Using mtools

mtools is the name of a collection of commands used to access files on DOS formatted media. In damtp it is used for working with floppies and USB memory sticks on the departmental linux system.

Generally a floppy will use drive letter a: while a USB stick will use u: or v: or w:.

The mtools set of commands includes mformat, mcopy, mcd, mdel, mdir, mmove and mtype each of which have a seperate man page. Other mtools commands are also available, check the mtools man page for details.

mcopy can be used to copy files to or from the usb disk or floppy. For example to copy some files to a floppy...
```
        mcopy *.tex a:
```
(although filenames longer than 8 letters will become mangled to fit the DOS restrictions).
While to copy a file from a USB memory stick
```
        mcopy u:/myfile.pl /tmp 
```
mcopy has a -t option to do a text transfer. Do not use mcopy -t to copy binary files, this includes pdf files. The "-t" should not be used when transferring any binary file formats since not only will it stop reading at Ctrl-Z, hence truncating the file but it will also do CR/LF conversions which will break many (if not all) binary formats. Use mcopy -t for copying "text" files only.
mdir will show the directory contents of the device
```
        mdir u:
```
mtype will show the contents of a file.
To format a floppy you will probably need mformat and possibly fdformat

Useful Links