Using CDs and Diskettes Through File Manager

12

Although you can perform only some media-related tasks with File Manager, if you are accustomed to graphical user interfaces, you may prefer to access your media through its menus. This is a list of the step-by-step instructions in this chapter.

*How to Load a Diskette*	*page 194*
*How to Load a CD*	*page 195*
*How to Eject a Diskette or CD*	*page 195*
*How to Examine the Contents of a Diskette or CD*	*page 197*
*How to Copy Information from a CD*	*page 198*
*How to Move Information Between a Diskette and a System*	*page 199*

For additional tasks, see Chapter 13, "Using CDs From the Command Line" or Chapter 14, "Formatting and Using Diskettes From the Command Line."

· How to Load a Diskette

Make sure the diskette is formatted.
If you aren't sure, don't worry. When you insert the diskette, File Manager will display a large screen notifying you if the diskette is unformatted. To format the diskette, see "How to Format a UFS Diskette" on page 222 or "How to Format a DOS Diskette" on page 228.
Insert the diskette.
Make sure the diskette is completely inserted. It needs to drop down into the drive.
Select Check for Floppy from the File menu.
If the floppy is inserted properly, a window displaying the contents of the floppy disk is displayed.

If the floppy is not inserted properly, this message appears at the bottom of the File Manager window:

No floppy disk in drive

· How to Load a CD

Simply insert the CD, in its caddy, into the CD-ROM drive. The system may take a few seconds to recognize the CD. Once it does, a window displaying the contents of the CD automatically appears:

· How to Eject a Diskette or CD

The processes for ejecting a diskette and a CD are almost identical. The only difference is minor, as described in Step 2.

If ejecting a diskette, make sure the diskette is not being used.
If ejecting a CD, skip this step. Remember, a diskette is "being used" if a shell or an application is accessing any of its files or directories. File Manager doesn't count; even if File Manager is displaying the contents of the media, you can still eject it without harm--File Manager will revert to displaying the contents of your home directory.
If you are not sure whether you have found all users of the diskette (a renegade shell hidden behind a desktop tool may be accessing it), use the fuser command, as described in "How to Find Out If a Diskette Is Still in Use" on page 237.

Select the Eject Disk button in the Diskette Window or CD Window.
If the CD Window no longer appears on the screen, enter eject cdrom in a shell tool. If the Diskette Window no longer appears, enter eject diskette.
The CD is automatically ejected from its drive on both SPARC and x86 systems. On a SPARC system the diskette is physically ejected from its drive. On an x86 system, you'll have to eject the diskette by hand. Look for an onscreen message that says you can now eject the diskette. If the diskette jams, eject it manually by inserting an unfolded paper clip about an inch into the small hole in the front of the drive.
After the media is ejected, its window will disappear automatically. If the contents of the media were being displayed in File Manager's main window, they are replaced by the contents of your home directory.

Accessing Files on CDs and Diskettes

Once they are recognized by Volume Management, you can access the files on diskettes and CDs just as you would files on any other file system. The only restrictions to be aware of are ownership and permissions. For instance, if you are not the owner of a file on a diskette, you won't be able to overwrite it on the diskette. Or, if you copy a file from a CD into your file system, you'll be the owner, but the file won't have write permissions (because it never had them on the CD); you'll have to change the permissions yourself.

Taking these restrictions into account, you can perform the following operations with the files and directories on CDs and diskettes:

Examine the contents of a CD or diskette
Copy information from a CD or diskette
Move information between a diskette and a system

· How to Examine the Contents of a Diskette or CD

Simply load the diskette or CD, according to the instructions in the following tasks:

The contents of the diskette or CD are displayed in their own individual windows.

· How to Copy Information from a CD

Check permissions.
Make sure you have write permission for the directory into which you will copy the CD information.
Insert the CD.
For instructions, see "How to Load a CD" on page 195. The CD Window appears.
Drag and drop.
Simply drag and drop the files or directories from the CD to a location in File Manager.

· How to Move Information Between a Diskette and a System

This procedure can be used to move files or folders into or out of a diskette. It does not apply to CDs since you cannot write to a CD.

Check permissions.
Make sure you have read permission for the source (the old location of the information) and write permission for the target (the new location of the information).
Open the diskette window.
This window appears when you insert a diskette and select the Check for Floppy command.
Select the file or folder you want to move.
Simply click it with the left mouse button.
Select Cut from the Edit menu in the source window.
The source window is simply the window that contains the file or folder you want to move. In this example, it is the main File Manager window:

Select Paste from the Edit menu of the target window.
The target window is the window into which you want to move the file or folder. In this example it is the diskette window.

The new file or folder is displayed in the target window.