Category Archives: Storage

Sorting a Directory in the FAT File System

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The venerable fat16 and fat32 file systems are still in widespread use today. Devices such as digital cameras, satellite navigation systems, memory sticks and mp3 players all make use of FAT.

The files in a FAT file system are arranged in a strict order. This can affect the way that some devices behave. For example, some MP3 players will play songs only in the order in which they are arranged on the device, rather than the more convenient alphabetical or alphanumeric order. Music players that use USB memory sticks and in-car USB systems can be affected in the same way. The only way to get the songs to play in a more sensible order is to sort the directory (folder) in which they are located. Continue reading →

Solaris Disk EFI Headers

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“format” is the Solaris tool used to initialize disks. Format can sometimes have a problem with disks that bear an EFI disk label. In which case, replacing the EFI label with a more traditional VTOC disk label can help.

The problem appears when an attempt is made to label the disk using format. The label operation fails with “Current disk is unformatted”. Many other format options fail with the same message. Newfs will not recognise the disk and it is therefore impossible to create a file system. Continue reading →

Copying Directories with SSH

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Copying data is something every administrator does.  A single file or directory file can be copied with a single command.  Moving information from one system to another needs a bit more work, but it needn’t be a pain.

The ssh command can be used to copy data from one Unix system to another.    Here is an example for HP-UX, but it works on Linux too.  A directory, called /var/opt/ignite, is copied from the system “pluto” to another machine called “jupiter”. Continue reading →