Mounting a 1.4mb HFS Floppy Disk in Sierra using Terminal

Question

Hi all,I have a stack of (what I assume are) HFS 1.4mb Floppy Disks. I&#x27;ve tried to access them using a USB Floppy Drive, to no avail. All of the disks are HD 1.4mb.I&#x27;ve been trying to use the command mount_hfs in terminal, but I&#x27;m unsure if I&#x27;m using it correctly.When I type:mount_hfs dev/disk2 volumes/macintosh hd/users/username/desktopI get:usage: mount_hfs [-xw] [-u user] [-g group] [-m mask] [-e encoding] [-t tbuffer-size] [-j] [-c] [-o options] special-device filesystem-nodeWhich tells me I&#x27;m using the command incorrectly.Could anybody offer pointers?Thank you for your time,Regards,

VikingOSX · Answer

You are assuming that the floppy storage is HFS, but what if is not?Try the following (blue text) command sequence to see what is mounted, and the respective filesystem. (Assumption: there is a floppy disk in the drive):$ system_profiler SPStorageDataType | awk &#x27;/Mount Point:|File System:/ {$&#x3D;$1;print}&#x27;

VikingOSX · Answer

Yes, you were reading it correctly. I believe you are done accessing the drive contents with Sierra, or later as HFS standard format support has been dropped — per To_Mi and my own reading.

Niel · Answer

Use the following:mount_hfs /dev/disk2 &#x27;/Volumes/Macintosh HD/Users/username/Desktop/&#x27;(157706)

TheBoldRiders · Answer

Hi Niel,Thank you.I get the following:mount_hfs /dev/disk2 &#x27;/volumes/macintosh hd/users/***/desktop/&#x27;GetMasterBlock: Error 13 opening /dev/rdisk2GetMasterBlock: Error 13 opening /dev/rdisk2mount_hfs: error on mount(): error &#x3D; -1.mount_hfs: Permission deniedInterestingly, the computer can definitely see the disk in the drive.***-MacBook-Pro:volumes ***$ diskutil list/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *500.1 GB   disk0   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1   2:          Apple_CoreStorage Macintosh HD            499.2 GB   disk0s2   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3/dev/disk1 (internal, virtual):   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER   0:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD           +498.9 GB   disk1                                 Logical Volume on disk0s2                                 7C33579E-2B92-4438-9718-2B7DFDD91CA0                                 Unencrypted/dev/disk2 (external, physical):   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER   0:                            disk 3 printer soft... *1.5 MB     disk2

TheBoldRiders · Answer

Trying other disks I get:GetMasterBlock: Error 5 from read; amount&#x3D;-1, wanted&#x3D;512GetMasterBlock: Error 5 from read; amount&#x3D;-1, wanted&#x3D;512mount_hfs: error on mount(): error &#x3D; -1.mount_hfs: Input/output error

TheBoldRiders · Answer

Hi Viking, thank you. Good question. My assumption came from the fact that they were all originally formatted and used on either a Classic or a Classic II. Whilst the computer is at least recognising the name of the disk, and not returning a "The disk you inserted was not readable by the computer. Initialize / Ignore / Eject", I&#x27;m not sure if it&#x27;s really recognising it and don&#x27;t know how to interpret the system_profiler response. This is the only disk that gets this far. All of the others get the &#x27;disk you inserted was not readable&#x27; routine.Here&#x27;s what I get from Terminal:***:~ ***$ diskutil list/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *500.1 GB   disk0   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1   2:          Apple_CoreStorage Macintosh HD            499.2 GB   disk0s2   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3/dev/disk1 (internal, virtual):   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER   0:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD           +498.9 GB   disk1                                 Logical Volume on disk0s2                                 7C33579E-2B92-4438-9718-2B7DFDD91CA0                                 Unencrypted/dev/disk2 (external, physical):   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER   0:                            disk 2 printer soft... *1.5 MB     disk2***:~ ***$ system_profiler SPStorageDataType | awk &#x27;/Mount Point:|File System:/ {$1&#x3D;$1;print}&#x27;Mount Point: /File System: Journaled HFS+

TheBoldRiders · Answer

If I&#x27;m reading this correctly, it&#x27;s HFS?***:~ ***$ diskutil info /dev/disk2   Device Identifier:        disk2   Device Node:              /dev/disk2   Whole:                    Yes   Part of Whole:            disk2   Device / Media Name:      USB UF000x   Volume Name:              disk 2 printer software   Mounted:                  No   Content (IOContent):      None   File System Personality:  HFS   Type (Bundle):            hfs   Name (User Visible):      Mac OS Standard   Journal:                  Unknown (not mounted)   OS Can Be Installed:      No   Media Type:               Generic   Protocol:                 USB   SMART Status:             Not Supported   Disk Size:                1.5 MB (1474560 Bytes) (exactly 2880 512-Byte-Units)   Device Block Size:        512 Bytes   Volume Total Space:       0 B (0 Bytes) (exactly 0 512-Byte-Units)   Volume Available Space:   0 B (0 Bytes) (exactly 0 512-Byte-Units)   Read-Only Media:          No   Read-Only Volume:         Not applicable (not mounted)   Device Location:          External   Removable Media:          Removable   Media Removal:            Software-Activated   Virtual:                  No   OS 9 Drivers:             No   Low Level Format:         Not supported

CountryGirl56 · Answer

Which Mac? Which Floppy Drive?

TheBoldRiders · Answer

My apologies.MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012), 10.12.6USB Floppy Drive (see below)

TheBoldRiders · Answer

The drive span up, which is progress, but then returned:mount_hfs: error on mount(): error &#x3D; -1.mount_hfs: Input/output error

VikingOSX · Answer

Errata:$ system_profiler SPStorageDataType | awk &#x27;/Mount Point:|File System:/ {$1&#x3D;$1;print}&#x27;

TheBoldRiders · Answer

FWIW, system_profiler doesn&#x27;t kick the floppy drive into action.

To_Mi · Answer

I think El Capitan ( 10.11.6 ) is the last OS that supports HFS.Reference: What&#x27;s New in macOS @ Developer Sitehttps://developer.apple.com/library/content/releasenotes/MacOSX/WhatsNewInOSX/Ar ticles/OSXv10.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/T…macOS Sierra 10.12...Frameworks and technologies deprecated or removed in macOS 10.12 include the following:The UIAutomation framework is deprecated.The HFS Standard filesystem is no longer supported.I am also looking for a tool or OS extension that allow to mount HFS on Sierra or later, but no success yet.So, it may need to run virtual machine for earlier OS X or other OS with HFS tool at least for now.Last note:I read some article for reading HFS CD-ROM on Sierra by making disk image. But this is for hybrid media, less likely to work for FD. ( not tested )

Niel · Answer

Try putting &#x27;sudo &#x27; without the quotes in front of the command. It&#x27;ll require an administrator password.(157708)

Mounting a 1.4mb HFS Floppy Disk in Sierra using Terminal

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