HD-FOX CF Host UPD

[prpr]

Out of the packet, the SE9 was not recognised when plugged into the HD-FOX. CF Telnet menu reported "no suitable drive for Ext2 conversion".

Because it is completely blank. It has to be FAT formatted to be converted. I still maintain it's a stupid pointless restriction. You can of course format it manually...

So I tried a different tack. Plugged the SE9 into the HD-FOX again, and looked to see if it was listed under Menu >> Settings >> System >> Data Storage... it was. So I formatted it with the SUI (to Ext3).

(Did you not catch that bit of Room 101 last night?)

"tune2fs -O ^has_journal /dev/sda1" reported a 'needs checking' flag was set, and to run e2fsck.

"e2fsck /dev/sda1" produced a whole raft of stuff (y...y...y...), which is where the terminal dump would have been handy. However, at the end I could then run tune2fs again, successfully.

... using mke2fs.

So, basically, the CF method of preparing a UPD seems too touchy. It would have helped me if it would convert a Humax-formatted drive rather than insisting on FAT32.

My point exactly. But I lost.

 

[MontysEvilTwin]

Black Hole - What version of custom firmware are you running? There is a problem with e2fsck in CFW 3.12. CFW 3.11.

Edited to correct an error

 

[Black Hole]

Because it is completely blank.

It was FAT32 out of the packet; I didn't mention that I checked it out on an HDR-FOX and a PC (I have forgotten the details).

(Did you not catch that bit of Room 101 last night?)

You've lost me.

... using mke2fs.

You've lost me - mke2fs isn't mentioned in that wiki reference.

My point exactly. But I lost.

I know.

If the system worked properly from FAT32 it would be one fewer step (that's how UPDs seem to come as), but there's currently no help if the current format is not recognised. Providing a fall-back via SUI format would plug that gap.

 

[Black Hole]

Black Hole - What version of custom firmware are you running? There is a problem with e2fsck in CFW 3.12.

3.11, unless the front panel is lying to me.

Update: and my other units are all on 3.11.

 

[Black Hole]

I'm bloody confused now. Plug the SE9 in again and the HD-FOX loads it (media pop-up), and is accessible via Media (with nothing in it other than a 'lost+found' folder).

However, connect to the IP address for WebIF and it presents the "no disk found" page. Even worse, although it is listed in Menu >> Settings >> System >> Data Storage, the option to format it is unavailable!

What do I do now???

 

[MontysEvilTwin]

3.11, unless the front panel is lying to me.

CFW 3.11 is the version that has the problematic version of e2fsck: see here. Running e2fsck with CFW 3.11 may have made your disk become unavailable to the HD-FOX.
USB sticks (64GB or higher) tend to come preformatted as exFAT. As you know, Windows will refuse to reformat a USB stick of this size to FAT32. A good tool to allow you to do this easily on a Windows PC is HP USB disk. Unfortunately it is no longer available for download from the Hewlett-Packard website. It is available from quite reputable secondary sites like CNET and Softpedia. Sandisk recommend this tool, and link to the CNET site in this webpage.
I have created several EXT2 USB sticks by formatting as EXT3 on a HDR-FOX and converting to EXT2 with the command line method in the wiki with no problems. After formatting as EXT3, if you open a telnet session and type 'df -h' you will be able to identify the mount point of your USB device. You can then change the format from the command line. Running 'df -h' again will confirm that the format has changed.

 

[MontysEvilTwin]

I'm bloody confused now. Plug the SE9 in again and the HD-FOX loads it (media pop-up), and is accessible via Media (with nothing in it other than a 'lost+found' folder).

However, connect to the IP address for WebIF and it presents the "no disk found" page. Even worse, although it is listed in Menu >> Settings >> System >> Data Storage, the option to format it is unavailable!

What do I do now???

I would first update the custom firmware to 3.13. This won't fix your problem but it will prevent e2fsck from messing up the filesystem in the future. At this point it is probably quicker to start again than trying to fix the filesystem (if it has been corrupted by e2fsck): I would reformat to FAT32 on a Windows PC using HP USB disk. Then plug it in to a HDR-FOX, format to EXT3 and convert to EXT2.

 

[Black Hole]

I'm pretty sure it was FAT32 as delivered, but the evidence is gone. I have the HP utility, but didn't use it because it gives dire warnings about only being suitable for HP devices.

I'm not convinced about the e2fsck business; I was able to convert to Ext2 and at least start the software installation - unless that is expected?

 

[MontysEvilTwin]

I'm pretty sure it was FAT32 as delivered, but the evidence is gone. I have the HP utility, but didn't use it because it gives dire warnings about only being suitable for HP devices.

I'm not convinced about the e2fsck business; I was able to convert to Ext2 and at least start the software installation - unless that is expected?

I have had no problems with the HP utility, though I don't remember any compatibility warnings. Sandisk recommend it for their products. You said you ran e2fsck on the drive and this is known to be potentially problematic with the version included in CFW 3.11. Converting from EXT2 to EXT3 just toggles between no journalling (EXT2) and journalling (EXT3) so it is hard to see what went wrong with this. If you still have CFW 3.11 installed try the following (assuming the USB stick is mounted as sda1):

tune2fs -l /dev/sda1

If 'inline_data' is listed as a feature then it was e2fsck that caused the problem.

 

[Black Hole]

I have had no problems with the HP utility, though I don't remember any compatibility warnings.

You're right, it must have been something I was reading. I just ran it for a quick format and Windows now recognises the SE9 as a FAT32 volume. Strangely, the CF still gives "no disk found", and the Humax format option is still unavailable. I'll try it without the "quick" option.

If it looks like I have to go through a Humax format again, I'll gather the data above before updating the CF.

 

[af123]

Strangely, the CF still gives "no disk found",

In the web interface? That seems ok if it's freshly formatted. The message should be no SUITABLE disk found though.
Now that you know it's FAT32, try the convert process through the telnet menu again.

 

[Black Hole]

By "no disk found" I mean the banner text on the place-holder web page - the subtext says there is no suitable disk... but you're right, I may have jumped the gun.

What's stopping the SUI offering to format it though?

Update: The Telnet menu in maintenance mode has offered to convert the UPD, complaining for some reason that it has a vfat file system on it (!). Looks like it's processing...

 

[af123]

What's stopping the SUI offering to format it though?

Usually that means it's too small.

 

[Black Hole]

Well, it did before!

OK, so I've been through HP utility > FAT32 > Telnet conversion > Install software... reboot and it's back to the "no disk found" page!

 

[af123]

What's the output of:
sfdisk -l /dev/sda
?

 

[Black Hole]

Humax HD-Fox T2 (HDFOX3) 1.03.02/3.11

To return to the menu, type: exit

HDFOX3# sfdisk -l /dev/sda
Disk /dev/sda: 62.5 GiB, 67108864000 bytes, 131072000 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x2020204b

Device     Boot Start       End   Sectors  Size Id Type
/dev/sda1          63 131071999 131071937 62.5G 83 Linux
HDFOX3#

The drive claims to be available for recording (I've not done anything to make it so), so I tried an instant record - and when I stopped it I got the "recordings less than 30 secs" message, and no recording!

Does this tell you anything?:

HDFOX3# ls -lr
drwxr-xr-x    4 root     root            88 Feb 11 20:43 var
drwxr-xr-x    9 root     root            87 Mar 15  2016 usr
drwxrwxrwt    2 root     root           340 May 30 14:59 tmp
drwxr-xr-x   10 root     root             0 Jan  1  2000 sys
drwxr-xr-x    3 root     root            23 Dec  9  2014 share
drwxr-xr-x    2 root     root           587 Feb 11 20:43 sbin
drwxr-xr-x    2 root     root             3 Dec  9  2014 root
dr-xr-xr-x   52 root     root             0 Jan  1  2000 proc
drwxr-xr-x    3 root     root            22 Dec  9  2014 opt
lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root            11 Feb 11 20:43 mod -> mnt/hd2/mod
drwxr-xr-x    7 root     root            84 Mar 15  2016 mnt
drwxr-xr-x    3 root     root            60 May 30  2017 media
drwxr-xr-x    4 root     root           713 Feb 11 20:43 lib
drwxr-xr-x    3 root     root            23 Dec  9  2014 home
drwxr-xr-x    9 root     root           446 Feb 11 20:43 etc
drwxr-xr-x    5 root     root          2140 Dec  9  2014 dev
drwxr-xr-x    2 root     root           680 Feb 11 20:43 bin
HDFOX3#

 

[af123]

The drive claims to be available for recording (I've not done anything to make it so)

That is a side-effect of running the disk conversion through the telnet menu.

What about the contents of rag.log?

 

[af123]

Oh, which CFW build are you running?

 

[Black Hole]

3.11

If it's going to help by updating, I'll do it later.

Where do I find rag.log by Telnet?

 

[af123]

3.11

I need the specific build number. There was a fix in build 2739 for the disk not being recognised on an HD model. 'cat /etc/modbuild'

Where do I find rag.log by Telnet?

cat /tmp/rag.log