diskd(1) disk daemon; wait for disk to be inserted

Note

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Description

The diskd command has the following syntax:


 

diskd [-d drive] [-i interval] [-e command]

 

Diskd waits for a disk to be inserted into a given drive, and then either executes the command or exits. This program can be used to automatically mount a disk as soon as it is inserted.

Warning

This program works by switching the motor on for a very short interval, and then seeking to track -1. This might damage hardware in the long run. Amigas, which also use these techniques, are known for having problems with their disk drives no longer spinning up properly after a few month of usage.

Options

-d drive 
Selects the drive to observe for disk insertion. By default, drive 0 (/dev/fd0) is observed.
-i interval 
Selects the polling interval. The interval is given in tenths of seconds. Default is 10 (one second).
-e command 
Gives the command to be executed when a disk is inserted. If no command is given the program simply exits. Typically, the command mounts the disk. It can be a shell scripts which probes for several filesystems and disk geometries until it succeeds.

Bugs

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Automatic unmounting cannot yet be handled. It is indeed not enough to scan for disk removal, because when the disk is removed, it is already too late: There might be some buffers needing flushing. However, the fdmountd program allows automatic unmounting by using the SYNC mount options, which switches off write buffering (see section fdmount).
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The drive motor is running all the time, and on some computers, the drive led flickers at each time the drive is polled.

See Also

Fdutils' texinfo doc