
412 This method permits storage of up to 1992K on a 3 1/2 HD disk.
414 Mtools supports these formats only on Linux.
418 The 2m format was originally invented by Ciriaco Garcia de Celis. It
419 also uses bigger sectors than usual in order to fit more data on the
420 disk. However, it uses the standard format (18 sectors of 512 bytes
421 each) on the first cylinder, in order to make these disks easier to
422 handle by DOS. Indeed this method allows you to have a standard sized
423 boot sector, which contains a description of how the rest of the disk
426 However, the drawback of this is that the first cylinder can hold less
427 data than the others. Unfortunately, DOS can only handle disks where
428 each track contains the same amount of data. Thus 2m hides the fact that
429 the first track contains less data by using a \fIshadow
430 FAT\fR. (Usually, DOS stores the FAT in two identical copies, for
431 additional safety. XDF stores only one copy, but tells DOS that it
432 stores two. Thus the space that would be taken up by the second FAT copy
433 is saved.) This also means that you should \fBnever use a 2m disk
434 to store anything else than a DOS file system\fR.
436 Mtools supports these formats only on Linux.
440 XDF is a high capacity format used by OS/2. It can hold 1840 K per
441 disk. That's lower than the best 2m formats, but its main advantage is
442 that it is fast: 600 milliseconds per track. That's faster than the 21
443 sector format, and almost as fast as the standard 18 sector format. In
444 order to access these disks, make sure mtools has been compiled with XDF
445 support, and set the \fR\&\f(CWuse_xdf\fR variable for the drive in the
446 configuration file. See section Compiling mtools, and \(ifmiscellaneous variables\(is,
447 for details on how to do this. Fast XDF access is only available for
448 Linux kernels which are more recent than 1.1.34.
450 Mtools supports this format only on Linux.
452 \&\fBCaution / Attention distributors\fR: If mtools is compiled on a
453 Linux kernel more recent than 1.3.34, it won't run on an older
454 kernel. However, if it has been compiled on an older kernel, it still
455 runs on a newer kernel, except that XDF access is slower. It is
456 recommended that distribution authors only include mtools binaries
457 compiled on kernels older than 1.3.34 until 2.0 comes out. When 2.0 will
458 be out, mtools binaries compiled on newer kernels may (and should) be
459 distributed. Mtools binaries compiled on kernels older than 1.3.34 won't
460 run on any 2.1 kernel or later.
463 All the Mtools commands return 0 on success, 1 on utter failure, or 2
464 on partial failure. All the Mtools commands perform a few sanity
465 checks before going ahead, to make sure that the disk is indeed an
466 MS-DOS disk (as opposed to, say an ext2 or MINIX disk). These checks
467 may reject partially corrupted disks, which might otherwise still be
468 readable. To avoid these checks, set the MTOOLS_SKIP_CHECK
469 environmental variable or the corresponding configuration file variable
470 (see section global variables)
472 An unfortunate side effect of not guessing the proper device (when
473 multiple disk capacities are supported) is an occasional error message
474 from the device driver. These can be safely ignored.
476 The fat checking code chokes on 1.72 Mb disks mformatted with pre-2.0.7
477 mtools. Set the environmental variable MTOOLS_FAT_COMPATIBILITY (or the
478 corresponding configuration file variable, \(ifglobal variables\(is) to
479 bypass the fat checking.
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