Fixing Broken Drive Icons
CONVENTIONS USED

I have seen too many people giving newbies advice on how to access their removable drives using the commandline. Too many newbies don't want to do it that way, and I don't think they should have to. I don't mount my drives using a commandline. This tutorial is meaningless to those who have distros with Supermount working, but by default, Mandrake 8.1 doesn't work. Here's how to fix those broken icons.

To determine if your icons are broken and need replacing, insert a floppy disk and/or a CD-ROM into your computer's drive(s). Now, click on the corresponding icon on the Mandrake 8.1 KDE desktop. This will try to mount the drive and display the contents.

You should get an error message like this:
Broken Icon Error
If you don't, then your icons aren't broken.


If you have recieved that error, delete your drive icons from your desktop. We will make new ones that work. Do this by selecting them with your mouse, then pushing Del on your keyboard.

Alternately, you can use the Delete command from the right-click menu:
Delete Broken Icons


Now, right-click on an empty place on your desktop. Select Create New > Floppy Device...

You should see this menu:
Create New Menu
If not, then you are probably using Gnome, which I can't help you with. Sorry.


You will then be confronted with a dialog box with some tabs at the top. Type in a name for your icon.

Then go to the Device tab. Select from the list the proper device (usually /dev/fd0).

Device Listing


When you click on the proper device, the mount point will be set according to your fstab file. This means that it should be just fine to use the default. Click OK and you are ready to test out your new floppy icon.

Automatic Mount Point


Click on the floppy icon. It should open up a new window with the contents of the floppy disk in it.

Floppy Disk Contents


Don't forget to right-click on the floppy icon and click Unmount before you eject it.

Now you can repeat the same steps above to create a CD-ROM icon, if yours is broken. And if your CD-ROM won't eject, remember to unmount the drive first, or you can right-click the CD-ROM icon and select Eject. Either way it should work just fine.


© D. Olson 2001-2003 -- Originally found on The Mandrake eXPerience