Moving Files To and From Floppy Disks
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Moving Files To and From Floppy Disks

Although by today's standards floppy disks do not store a lot of information, they come in handy when you want to transfer files to other computers (for example, to print the files) or to make temporary backups of your files. You can use the XFE File Manager to copy files to and from floppy disks. Here's how:

  1. Insert your floppy disk into the floppy disk drive of the computer.
  2. Start the file manager by clicking on the program menu, then selecting File Manager [SCREENSHOT]
  3. The file manager supports different views. Probably the easiest view to use when transferring files is the "Tree and two panels view." To activate this view, click the button shown in [SCREENSHOT], or press Ctrl-F2.

  4. Your file manager window should now be divided into three parts. The leftmost part shows the directories and files on the computer. It is called the directory tree. The middle and right parts of the file manager are called panel. Clicking inside one of the panels will make it active. The top bar of the other panel will be greyed out. [SCREENSHOT]

    We will navigate to the floppy drive in the middle panel, and navigate to your home directory in the right panel. [REF: home directory]

  5. To navigate to your home directory, click inside the right panel and click the "Home" button. [SCREENSHOT]
  6. To navigate to the floppy drive, click the middle panel to activate it, then use the tree view to navigate to the folder media. You should see the floppy drive light up when you click this folder. Then click the floppy "directory", which should have a hard drive icon beside it. [SCREENSHOT] The middle panel should show the contents of your floppy.
  7. Next, select the files you want to move. You can move one file at a time, or you can select multiple files by holding down the ctrl key and clicking your files. Once you have selected your files, let go of the ctrl key.

  8. Now comes the tricky part: Right-click the mouse, and select the Copy option. (You can also use the drop down menus for this: select Edit and then Copy [CHECK]

    Do not click on the Move or Cut options, and do not drag the files to the other panel. Any of these actions will cause the file manager to happily move your files instead of copying them -- the file manager is too dumb to understand that you are trying to transfer files between your hard drive and floppy disk. This is almost certainly not what you want: if you move a file from your hard drive to your floppy, you will no longer have that file on your hard drive. If you lose that floppy -- or if the floppy gets damaged -- then you will lose your file.

  9. Next, click on the other panel to activate it. Right-click again, and select the Paste option at the very bottom of the pop-up menu. A dialog box will pop up asking whether you really want to copy the file. Click Accept to begin the transfer. [SCREENSHOT]
  10. After copying your files, activate the middle panel and click on it. Then click the home button to move back to your home directory. Finally, go to the tree view and click on the media folder to close it. These actions are not necessary, but they will stop the floppy light from going on every few seconds.
  11. Exit the file manager. Another dialog box will ask you whether you really want to exit. Click Okay [CHECK]

Command-line Linux gurus will shudder at this long list of instructions. The reality is that you can also copy files from the command line, using the cp command. You are welcome to use this command if you learn about it; the only thing to remember is that the floppy directory is /media/floppy .

[NEED: how do you format a floppy?]
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