2.1 Options and filenames

MS-DOS filenames are composed of a drive letter followed by a colon, a subdirectory, and a filename. Only the filename part is mandatory, the drive letter and the subdirectory are optional. Filenames without a drive letter refer to Unix files. Subdirectory names can use either the ’/’ or ’\’ separator. The use of the ’\’ separator or wildcards requires the names to be enclosed in quotes to protect them from the shell. However, wildcards in Unix filenames should not be enclosed in quotes, because here we want the shell to expand them.

The regular expression "pattern matching" routines follow the Unix-style rules. For example, ‘*’ matches all MS-DOS files in lieu of ‘*.*’. The archive, hidden, read-only and system attribute bits are ignored during pattern matching.

All options use the - (minus) as their first character, not / as you’d expect in MS-DOS.

Most mtools commands allow multiple filename parameters, which doesn’t follow MS-DOS conventions, but which is more user-friendly.

Most mtools commands allow options that instruct them how to handle file name clashes. See Name clashes, for more details on these.

All commands accept the -i flag which allows to specify an image file (See Drive letters).

All commands accept the -V flag which prints the version, and most accept the -v flag, which switches on verbose mode. In verbose mode, these commands print out the name of the MS-DOS files upon which they act, unless stated otherwise. See Command list, for a description of the options which are specific to each command.

2.2 Drive letters

The meaning of the drive letters depends on the target architectures. However, on most target architectures, drive A is the first floppy drive, drive B is the second floppy drive (if available), drive J is a Jaz drive (if available), and drive Z is a Zip drive (if available). On those systems where the device name is derived from the SCSI id, the Jaz drive is assumed to be at SCSI target 4, and the Zip at SCSI target 5 (factory default settings). On Linux, both drives are assumed to be the second drive on the SCSI bus (/dev/sdb). The default settings can be changes using a configuration file (see How to configure mtools for your environment).

The drive letter : (colon) has a special meaning. It is used to access image files which are directly specified on the command line using the -i options.

Example:

 mcopy -i my-image-file.bin ::file1 ::file2 .

This copies file1 and file2 from the image file (my-image-file.bin) to the /tmp directory.

You can also supply an offset within the image file by including @@offset into the file name.

Example:

 mcopy -i my-image-file.bin@@1M ::file1 ::file2 .

This looks for the image at the offset of 1M in the file, rather than at its beginning.

2.3 Sizes and offsets

Certain commands, such as mformat, allow you to specify a hard disk size.

The size is a number, followed by an optional unit suffix.

The number is interpreted as a hexadecimal number if it starts with 0x, as an octal number if it starts with the digit 0, or as a decimal number if it starts with any other digit.

The following units are supported:

• S sectors (of 512 bytes)
• K Kilobytes
• M Megabytes
• G Gigabytes
• T Terabytes

If no unit is specified, the default depends on context. Mformat’s T option, and mpartition’s l option assume sectors, whereas all other places (mshowfat’s o option, offset drive config option and data_map drive config option) assume bytes.

2.4 Current working directory

The mcd command (Mcd) is used to establish the device and the current working directory (relative to the MS-DOS file system), otherwise the default is assumed to be A:/. However, unlike MS-DOS, there is only one working directory for all drives, and not one per drive.

2.5 VFAT-style long file names

This version of mtools supports VFAT style long filenames. If a Unix filename is too long to fit in a short DOS name, it is stored as a VFAT long name, and a companion short name is generated. This short name is what you see when you examine the disk with a pre-7.0 version of DOS. The following table shows some examples of short names:

Long name       MS-DOS name     Reason for the change
---------       ----------      ---------------------
thisisatest     THISIS~1        filename too long
alain.knaff     ALAIN~1.KNA     extension too long
prn.txt         PRN~1.TXT       PRN is a device name
.abc            ABC~1           null filename
hot+cold        HOT_CO~1        illegal character

As you see, the following transformations happen to derive a short name:

• Illegal characters are replaced by underscores. The illegal characters are ;+=[]',\"*\\<>/?:|.
• Extra dots, which cannot be interpreted as a main name/extension separator are removed
• A ~n number is generated,
• The name is shortened so as to fit in the 8+3 limitation

The initial Unix-style file name (whether long or short) is also called the primary name, and the derived short name is also called the secondary name.

Example:

 mcopy /etc/motd a:Reallylongname

Mtools creates a VFAT entry for Reallylongname, and uses REALLYLO as a short name. Reallylongname is the primary name, and REALLYLO is the secondary name.

 mcopy /etc/motd a:motd

Motd fits into the DOS filename limits. Mtools doesn’t need to derivate another name. Motd is the primary name, and there is no secondary name.

In a nutshell: The primary name is the long name, if one exists, or the short name if there is no long name.

Although VFAT is much more flexible than FAT, there are still names that are not acceptable, even in VFAT. There are still some illegal characters left (\"*\\<>/?:|), and device names are still reserved.

Unix name       Long name       Reason for the change
---------       ----------      ---------------------
prn             prn-1           PRN is a device name
ab:c            ab_c-1          illegal character

As you see, the following transformations happen if a long name is illegal:

• Illegal characters are replaces by underscores,
• A -n number is generated,

2.6 Name clashes

When writing a file to disk, its long name or short name may collide with an already existing file or directory. This may happen for all commands which create new directory entries, such as mcopy, mmd, mren, mmove. When a name clash happens, mtools asks you what it should do. It offers several choices:

overwrite

Overwrites the existing file. It is not possible to overwrite a directory with a file.

rename

Renames the newly created file. Mtools prompts for the new filename

autorename

Renames the newly created file. Mtools chooses a name by itself, without prompting

skip

Gives up on this file, and moves on to the next (if any)

To chose one of these actions, type its first letter at the prompt. If you use a lower case letter, the action only applies for this file only, if you use an upper case letter, the action applies to all files, and you won’t be prompted again.

You may also chose actions (for all files) on the command line, when invoking mtools:

-D o

Overwrites primary names by default.

-D O

Overwrites secondary names by default.

-D r

Renames primary name by default.

-D R

Renames secondary name by default.

-D a

Autorenames primary name by default.

-D A

Autorenames secondary name by default.

-D s

Skip primary name by default.

-D S

Skip secondary name by default.

-D m

Ask user what to do with primary name.

-D M

Ask user what to do with secondary name.

Note that for command line switches lower/upper differentiates between primary/secondary name whereas for interactive choices, lower/upper differentiates between just-this-time/always.

The primary name is the name as displayed in Windows 95 or Windows NT: i.e. the long name if it exists, and the short name otherwise. The secondary name is the "hidden" name, i.e. the short name if a long name exists.

By default, the user is prompted if the primary name clashes, and the secondary name is autorenamed.

If a name clash occurs in a Unix directory, mtools only asks whether to overwrite the file, or to skip it.

2.7 Case sensitivity of the VFAT file system

The VFAT file system is able to remember the case of the filenames. However, filenames which differ only in case are not allowed to coexist in the same directory. For example if you store a file called LongFileName on a VFAT file system, mdir shows this file as LongFileName, and not as Longfilename. However, if you then try to add LongFilename to the same directory, it is refused, because case is ignored for clash checks.

The VFAT file system allows you to store the case of a filename in the attribute byte, if all letters of the filename are the same case, and if all letters of the extension are the same case too. Mtools uses this information when displaying the files, and also to generate the Unix filename when mcopying to a Unix directory. This may have unexpected results when applied to files written using an pre-7.0 version of DOS: Indeed, the old style filenames map to all upper case. This is different from the behavior of the old version of mtools which used to generate lower case Unix filenames.

2.8 high capacity formats

Mtools supports a number of formats which allow storage of more data on disk than usual. Due to different operating system abilities, these formats are not supported on all operating systems. Mtools recognizes these formats transparently where supported.

In order to format these disks, you need to use an operating system specific tool. For Linux, suitable floppy tools can be found in the fdutils package at the following locations~:

http://www.fdutils.linux.lu/.

See the manual pages included in that package for further detail: Use superformat to format all formats except XDF, and use xdfcopy to format XDF.

• More sectors
• Bigger sectors
• 2m
• XDF

2.9 Exit codes

All the Mtools commands return 0 on success, 1 on utter failure, or 2 on partial failure. All the Mtools commands perform a few sanity checks before going ahead, to make sure that the disk is indeed an MS-DOS disk (as opposed to, say an ext2 or MINIX disk). These checks may reject partially corrupted disks, which might otherwise still be readable. To avoid these checks, set the MTOOLS_SKIP_CHECK environmental variable or the corresponding configuration file variable (see Global variables)

2.10 Bugs

An unfortunate side effect of not guessing the proper device (when multiple disk capacities are supported) is an occasional error message from the device driver. These can be safely ignored.

The fat checking code chokes on 1.72 Mb disks mformatted with pre-2.0.7 mtools. Set the environmental variable MTOOLS_FAT_COMPATIBILITY (or the corresponding configuration file variable, Global variables) to bypass the fat checking.

3.1 Description

This sections explains the syntax of the configurations files for mtools. The configuration files are called /etc/mtools.conf and ~/.mtoolsrc. If the environmental variable MTOOLSRC is set, its contents is used as the filename for a third configuration file. These configuration files describe the following items:

• Global configuration flags and variables
• Per drive flags and variables

3.2 Location of the configuration files

/etc/mtools.conf is the system-wide configuration file, and ~/.mtoolsrc is the user’s private configuration file.

On some systems, the system-wide configuration file is called /etc/default/mtools.conf instead.

• General configuration file syntax

name=value

3.3 Default values

For most platforms, mtools contains reasonable compiled-in defaults for physical floppy drives. Thus, you usually don’t need to bother with the configuration file, if all you want to do with mtools is to access your floppy drives. On the other hand, the configuration file is needed if you also want to use mtools to access your hard disk partitions and DOSEMU image files.

3.4 Global variables

Global flags may be set to 1 or to 0.

The following global flags are recognized:

MTOOLS_SKIP_CHECK

If this is set to 1, mtools skips most of its sanity checks. This is needed to read some Atari disks which have been made with the earlier ROMs, and which would not be recognized otherwise.

MTOOLS_FAT_COMPATIBILITY

If this is set to 1, mtools skips the fat size checks. Some disks have a bigger FAT than they really need to. These are rejected if this option is not set.

MTOOLS_LOWER_CASE

If this is set to 1, mtools displays all-upper-case short filenames as lowercase. This has been done to allow a behavior which is consistent with older versions of mtools which didn’t know about the case bits.

MTOOLS_NO_VFAT

If this is set to 1, mtools won’t generate VFAT entries for filenames which are mixed-case, but otherwise legal dos filenames. This is useful when working with DOS versions which can’t grok VFAT long names, such as FreeDOS.

MTOOLS_DOTTED_DIR

In a wide directory, prints the short name with a dot instead of spaces separating the basename and the extension.

MTOOLS_NAME_NUMERIC_TAIL

If this is set to one (default), generate numeric tails for all long names (~1). If set to zero, only generate numeric tails if otherwise a clash would have happened.

MTOOLS_TWENTY_FOUR_HOUR_CLOCK

If 1, uses the European notation for times (twenty four hour clock), else uses the UK/US notation (am/pm)

MTOOLS_LOCK_TIMEOUT

How long, in seconds, to wait for a locked device to become free. Defaults to 30.

Example: Inserting the following line into your configuration file instructs mtools to skip the sanity checks:

  MTOOLS_SKIP_CHECK=1

Global variables may also be set via the environment:

  export MTOOLS_SKIP_CHECK=1

Global string variables may be set to any value:

MTOOLS_DATE_STRING

The format used for printing dates of files. By default, is dd-mm-yyyy.

3.5 Per drive flags and variables

• General information
• Location information
• Disk Geometry Configuration
• Open Flags
• General Purpose Drive Variables
• General Purpose Drive Flags
• Supplying multiple descriptions for a drive

  drive a:
    file="/dev/fd0" use_xdf=1

  drive a:
      file="/dev/fd0H1440"
      fat_bits=12
      cylinders=80 heads=2 sectors=18
      mformat_only

  drive a: file="/dev/fd0H1440" 1.44m
  drive a: file="/dev/fd0H720" 720k

  drive z: file="/dev/fd0"
  drive z: file="/dev/fd1"

3.6 Location of configuration files and parsing order

The configuration files are parsed in the following order:

1. compiled-in defaults
2. /etc/mtools.conf
3. ~/.mtoolsrc.
4. $MTOOLSRC (file pointed by the MTOOLSRC environmental variable)

Options described in the later files override those described in the earlier files. Drives defined in earlier files persist if they are not overridden in the later files. For instance, drives A and B may be defined in /etc/mtools.conf and drives C and D may be defined in ~/.mtoolsrc However, if ~/.mtoolsrc also defines drive A, this new description would override the description of drive A in /etc/mtools.conf instead of adding to it. If you want to add a new description to a drive already described in an earlier file, you need to use either the +drive or drive+ keyword.

3.7 Backwards compatibility with old configuration file syntax

The syntax described herein is new for version mtools-3.0. The old line-oriented syntax is still supported. Each line beginning with a single letter is considered to be a drive description using the old syntax. Old style and new style drive sections may be mixed within the same configuration file, in order to make upgrading easier. Support for the old syntax will be phased out eventually, and in order to discourage its use, I purposefully omit its description here.

4.1 Floppyd

Floppyd is used as a server to grant access to the floppy drive to clients running on a remote machine, just as an X server grants access to the display to remote clients. It has the following syntax:

floppyd [-d] [-l] [-s port] [-r user] [-b ipaddr] [-x display] devicenames

floppyd is always associated with an X server. It runs on the same machine as its X server, and listens on port 5703 and above.

• Authentication
• Command line options
• Connecting to floppyd
• Examples:

floppyd -d /dev/fd0

floppyd -d /dev/fd0
floppyd -d -x :1 -p 5704 /dev/fd0 

# floppy daemon
floppyd-0    5703/tcp    # floppy daemon for X server :0
floppyd-1    5704/tcp    # floppy daemon for X server :1

# floppy daemon
floppyd-0 stream  tcp  wait  floppy  /usr/sbin/floppyd floppyd /dev/fd0 
floppyd-1 stream  tcp  wait  floppy  /usr/sbin/floppyd floppyd -x :1 /dev/fd0 

drive x: file="$DISPLAY" remote

drive y: file="$DISPLAY//1" remote
drive z: file="$DISPLAY//2" remote

4.2 Floppyd_installtest

Floppyd_installtest is used to check for the presence of a running floppyd daemon. This is useful, if you have a small front-end script to mtools, which decides whether to use floppyd or not.

floppyd_installtest [-f] Connect-String

If the -f option is specified, floppyd_installtest does a full X-Cookie authentication and complains if this does not work.

The connect-String has the format described in the floppyd-section: hostname:displaynumber[/baseport]

4.3 Mattrib

Mattrib is used to change MS-DOS file attribute bits. It has the following syntax:

mattrib [-a|+a] [-h|+h] [-r|+r] [-s|+s] [-/] [-p] [-X] msdosfile [ msdosfiles … ]

Mattrib adds attribute bits to an MS-DOS file (with the ‘+’ operator) or remove attribute bits (with the ‘-’ operator).

Mattrib supports the following attribute bits:

a

Archive bit. Used by some backup programs to indicate a new file.

r

Read-only bit. Used to indicate a read-only file. Files with this bit set cannot be erased by DEL nor modified.

s

System bit. Used by MS-DOS to indicate a operating system file.

h

Hidden bit. Used to make files hidden from DIR.

Mattrib supports the following command line flags:

/

Recursive. Recursively list the attributes of the files in the subdirectories.

X

Concise. Prints the attributes without any whitespace padding. If neither the "/" option is given, nor the msdosfile contains a wildcard, and there is only one MS-DOS file parameter on the command line, only the attribute is printed, and not the filename. This option is convenient for scripts

p

Replay mode. Outputs a series of mformat commands that will reproduce the current situation, starting from a situation as left by untarring the MS-DOS file system. Commands are only output for attribute settings that differ from the default (archive bit set for files, unset for directories). This option is intended to be used in addition to tar. The readonly attribute is not taken into account, as tar can set that one itself.

4.4 Mbadblocks

The mbadblocks command is used to mark some clusters on an MS-DOS filesystem bad. It has the following syntax:

mbadblocks [-s sectorlist|-c clusterlist|-w] drive:

If no command line flags are supplied, Mbadblocks scans an MS-DOS filesystem for bad blocks by simply trying to read them and flag them if read fails. All blocks that are unused are scanned, and if detected bad are marked as such in the FAT.

This command is intended to be used right after mformat. It is not intended to salvage data from bad disks.

• Command line options
• Bugs

4.5 Mcat

The mcat command is used to copy an entire disk image from or to the floppy device. It uses the following syntax:

mcat [-w] drive:

Mcat performs the same task as the Unix cat command. It is included into the mtools package, since cat cannot access remote floppy devices offered by the mtools floppy daemon. Now it is possible to create boot floppies remotely.

The default operation is reading. The output is written to stdout.

If the -w option is specified, mcat reads a disk-image from stdin and writes it to the given device. Use this carefully! Because of the low-level nature of this command, it will happily destroy any data written before on the disk without warning!

4.6 Mcd

The mcd command is used to change the mtools working directory on the MS-DOS disk. It uses the following syntax:

mcd [msdosdirectory]

Without arguments, mcd reports the current device and working directory. Otherwise, mcd changes the current device and current working directory relative to an MS-DOS file system.

The environmental variable MCWD may be used to locate the file where the device and current working directory information is stored. The default is $HOME/.mcwd. Information in this file is ignored if the file is more than 6 hours old.

Mcd returns 0 on success or 1 on failure.

Unlike MS-DOS versions of CD, mcd can be used to change to another device. It may be wise to remove old .mcwd files at logout.

4.7 Mcopy

The mcopy command is used to copy MS-DOS files to and from Unix. It uses the following syntax:

mcopy [-bspanvmQT] [-D clash_option] sourcefile targetfile
mcopy [-bspanvmQT] [-D clash_option] sourcefile [ sourcefiles… ] targetdirectory
mcopy [-tnvm] MSDOSsourcefile

Mcopy copies the specified file to the named file, or copies multiple files to the named directory. The source and target can be either MS-DOS or Unix files.

The use of a drive letter designation on the MS-DOS files, ’a:’ for example, determines the direction of the transfer. A missing drive designation implies a Unix file whose path starts in the current directory. If a source drive letter is specified with no attached file name (e.g. mcopy a: .), all files are copied from that drive.

If only a single, MS-DOS source parameter is provided (e.g. "mcopy a:foo.exe"), an implied destination of the current directory (‘.’) is assumed.

A filename of ‘-’ means standard input or standard output, depending on its position on the command line.

Mcopy accepts the following command line options:

t

Text file transfer. Mcopy translates incoming carriage return/line feeds to line feeds when copying from MS-DOS to Unix, and vice-versa when copying from Unix to MS-DOS.

b

Batch mode. Optimized for huge recursive copies, but less secure if a crash happens during the copy.

s

Recursive copy. Also copies directories and their contents

p

Preserves the attributes of the copied files

Q

When mcopying multiple files, quits as soon as one copy fails (for example due to lacking storage space on the target disk)

a

Text (ASCII) file transfer. ASCII translates incoming carriage return/line feeds to line feeds.

T

Text (ASCII) file transfer with character set conversion. Differs from -a in the ASCII also translates incoming PC-8 characters to ISO-8859-1 equivalents as far as possible. When reading DOS files, untranslatable characters are replaced by ’#’; when writing DOS files, untranslatable characters are replaced by ’.’.

n

No confirmation when overwriting Unix files. ASCII doesn’t warn the user when overwriting an existing Unix file. If the target file already exists, and the -n option is not in effect, mcopy asks whether to overwrite the file or to rename the new file (see Name clashes) for details). In order to switch off confirmation for DOS files, use -o.

m

Preserve the file modification time.

v

Verbose. Displays the name of each file as it is copied.

• Bugs

mtype a:file1 a:file2 a:file3 >unixfile
mtype a:file1 a:file2 a:file3 | mcopy - a:msdosfile

4.8 Mdel

The mdel command is used to delete an MS-DOS file. Its syntax is:

mdel [-v] msdosfile [ msdosfiles …  ]

Mdel deletes files on an MS-DOS file system.

Mdel asks for verification prior to removing a read-only file.

4.9 Mdeltree

The mdeltree command is used to delete an MS-DOS file. Its syntax is:

mdeltree [-v] msdosdirectory [msdosdirectories…]

Mdeltree removes a directory and all the files and subdirectories it contains from an MS-DOS file system. An error occurs if the directory to be removed does not exist.

4.10 Mdir

The mdir command is used to display an MS-DOS directory. Its syntax is:

mdir [-/] [-f] [-w] [-a] [-b] msdosfile [ msdosfiles…]

Mdir displays the contents of MS-DOS directories, or the entries for some MS-DOS files.

Mdir supports the following command line options:

/

Recursive output, just like MS-DOS’ -s option

w

Wide output. With this option, mdir prints the filenames across the page without displaying the file size or creation date.

a

Also list hidden files.

f

Fast. Do not try to find out free space. On larger disks, finding out the amount of free space takes up some non trivial amount of time, as the whole FAT must be read in and scanned. The -f flag bypasses this step. This flag is not needed on FAT32 file systems, which store the size explicitly.

b

Concise listing. Lists each directory name or filename, one per line (including the filename extension). This switch displays no heading information and no summary. Only a newline separated list of pathnames is displayed.

An error occurs if a component of the path is not a directory.

4.11 Mdu

Mdu is used to list the space occupied by a directory, its subdirectories and its files. It is similar to the du command on Unix. The unit used are clusters. Use the minfo command to find out the cluster size.

mdu [-a] [ msdosfiles … ]

a

All files. List also the space occupied for individual files.

s

Only list the total space, don’t give details for each subdirectory.

4.12 Mformat

The mformat command is used to add an MS-DOS file system to a low-level formatted diskette. Its syntax is:

mformat [-t cylinders|-T tot_sectors] [-h heads] [-s sectors]
  [-f size] [-1] [-4] [-8]
  [-v volume_label]
  [-F] [-S sizecode]
  [-M software_sector_size]
  [-N serial_number] [-a]
  [-C] [-H hidden_sectors] [-I fsVersion]
  [-r root_sectors] [-L fat_len] 
  [-B boot_sector] [-k]
  [-m media_descriptor]
  [-K backup_boot]
  [-R nb_reserved_sectors]
  [-c clusters_per_sector]
  [-d fat_copies]
  [-X] [-2 sectors_on_track_0] [-3]
  [-0 rate_on_track_0] [-A rate_on_other_tracks]
  drive:

Mformat adds a minimal MS-DOS file system (boot sector, FAT, and root directory) to a diskette that has already been formatted by a Unix low-level format.

The following options are supported: (The S, 2, 1 and M options may not exist if this copy of mtools has been compiled without the USE_2M option)

The following options are the same as for MS-DOS’s format command:

v

Specifies the volume label. A volume label identifies the disk and can be a maximum of 11 characters. If you omit the -v switch, mformat will assign no label to the disk.

f

Specifies the size of the DOS file system to format. Only a certain number of predefined sizes are supported by this flag; for others use the -h/-t/-s flags. The following sizes are supported:

160

160K, single-sided, 8 sectors per track, 40 cylinders (for 5 1/4 DD)

180

160K, single-sided, 9 sectors per track, 40 cylinders (for 5 1/4 DD)

320

320K, double-sided, 8 sectors per track, 40 cylinders (for 5 1/4 DD)

360

360K, double-sided, 9 sectors per track, 40 cylinders (for 5 1/4 DD)

720

720K, double-sided, 9 sectors per track, 80 cylinders (for 3 1/2 DD)

1200

1200K, double-sided, 15 sectors per track, 80 cylinders (for 5 1/4 HD)

1440

1440K, double-sided, 18 sectors per track, 80 cylinders (for 3 1/2 HD)

2880

2880K, double-sided, 36 sectors per track, 80 cylinders (for 3 1/2 ED)

t

Specifies the number of tracks on the disk.

T

Specifies the number of total sectors on the disk. Only one of these 2 options may be specified (tracks or total sectors)

h

The number of heads (sides).

s

Specifies the number of sectors per track. If the 2m option is given, number of 512-byte sector equivalents on generic tracks (i.e. not head 0 track 0). If the 2m option is not given, number of physical sectors per track (which may be bigger than 512 bytes).

1

Formats a single side (equivalent to -h 1)

4

Formats a 360K double-sided disk (equivalent to -f 360). When used together with -the 1 switch, this switch formats a 180K disk

8

Formats a disk with 8 sectors per track.

MS-DOS format’s q, u and b options are not supported, and s has a different meaning.

The following options are specific to mtools:

F

Format the partition as FAT32.

S

The size code. The size of the sector is 2 ^ (sizecode + 7).

X

formats the disk as an XDF disk. See XDF, for more details. The disk has first to be low-level formatted using the xdfcopy utility included in the fdutils package. XDF disks are used for instance for OS/2 install disks.

2

2m format. The parameter to this option describes the number of sectors on track 0, head 0. This option is recommended for sectors bigger than normal.

3

don’t use a 2m format, even if the current geometry of the disk is a 2m geometry.

0

Data transfer rate on track 0

A

Data transfer rate on tracks other than 0

M

software sector size. This parameter describes the sector size in bytes used by the MS-DOS file system. By default it is the physical sector size.

N

Uses the requested serial number, instead of generating one automatically

a

If this option is given, an Atari style serial number is generated. Ataris store their serial number in the OEM label.

C

creates the disk image file to install the MS-DOS file system on it. Obviously, this is useless on physical devices such as floppies and hard disk partitions, but is interesting for image files.

H

number of hidden sectors. This parameter is useful for formatting hard disk partition, which are not aligned on track boundaries (i.e. first head of first track doesn’t belong to the partition, but contains a partition table). In that case the number of hidden sectors is in general the number of sectors per cylinder. This is untested.

I

Sets the fsVersion id when formatting a FAT32 drive. In order to find this out, run minfo on an existing FAT32 drive, and mail me about it, so I can include the correct value in future versions of mtools.

c

Sets the size of a cluster (in sectors). If this cluster size would generate a FAT that too big for its number of bits, mtools automatically increases the cluster size, until the FAT is small enough. If no cluster size is specified explicitly, mtools uses a default value as described in section “Number of sectors per cluster” below.

d

Sets the number of FAT copies. Default is 2. This setting can also be specified using the MTOOLS_NFATS environment variable.

r

Sets the size of the root directory (in sectors). Only applicable to 12 and 16 bit FATs. This setting can also be specified using the MTOOLS_DIR_LEN environment variable.

L

Sets the length of the FAT.

B

Use the boot sector stored in the given file or device, instead of using its own. Only the geometry fields are updated to match the target disks parameters.

k

Keep the existing boot sector as much as possible. Only the geometry fields and other similar file system data are updated to match the target disks parameters.

K

Sets the sector number where the backup of the boot sector should be stored (only relevant on FAT32).

R

Sets the number of reserved sectors for this filesystem. This must be at least 1 for non-FAT32 disks, and at least 3 for FAT disks (in order to accommodate the boot sector, the info sector and the backup boot sector).

m

Use a non-standard media descriptor byte for this disk. The media descriptor is stored at position 21 of the boot sector, and as first byte in each FAT copy. Using this option may confuse DOS or older mtools version, and may make the disk unreadable. Only use if you know what you are doing.

b

Use a non-standard bios disk number for this disk. By default, bios disk number is inferred from media descriptor: 0x80 for media descriptor 0xf8, or 0x00 otherwise.

To format a diskette at a density other than the default, you must supply (at least) those command line parameters that are different from the default.

Mformat returns 0 on success or 1 on failure.

It doesn’t record bad block information to the Fat, use mbadblocks for that.

• Number of sectors per cluster

4.13 Mkmanifest

The mkmanifest command is used to create a shell script (packing list) to restore Unix filenames. Its syntax is:

mkmanifest [ files ]

Mkmanifest creates a shell script that aids in the restoration of Unix filenames that got clobbered by the MS-DOS filename restrictions. MS-DOS filenames are restricted to 8 character names, 3 character extensions, upper case only, no device names, and no illegal characters.

The mkmanifest program is compatible with the methods used in pcomm, arc, and mtools to change perfectly good Unix filenames to fit the MS-DOS restrictions. This command is only useful if the target system which will read the diskette cannot handle VFAT long names.

• Example
• Bugs

  very_long_name
  2.many.dots
  illegal:
  good.c
  prn.dev
  Capital

  very_lon
  2xmany.dot
  illegalx
  good.c
  xprn.dev
  capital

mkmanifest very_long_name 2.many.dots illegal: good.c prn.dev Capital >manifest

  mv very_lon very_long_name
  mv 2xmany.dot 2.many.dots
  mv illegalx illegal:
  mv xprn.dev prn.dev
  mv capital Capital

4.14 Minfo

The minfo command prints the parameters of a MS-DOS file system, such as number of sectors, heads and cylinders. It also prints an mformat command line which can be used to create a similar MS-DOS file system on another media. However, this doesn’t work with 2m or XDF media, and with MS-DOS 1.0 file systems

minfo drive:

Minfo supports the following option:

v

Prints a hexdump of the boot sector, in addition to the other information

4.15 Mlabel

The mlabel command adds a volume label to a disk. Its syntax is:

mlabel [-vcsn] [-N serial] drive:[new_label]

Mlabel displays the current volume label, if present. If new_label is not given, and if neither the c nor the s options are set, it prompts the user for a new volume label. To delete an existing volume label, press return at the prompt.

The label is limited to 11 single-byte characters, e.g. Name1234567.

Reasonable care is taken to create a valid MS-DOS volume label. If an invalid label is specified, mlabel changes the label (and displays the new label if the verbose mode is set). Mlabel returns 0 on success or 1 on failure.

Mlabel supports the following options:

c

Clears an existing label, without prompting the user

s

Shows the existing label, without prompting the user.

n

Assigns a new (random) serial number to the disk

N serial

Sets the supplied serial number. The serial number should be supplied as an 8 digit hexadecimal number, without spaces

4.16 Mmd

The mmd command is used to make an MS-DOS subdirectory. Its syntax is:

mmd [-D clash_option] msdosdirectory [ msdosdirectories… ]

Mmd makes a new directory on an MS-DOS file system. An error occurs if the directory already exists.

4.17 Mmount

The mmount command is used to mount an MS-DOS disk. It is only available on Linux, as it is only useful if the OS kernel allows configuration of the disk geometry. Its syntax is:

mmount msdosdrive [mountargs]

Mmount reads the boot sector of an MS-DOS disk, configures the drive geometry, and finally mounts it passing mountargs to mount. If no mount arguments are specified, the name of the device is used. If the disk is write protected, it is automatically mounted read only.

4.18 Mmove

The mmove command is used to move or rename an existing MS-DOS file or subdirectory.

mmove [-v] [-D clash_option] sourcefile targetfile
mmove [-v]  [-D clash_option] sourcefile [ sourcefiles… ] targetdirectory

Mmove moves or renames an existing MS-DOS file or subdirectory. Unlike the MS-DOS version of MOVE, mmove is able to move subdirectories. Files or directories can only be moved within one file system. Data cannot be moved from MS-DOS to Unix or vice-versa. If you omit the drive letter from the target file or directory, the same letter as for the source is assumed. If you omit the drive letter from all parameters, drive a: is assumed by default.

4.19 Mpartition

The mpartition command is used to create MS-DOS file systems as partitions. This is intended to be used on non-Linux systems, i.e. systems where fdisk and easy access to SCSI devices are not available. This command only works on drives whose partition variable is set.

mpartition -p drive
mpartition -r drive
mpartition -I [-B bootSector] drive 
mpartition -a drive
mpartition -d drive
mpartition -c [-s sectors] [-h heads]
[-t cylinders] [-v [-T type] [-b
begin] [-l length] [-f]

Mpartition supports the following operations:

p

Prints a command line to recreate the partition for the drive. Nothing is printed if the partition for the drive is not defined, or an inconsistency has been detected. If verbose (-v) is also set, prints the current partition table.

r

Removes the partition described by drive.

I

Initializes the partition table, and removes all partitions.

c

Creates the partition described by drive.

a

"Activates" the partition, i.e. makes it bootable. Only one partition can be bootable at a time.

d

"Deactivates" the partition, i.e. makes it unbootable.

If no operation is given, the current settings are printed.

For partition creations, the following options are available:

s sectors

The number of sectors per track of the partition (which is also the number of sectors per track for the whole drive).

h heads

The number of heads of the partition (which is also the number of heads for the whole drive). By default, the geometry information (number of sectors and heads) is figured out from neighboring partition table entries, or guessed from the size.

t cylinders

The number of cylinders of the partition (not the number of cylinders of the whole drive.

b begin

The starting offset of the partition, expressed in sectors. If begin is not given, mpartition lets the partition begin at the start of the disk (partition number 1), or immediately after the end of the previous partition.

l length

The size (length) of the partition, expressed in sectors. If end is not given, mpartition figures out the size from the number of sectors, heads and cylinders. If these are not given either, it gives the partition the biggest possible size, considering disk size and start of the next partition.

The following option is available for all operation which modify the partition table:

f

Usually, before writing back any changes to the partition, mpartition performs certain consistency checks, such as checking for overlaps and proper alignment of the partitions. If any of these checks fails, the partition table is not changed. The -f allows you to override these safeguards.

The following options are available for all operations:

v

Together with -p prints the partition table as it is now (no change operation), or as it is after it is modified.

vv

If the verbosity flag is given twice, mpartition will print out a hexdump of the partition table when reading it from and writing it to the device.

The following option is available for partition table initialization:

B bootSector

Reads the template master boot record from file bootSector.

• Choice of partition type

4.20 Mrd

The mrd command is used to remove an MS-DOS subdirectory. Its syntax is:

mrd [-v] msdosdirectory [ msdosdirectories… ]

Mrd removes a directory from an MS-DOS file system. An error occurs if the directory does not exist or is not empty.

4.21 Mren

The mren command is used to rename or move an existing MS-DOS file or subdirectory. Its syntax is:

mren [-voOsSrRA] sourcefile targetfile

Mren renames an existing file on an MS-DOS file system.

In verbose mode, Mren displays the new filename if the name supplied is invalid.

If the first syntax is used (only one source file), and if the target name doesn’t contain any slashes or colons, the file (or subdirectory) is renamed in the same directory, instead of being moved to the current mcd directory as would be the case with mmove. Unlike the MS-DOS version of REN, mren can be used to rename directories.

4.22 Mshortname

The mshortname command is used to display the short name of a file. Syntax:

mshortname files

The shortname is displayed as it is stored in raw format on disk, without any character set conversion.

4.23 Mshowfat

The mshowfat command is used to display the FAT entries for a file. Syntax:

mshowfat [-o offset] files

If no offset is given, a list of all clusters occupied by the file is printed. If an offset is given, only the number of the cluster containing that offset is printed.

4.24 Mtoolstest

The mtoolstest command is used to tests the mtools configuration files. To invoke it, just type mtoolstest without any arguments. Mtoolstest reads the mtools configuration files, and prints the cumulative configuration to stdout. The output can be used as a configuration file itself (although you might want to remove redundant clauses). You may use this program to convert old-style configuration files into new style configuration files.

4.25 Mtype

The mtype command is used to display contents of an MS-DOS file. Its syntax is:

mtype [-ts] msdosfile [ msdosfiles… ]

Mtype displays the specified MS-DOS file on the screen.

In addition to the standard options, Mtype allows the following command line options:

t

Text file viewing. Mtype translates incoming carriage return/line feeds to line feeds.

s

Mtype strips the high bit from the data.

The mcd command may be used to establish the device and the current working directory (relative to MS-DOS), otherwise the default is A:/.

Mtype returns 0 on success, 1 on utter failure, or 2 on partial failure.

Unlike the MS-DOS version of TYPE, mtype allows multiple arguments.

4.26 Mzip

The mzip command is used to issue ZIP disk specific commands on Linux, Solaris or HP-UX. Its syntax is:

mzip [-epqrwx]

Mzip allows the following command line options:

e

Ejects the disk.

f

Force eject even if the disk is mounted (must be given in addition to -e).

r

Write protect the disk.

w

Remove write protection.

p

Password write protect.

x

Password protect

u

Temporarily unprotect the disk until it is ejected. The disk becomes writable, and reverts back to its old state when ejected.

q

Queries the status

To remove the password, set it to one of the password-less modes -r or -w: mzip will then ask you for the password, and unlock the disk. If you have forgotten the password, you can get rid of it by low-level formatting the disk (using your SCSI adapter’s BIOS setup).

The ZipTools disk shipped with the drive is also password protected. On MS-DOS or on a Mac, this password is automatically removed once the ZipTools have been installed. From various articles posted to Usenet, I learned that the password for the tools disk is APlaceForYourStuff¹. Mzip knows about this password, and tries it first, before prompting you for a password. Thus mzip -w z: unlocks the tools disk². The tools disk is formatted in a special way so as to be usable both in a PC and in a Mac. On a PC, the Mac file system appears as a hidden file named partishn.mac. You may erase it to reclaim the 50 Megs of space taken up by the Mac file system.

• Bugs