Drives & media

A Terminal has writable built-in flash, a read-only system drive, and two bays. Carrying a floppy or hard disk between computers carries its files with it. A microcontroller uses a bay as a programmer socket.

Where files live

Path	Storage	Capacity	Writable?
/	Built-in flash	8,000 B	Yes
/rom	System ROM	System image	No
/disk	Disk in bay 1	Floppy 4,000 B; hard disk 64,000 B	Yes
/disk2	Disk in bay 2	Floppy 4,000 B; hard disk 64,000 B	Yes

Open the Drives drawer on the Terminal to insert or remove media. The bay determines the path: moving the same disk from bay 1 to bay 2 changes its path from /disk to /disk2, while keeping its files.

An empty bay has no usable disk mount. A microcontroller in a bay is not a file disk.

First example: carry a program

1. Put a floppy or hard disk in bay 1.
2. Open the shell and run df to check that /disk is present and has space.
3. Copy the example program:

cp /home/hello.volt /disk/hello.volt

4. Check the copy with cat /disk/hello.volt.
5. Take the disk to another Terminal and put it in bay 1.
6. Run run /disk/hello.volt.

Use /disk2 instead when the disk is in the second bay. Copying keeps the original; removing a disk makes its paths unavailable until the item is inserted again.

Saving and capacity

• Use /home for your own files on the computer.
• /rom is read-only. Open its programs to learn from them, then save your own copy on writable storage.
• df reports the available drives, usage, capacity, and labels.
• File contents and their stored path names count toward the current storage limit. Directory markers also occupy space.
• Paths are case-insensitive: Notes.txt and notes.txt refer to the same name.
• Mount points such as /rom and /disk cannot be deleted or overwritten as ordinary files.

When a drive is full, copy important work to another drive and verify the copy before clearing space. Adding a disk does not enlarge the built-in flash: save to that disk's path.

Burn a microcontroller

Etch a chip in the Small Electronics Lab, then insert it into a Terminal bay. Save a suitable Volt program on a writable drive.

Command	Result
burn	List chips in the bays and their current programs
burn /home/not.volt	Burn the file onto the first bay containing a chip
burn /home/not.volt 2	Burn specifically onto the chip in bay 2

The source must compile and fit the chip's capacity. Burning replaces the program on that chip. Keep the source file so you can edit and burn it again.

Move the programmed chip to a Microcontroller Frame. Its program runs once per tick there; frame programs use input(n), output(n, value), and mem, rather than desktop windows or waits.

Disks while you are away

Since 0.6.0 a computer keeps running when its chunk unloads. Unloaded, it works on copies of what is in its bays and writes them back on reload only if the slots still hold the same items, so nothing is duplicated. A project made in Hard Hoof Studio can be carried the same way: voltc build writes one install.volt; put it on a disk and run /disk/install.volt to write the project's files into /home/<project name>.

Useful commands

Command	Use
ls, cd	Browse folders
cat, open	Read or open a file
cp, mv	Copy or move files
mkdir, touch	Create a folder or file
df	Check drives and space
label /disk name	Name the disk in bay 1

For exact command help, use the Terminal's man command. See Shell, Apps, and Troubleshooting.