26 replies to this topic

[sjlouis]

Hello,

I've bought a 3 TO hard disk to backup my internal hard disk satellite receiver (Openpli 2.1 of April 26 2012). It's a 2 TO and it's quite full. I've installed it in an USB box but when I tried to initialize it, I got only 748 GO (I see it in the movie explorer) even if before the initialisation, Openpli recognise the 3 TO. I can verify this with GlassUtil system info.

Then, I replaced the 2 TO with the 3 TO and I tried to initialise it but when I go in the movie explorer, I have 64 ko for the HDD and 748 GO for a device named sda1. If I use GlassUtil system info, there is 0 for HDD (it's probably the 64 ko).

I haven't a lot of options, I can only modify the type of the format : ext4 instead of ext3 I think. What is the interest of this new format?

Does Openpli can not use 3 TO?

As I have Windows XP on my PC, I can't do anything with a hard disk > 2 TO.

Thank you if somebody can give me a response .

[MiLo]

Are you willing to experiment a bit with your 3TB disk? (because I don't have one, so it's about testing support for it)

For starters, try this:

opkg install parted
parted -s /dev/sdX mklabel gpt mkpart primary 0% 100%

Substitute your harddisk device name for /dev/sdX, most likely it's "/dev/sda".

[sjlouis]

Ok, I can do some experiments but sorry I don't know at all what you want I do. I know a little with Windows because I use it since a long time but I have not any knowledge about Linux. Do I have to open a session? Where? With a PC? And I have to write these instructions? What do they mean? I like to understand what I do.

Thank you MiLo .

[MiLo]

From within Windows, open a telnet session to the box. From the windows commandline, you can do this by typing "telnet boxname" (boxname is the IP address or name of your box, an ET9x00 will usually call itself "et9x00" on the network.

You'll be prompted for a username, enter "root" and press return. By default, the password is empty and it shouldn't ask for one.

When the prompt appears (a "#" sign) enter the two commands I gave you. You can copy and paste them:

opkg install parted
parted -s /dev/sda mklabel gpt mkpart primary 0% 100% print

Note that this will erase the primary harddisk and everything on it!

Please copy and paste the output you get here, so I can see if it works on large disks. If it does, I can add it to the system so that 3TB disks will just work straight out of the box...

Just let me know if you have any more questions!

Edited by MiLo, 11 October 2012 - 14:00.

[sjlouis]

Ok but I have to install it inside the receiver because I've red that the USB box can't probably support a disk greater than 2 TO even if it's the vendor who advised me to take this box for this disk.

Thank you MiLo.

[sjlouis]

Ok, I write the instructions and I got :
Error: Partition(s) on /dev/sda are being used.

As I verified the disk on the receiver, I can see this time it was sdb1. I replaced sda with sdb, it was the same error and I replaced it with sdb1 and it was also the same message.

[sjlouis]

Hello MiLo,

Another user said me to use Gparted on my PC Windows and it's brilliant. I have only done one try to get a partition with 2 TB and one partition with 740 GB. I can see them if the disk is in the receiver and I can see them if the disk is in the USB box. I have only a surprise, the disk is empty but OpenPli said me there are 94 % free on the 2 partitions while it was 99 % free on the 748 GB partition. The only difference, the 748 GB partition was in ext4 and the actual partitions are in ext3. Is it the reason?

[MiLo]

Ok, I write the instructions and I got :
Error: Partition(s) on /dev/sda are being used.

As I verified the disk on the receiver, I can see this time it was sdb1. I replaced sda with sdb, it was the same error and I replaced it with sdb1 and it was also the same message.

If there are valid and mountable partitions, the box will automatically mount them, hence the tool complains they're in use. If that happens, just unmount them, e.g.:

umount /dev/sdb*

Will unmount all partitions of the sdb device. After that, gparted should work.

Please keep in mind that I'm trying to find how to handle a 3GB disk in the box and I'm NOT just trying to solve only your problem, I want it solved for everyone...

[sjlouis]

Ok Milo, but it was my first trial, I've not finished discovering the possibilities of Gparted.

After, I wanted to see if an ext3 partition could be seen by Filezilla in my PC Windows. I've just seen it's not possible, and after I am going to try to get a 3 TO partition with Gparted, and then I'm going to see if the receiver will can accept it in internal and in the USB box.

[MiLo]

Or better, try again tomorrow, it should now be possible to initialize the 3TB disk straight from the box without any help from a PC. Haven't tested with a >2TB disk yet, so I hope you can do that for me.

[sjlouis]

With Gparted, I can't have a partition with 3 TB. It doesn't want. So I try to increase the initial partition of 2 TB to 2.4 TB but Gparted stopped in error after half an hour.

So I delete all partitions and install the hard disk in the receiver.

I wrote the 2 lines you gave me with "sda" but it responded with the information of the 32 GB USB key. Then I replace "sda" with "hdd" but it responded :
Error: Could not stat device /dev/hdd - No such file or directory even if I can read the 3 lines :
hdd
usb
net

Then I initialize the hard disk and I got a 64 KB sda1 partition and a sdb1 748 GB partition. I write again : parted -s…sdb1…
I have the same error : …sdb1 are being used.

Then I wrote : umount /dev/sdb*
I got : umount: can't umount /dev/sdb: Invalid argument

I try again with sdb* and sdb1 with the same result.

Then I wrote again parted -s…print
I got :
Error: Partition(s) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 63, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64 on dev/sdb1 have been written, but we have been unable to inform the kernel of the change, probably because it/there are in use. As a result, the old partition(s) will remain in use. You should reboot now before making further changes.
root@et9x00:~#
Broadcast message from root <tty0> <Sat Oct 13 15:05:49 2012>:
The system is going down for reboot NOW!

: Could not stat device /dev/

I reboot and I could see quickly that it can't mount sdb1. When I try to see what I have, I got only :
hdd
usb
net
There were no more sda1 and sdb2.

I'm sorry, I wonder whether I did the good things .

[sjlouis]

When the instructions worked on the USB key, my movies were destructed . I hope I can record them again.

[sjlouis]

As soon as I try to exceed 2 TO, GParted refuse. GParted is on a Linux core. It's perhaps the limit for a hard disk.

I'm waiting for other instructions if you want to continue.

[sjlouis]

It's perhaps a coincidence but it's would be amazing if you remember the command which erase the USB key. This night, I want to record on the 32 GB USB key and I can see the movie was recorded on the hard disk. I'm going to see the USB key and there was only 64 KB. I try to initialize it but there was an error. I try with Windows but it could not format it. I have also problems with Gparted. I think it died .

Then I take another 32 GB. I initialize it but I can't restart the receiver with the command "restart" in the menu, it doesn't want. If I cut the power, it restarts, if I use the command "restart Enigma", it restarts but it's impossible with the command "restart" if the USB key is plugged. I think I have to update the receiver, a file was corrupted .

[sjlouis]

Hello MiLo,

I don't want to hurry you excessively, but if we can continue the experiments and end them, I can start the backup of my movies (I think it will be long). I shall not very happy if there is a problem (hard disk or bad instruction) and lost them.

I'm going to see the motorbikes races I've recorded this night.

Thank you .

[MiLo]

Just format (initialize) your harddisk today from the menu, and see if it works. It should support 3TB disks now, and there were also a number of improvements for other aspects of that.

[sjlouis]

Ok, but how must be the hard disk before? Now there are 2 partitions, one with 2 TB and one with the rest. Do I delete them with Gparted and after I initialize the disk with the receiver?

What is the difference between ext3 and ext4? What are the improvements of ext4?

Thank you.

[MiLo]

There's no requirement for the harddisk, the "initialize" will completely wipe the disk and remove all partitions on it.

[MiLo]

What is the difference between ext3 and ext4? What are the improvements of ext4?

Basically, ext4 handles large files (like video recordings) a lot better.
For example, deleting a 6GB recording sometimes took about 30 seconds using ext3, while with ext4 it's always less than a second.

[sjlouis]

Ok, too late. As I had no instructions, I have deleted the 2 partitions and I initialized the disk in the receiver. But the result is the same, only 748 GB. I wait for another experiment.

And thank you for the explanation about the format. I shall verify the format of the 2 TB hard disk. It was initialized in March 2011. Perhaps, it's in ext3.

Every time I initialize a volume (hard disk, USB key), there is a "lost+found" directory. Are they necessary? To what are they to use? Can I delete them?

Thank you.