Miscellaneous Purchasing Advice/Recommendations

[bottletop]

I was aware of that before purchase, but so far no complaints (122GB)...

So, were you were happy in that it handled 122GB reliably without issues?

..I just started a read-back and the first 2GB was practically instant (confusing - how could a cache get primed that fast?), but then tailed off to what looks like is heading for 20MB/s.

Maybe it's just a 2GB drive made to look like something else?

 

[Black Hole]

Maybe it's just a 2GB drive made to look like something else?

Yep, I reckon.

So, were you were happy in that it handled 122GB reliably without issues?

You must realise I was sceptical from the start, but giving it a fair chance.

If anyone's willing to run a make on these (see below) for Ubuntu/Mint, it will speed the gathering of evidence:

F3 flash diagnostic tool: https://github.com/AltraMayor/f3

GUI front-end: https://github.com/zwpwjwtz/f3-qt

Thanks.

 

[everthewatcher]

Coming in late on this and apols if it's already been mentioned, but H2testw is my go-to flash memory tester for Windows. Does HDDs too I now see.

 

[prpr]

If anyone's willing to run a make on these (see below) for Ubuntu/Mint, it will speed the gathering of evidence

Attached. It's about as trivial as you can get to do this yourself though.
The instructions for the GUI thing are incomplete/don't work/assume prior knowledge of other stuff.

 

[Black Hole]

Great, thanks. Unfortunately I'm now out until Monday (pity I didn't spot this last night)...

 

[Black Hole]

Attached. It's about as trivial as you can get to do this yourself though.
The instructions for the GUI thing are incomplete/don't work/assume prior knowledge of other stuff.

Are the contents supposed to execute?

 

[prpr]

Are the contents supposed to execute?

That's the general idea with programs.

$ sha256sum f3*
7a8c34c6ebd806473bf658162eb0389da37f85c4c1a1624879b438ae7f3e0aaa  f3read
3499f56d3d84022a01964bb475cb0853c04731a80dcca757fecf7d58240efb7c  f3write
08d016e59fb9933515b1ba5c6877e8e6f66e1e764d34178c28b5789093dd0011  f3.zip

What happens? I trust you're running a 64 bit OS?

 

[Black Hole]

64 bit? Yes, I think so, but then again maybe not... I checked the files as executable, but opening a command window and typing "f3read" just said something like that it is available to install using sudo apt install f3 (or whatever).

I now realise Linux doesn't work like the Windows command window and the current working pointer is not automatically on the execution path. Doh!

Anyway, sudo apt install f3 installed f3read and f3write, so I didn't need it compiled after all. I had looked for it in the repo before, but didn't find it using software manager. Sorry.

f3write wouldn't play ball with the "2TB" in a USB3 port, but worked when I moved to a UB2 port and I left it running overnight (looks like a slow process)...

This morning (something like 9 hours in) it claims to have written 2.45% so only another 400 hours to go. But if it's not reading back it won't know the write was not successful and only looks as if it is. I think I'll abort and see what f3read says.

 

[Black Hole]

System:    Kernel: 5.4.0-131-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.4.0
           Desktop: Cinnamon 5.2.7 wm: muffin dm: LightDM Distro: Linux Mint 20.3 Una
           base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal

$ ./f3read
./f3read: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.33' not found (required by ./f3read)
./f3read: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.34' not found (required by ./f3read)

$ f3read /media/user1/76E8-CACF
F3 read 7.2
Copyright (C) 2010 Digirati Internet LTDA.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.

                  SECTORS      ok/corrupted/changed/overwritten
Validating file 1.h2w ...  966464/  1130688/      0/      0
Validating file 2.h2w ...      32/  2097120/      0/      0
Validating file 3.h2w ...      32/  2097120/      0/      0
Validating file 4.h2w ...      32/  2097120/      0/      0
Validating file 5.h2w ...      32/  2097120/      0/      0
Validating file 6.h2w ...      32/  2097120/      0/      0
Validating file 7.h2w ...      32/  2097120/      0/      0
Validating file 8.h2w ...      32/  2097120/      0/      0
Validating file 9.h2w ...      32/  2097120/      0/      0
Validating file 10.h2w ...      32/  2097120/      0/      0
Validating file 11.h2w ...      32/  2097120/      0/      0
Validating file 12.h2w ...      32/  2097120/      0/      0
Validating file 13.h2w ...      32/  2097120/      0/      0
Validating file 14.h2w ...      32/  2097120/      0/      0
Validating file 15.h2w ...      32/  2097120/      0/      0
Validating file 16.h2w ...      32/  2097120/      0/      0
Validating file 17.h2w ...      32/  2097120/      0/      0
Validating file 18.h2w ...      32/  2097120/      0/      0
Validating file 19.h2w ...      32/  2097120/      0/      0
Validating file 20.h2w ...      32/  2097120/      0/      0
Validating file 21.h2w ...      32/  2097120/      0/      0
Validating file 22.h2w ...      32/  2097120/      0/      0
Validating file 23.h2w ...      32/  2097120/      0/      0
Validating file 24.h2w ...      32/  2097120/      0/      0
Validating file 25.h2w ...      32/  2097120/      0/      0
Validating file 26.h2w ...      32/  2097120/      0/      0
Validating file 27.h2w ...      32/  2097120/      0/      0
Validating file 28.h2w ...      32/  2097120/      0/      0
Validating file 29.h2w ...      32/  2097120/      0/      0
Validating file 30.h2w ...      32/  2097120/      0/      0
Validating file 31.h2w ...      32/  2097120/      0/      0
Validating file 32.h2w ...       0/  2097152/      0/      0
Validating file 33.h2w ...       0/  2097152/      0/      0
Validating file 34.h2w ...       0/  2097152/      0/      0
Validating file 35.h2w ...

Each of these files is supposed to be 1GB (and I supposes a "sector" is 512 bytes), so it looks like ~500MB of the first 1GB is intact (enough to look like it works at first glance) and then it only saves a token amount of each successive file.

This is a lot more sneaky than faking the partition information, it is actively managing the incoming and outgoing data so that the directory structure reads correctly so I suspect f3fix would be unable to correct it. I'll have a little play with f3probe, if I can sudo install it.

Update: f3probe seems to have been installed as part of the f3 package.

 

[Black Hole]

That's a better (ie quicker) test!

# f3probe /dev/sde
F3 probe 7.2
Copyright (C) 2010 Digirati Internet LTDA.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.

WARNING: Probing normally takes from a few seconds to 15 minutes, but
         it can take longer. Please be patient.

Probe finished, recovering blocks... Done

Bad news: The device `/dev/sde' is a counterfeit of type limbo

You can "fix" this device using the following command:
f3fix --last-sec=1100415 /dev/sde

Device geometry:
             *Usable* size: 537.31 MB (1100416 blocks)
            Announced size: 1.91 TB (4096000000 blocks)
                    Module: 2.00 TB (2^41 Bytes)
    Approximate cache size: 1.00 MB (2048 blocks), need-reset=no
       Physical block size: 512.00 Byte (2^9 Bytes)

Probe time: 23.39s

 

[Black Hole]

Curiously, the second one (in a USB3 port) came up with this:

# f3probe /dev/sde
F3 probe 7.2
Copyright (C) 2010 Digirati Internet LTDA.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.

WARNING: Probing normally takes from a few seconds to 15 minutes, but
         it can take longer. Please be patient.

Probe finished, recovering blocks... Done

Bad news: The device `/dev/sde' is a counterfeit of type limbo

You can "fix" this device using the following command:
f3fix --last-sec=3734015 /dev/sde

Device geometry:
             *Usable* size: 1.78 GB (3734016 blocks)
            Announced size: 1.91 TB (4096000000 blocks)
                    Module: 2.00 TB (2^41 Bytes)
    Approximate cache size: 511.00 MB (1046528 blocks), need-reset=no
       Physical block size: 512.00 Byte (2^9 Bytes)

Probe time: 14'07"

...which is much more like I observed with the first one before I started playing with F3.

 

[prpr]

Linux Mint 20.3 Una base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal

When you said Ubuntu/Mint I assumed you meant something contemporary (U22/Mint21) rather than an old version (U20/Mint20). Had I known I would have built in on the older version. I guess we're back to the static linking business again, but it also emphasises the importance of being specific about the target you wish to run it on. Anyway, sounds like time to upgrade! 21.2 is current.

F3 probe 7.2

8.0 is the current version.

Curiously, the second one (in a USB3 port) came up with this

I wonder if these things have very limited write capability and you've already exhausted it on the first one.

 

[Black Hole]

Anyway, sounds like time to upgrade!

If I knew how to do that without having to rebuild my setup from scratch, I would. These things never turn out to be as simple as they would have me believe. (I'm not saying it can't be done, I just haven't got around to investigating – and I didn't realise it would be so critical to a simple command-line utility!)

8.0 is the current version.

Like that will make much difference.

I wonder if these things have very limited write capability and you've already exhausted it on the first one.

Yeah, OTP perhaps, or read-write only in the area used for file system pointers.

Anyway, I have now obtained a returns label and packed them up. I am a little annoyed there was no option to escalate this with eBay directly. Even weirder, when I clicked on one of the links associated with this particular order, details of a different order came up (also UPDs) so I got a bit confused to start with.

 

[MartinLiddle]

If I knew how to do that without having to rebuild my setup from scratch, I would.

I don't have experience with Mint but it is Debian based and I was very pleasantly surprised how easy it was to upgrade from Debian 10 to Debian 11 which reminds me I need to start thinking about upgrading to Debian 12. I think you would need to go 19 to 20 and then 20 to 21.

 

[Black Hole]

I think you would need to go 19 to 20 and then 20 to 21.

I think you mean 20.3 to 21(.0) and then 21.2. It's the first bit which scares me, I have a complex system and don't want to risk anything without a recovery plan.

 

[prpr]

If I knew how to do that without having to rebuild my setup from scratch, I would. These things never turn out to be as simple as they would have me believe.

They've been improving the process and it's quite easy now. You should see a "System Reports" thing on the taskbar which will guide you (probably via the website), but basically you need to install the mintupgrade package and then you should see an option in the Update Manager (again, icon on the taskbar).
I've upgraded six machines in the last few weeks from 20.3 to 21.1 with no problems, and a couple so far from 21.1 to 21.2 (which is even easier).

I didn't realise it would be so critical to a simple command-line utility!

Nothing's ever simple with dynamic linking/loading. There's always something just waiting to bite. But the alternatives are not that attractive either.

It's the first bit which scares me

Make sure you do the timeshift bit then.

 

[Black Hole]

Bit the bullet... small matter of a 3.3GB download!

 

[Black Hole]

I hoped that would have completed overnight, but this morning I was greeted with some status and (effectively) a "do you want to proceed" tick box! Of course I want to f*****g proceed, why do you think I started this in the first f*****g place?!!! Why isn't there an unattended operation option ("just fix it!")? It's not like it's asking things mere mortals should have sufficiently detailed knowledge of, and you just click the "whatever" option and hope Timeshift will get you out of any shit. All the warnings about potentially falling back on a backup were agreed to at the outset.

Regardless, my desktop remains intact (apparently), and I'm rocking Mint 21. Now trying to update to 21.2. It seems I will have to reinstall things like BlueGriffon and OpenOffice, because they're not supported packages in the software manager (sigh).

And people wonder why I stick with what I've got so long as it works?

(Incidentally, my system partition is btrfs, so taking a Timeshift snapshot is very quick!)

 

[EEPhil]

(effectively) a "do you want to proceed" tick box! Of course I want to f*****g proceed, why do you think I started this in the first f*****g place?!!! Why isn't there an unattended operation option

Reminds me of the days of upgrading VAX systems using tape cartridges. I had to sit in a university lab at the weekend twiddling my thumbs to respond to yes/no questions and change tapes. No option for overnight unattended update. Still, no excuse for those sort of problems now. If you are getting status messages that require a response of some sort but you've already told it to carry on regardless I'd have thought you'd triggered a status that isn't covered.

And people wonder why I stick with what I've got so long as it works?

One reason I've still got an old version of Windows.

 

[Black Hole]

If you are getting status messages that require a response of some sort

Yeah, it bleats about orphaned packages and tells you to fill in a list of what you want to keep, but the listed orphans includes nitty-gritty stuff which presumably came as part of an installation so one doesn't know what to say, and even if I were to fill in a list of what to keep, it's not clear how. I'll just re-install when I find I need something which isn't there any more. Other executables were listed as needing to be downgraded (again, presumably upgraded as part of another installation). Each time there is an option to "continue", or if necessary "fix", and it just sits there until you are around to click the default option. That's what needs a tick box which says "do this every time you ask".

Some "unsupported" apps come in the form of a self-contained "appimage" these days, so they'll just run regardless (and were not listed as orphans anyway).

One reason I've still got an old version of Windows.

Ditto. At least Win7 (and Linux) doesn't unilaterally interrupt your ability to get anything done by insisting on updating whether you like it or not. I think Microsoft employees don't factor in that their consumers don't necessarily have gigabit broadband and stonking processors with SSDs.