Working USB-Sticks

Supertalent 8GB Pico-C (bought in 2008) got broken beyond any low level formatting on last dd session. RMA and free replacement (based on their lifetime warranty) from US to Germany within three weeks, nice!

Sandisk Cruzer Fit still humming along without any issues whatsoever. 5 months now. I prefer the drive just for how compact it is even if it is a bit slow.

@Rat,

Sorry, Off Topic for a moment, did you get the heartbeat implemented in the later kernel version? some kernel version (e.g. 3.x.x) does not generate the delay on/off trigger. I hope the heartbeat LED is going to be put back, I surely miss it :-)

Here is the old thread, in case you want to revisit it: http://forum.doozan.com/read.php?2,3521,3545#msg-3545

Thanks

bodhi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sorry, Off Topic for a moment, did you get the
> heartbeat implemented in the later kernel version?
> some kernel version (e.g. 3.x.x) does not generate
> the delay on/off trigger. I hope the heartbeat LED
> is going to be put back, I surely miss it :-)

'fraid not. I've stuck with the old kernel. Didn't want to have to deal with the headache of getting things working again, so I haven't tried to do a single thing with the newer kernels.

rat Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sandisk Cruzer Fit still humming along without any
> issues whatsoever. 5 months now. I prefer the
> drive just for how compact it is even if it is a
> bit slow.


Another vote for the Sandisk Cruzer Fit. Using 8Gb version and has been rock solid for cold, warm, and power interrupts. And with its size and small led, looks awesome on the front of my pink Pogoplug!

I've had good luck with using SD cards in D 1976:1307 Chipsbrand Microelectronics (HK) Co., Ltd. readers. Both the larger size and the one that takes micro-sd cards. They appear to use the same id.

USB 3 must be about to hit big-time as the prices on usb2 drives has plummeted (super media store has many at just over 50 cents per gig. The also have usb3 flash drives for the first time)

Has anyone developed a good way to partion the work load between ro and rw so that they can be on different sd cards or usb drives, one that will be expected to wear out and the other that should last??

TJ

TJ Wrote:

>
> Has anyone developed a good way to partion the
> work load between ro and rw so that they can be on
> different sd cards or usb drives, one that will be
> expected to wear out and the other that should
> last??


I have a Dockstar booted from a usb flash drive but the swap space is a swap file on an external usb hard disk. This should prevent the flash drive from wearing out so quickly.

I simple added "usb stop; usb start; usb start" into my bootcmd-chain and now every usb drive that didn't work before just works fine for me now :P
just takes a bit more time... but they work :)

I hit the problem with my no-name USB stick. After it failed to boot from the USB stick and instead booted into the pogoplug code, I realized that I was unable to mount /dev/sda1 from inside the pogoplug code. I did a mke2fs from inside and confirmed that I was then able to mount the partition, I re-installed Debian (but with the mke2fs commented out from the Debian install script). Now I am able to boot from the USB stick (tried it 4 times so far and success everytime). Does this mean anything to others on the thread?

I have a weired problem ..

I can boot pogoplug with 2/4 Gb drives .. did it many times .. now I have misplaced them.
So i tried my Sandisk 16gb .. no go with Debian squeeze or wheezy ... but Arch boots .. oye wei

yes i tried the setenv to init the usb ,, but that has no affect.
whatever it's worth someones time .. yes it's pogoplug e02 the pink one.

Lexar S73 8GB USB3 (LJDS73-8GBASBNA) - cold/warm boot working.
Lexar S73 16GB USB3 (LJDS73-16GASBNA) - cold/warm boot working.

The Lexar USB3 are much faster than my other USB2 sticks. I can recommend these.

Kingston DT101G2-64GB - does not warm boot. Cold boots fine. This drive is much slower than the Lexar USB3's.

Does the process outlined here work for a Pogoplug V4 ?
Or is it just for the earlier ones?

installer script fails with:

# Installing /usr/share/debootstrap/pkgdetails...
Connecting to download.doozan.com (50.116.34.13:80)
wget: can't open '/usr/share/debootstrap/pkgdetails.md5': No such file or directory
Connecting to download.doozan.com (50.116.34.13:80)
wget: can't open '/usr/share/debootstrap/pkgdetails.md5': No such file or directory
## Could not install /usr/share/debootstrap/pkgdetails from http://download.doozan.com/debian/pkgdetails, exiting.

I'm having the same issue, and am unavle to install debian this way, is there a workaround/fix or another way to install..?



arbro Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> installer script fails with:

> # Installing /usr/share/debootstrap/pkgdetails...
> Connecting to download.doozan.com
> (50.116.34.13:80)
> wget: can't open
> '/usr/share/debootstrap/pkgdetails.md5': No such
> file or directory
> Connecting to download.doozan.com
> (50.116.34.13:80)
> wget: can't open
> '/usr/share/debootstrap/pkgdetails.md5': No such
> file or directory
> ## Could not install
> /usr/share/debootstrap/pkgdetails from
> http://download.doozan.com/debian/pkgdetails,
> exiting.
> 

I've bricked my pogoplug after having executed the command:

/usr/sbin/fw_setenv bootcmd=usb start; usb stop; usb start; run force_rescue_bootcmd; run ubifs_bootcmd; run usb_bootcmd; usb stop; run rescue_bootcmd; run pogo_bootcmd; reset

and rebooted it. It does not start anymore.
You are sure that I am stupid but please explain better what one has to do if the pogoplug linux starts in place of the usb stick linux, to avoid that other people make my same mistake.

I've bricked my pogoplug after having executed the command:

/usr/sbin/fw_setenv bootcmd=usb start; usb stop; usb start; run force_rescue_bootcmd; run ubifs_bootcmd; run usb_bootcmd; usb stop; run rescue_bootcmd; run pogo_bootcmd; reset

and rebooted it. It does not start anymore.
You are sure that I am stupid but please explain better what one has to do if the pogoplug linux starts in place of the usb stick linux, to avoid that other people make my same mistake.

Mark,

It should be

/usr/sbin/fw_setenv bootcmd 'usb start; usb stop; usb start; run force_rescue_bootcmd; run ubifs_bootcmd; run usb_bootcmd; usb stop; run rescue_bootcmd; run pogo_bootcmd; reset'

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)

Yes, but since Mark succeeded in putting in what he put in, what did it actually do? I would think it would create an entry "bootcmd=usb" with a value of "start" (and then give some error messages about "usb: not found", etc, from the shell when you execute the fw_setenv command). But how would this new variable be interpreted by the uBoot? Would it parse it as "bootcmd=usb=start", or in essence set the bootcmd variable to "usb=start", or something else? (Since it broke the uBoot, I'm presuming that it somehow altered the uBoot bootcmd environment variable).

In any event, I think Mark is saying the Plug does boot to the internal Unix, so it ought to be correctable. And, I would think that if one has access to the console, they could also rectify the mistake.

@restamp,

>Since it broke the uBoot, I'm presuming that it
> somehow altered the uBoot bootcmd environment
> variable).

Yes, I think there must have been other envs that were set incorrectly this way. We can't tell for sure because Mark did not list them. The wrong command above would create a variable "bootcmd=usb" and assigned "start;" to it. So alone by itself it would not affect bootcmd.

> In any event, I think Mark is saying the Plug does
> boot to the internal Unix, so it ought to be
> correctable. And, I would think that if one has
> access to the console, they could also rectify the
> mistake.

Agreed.

@Mark,

If you need help fixing this then if you can boot to the Pogo OS, then let us know. If not, connect serial console and we'll go from there.

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)

> If you need help fixing this then if you can boot
> to the Pogo OS, then let us know. If not, connect
> serial console and we'll go from there.

First, thanks for all your kind reply.
Unfortunately, I am unable to boot into pogoplug os. The front led does not blink; the machine does not appears in the list of attached devices in the router web page.
What to you mean about serial console? I have search about and find this:
http://www.hack247.co.uk/blogpost/pogo-plug-pink-serial-connection/
If you intend so, I can equip myself with the needed tools and then if you are helpful yet I will come back to write that I'm ready to go.

Mark,

Very good serial console instruction by varkey (it's for a GoFlex Net, but should give you an idea in general for how to unbrick these pogoplugs). You might have to do some soldering if your plug does not have a header.
http://varkey.in/seagate-goflex-net-serial-connection/

The link you posted above is very good, too.

Which plug do you have?

If you decide to purchase and connect serial console, then should read this thread, too for where to buy parts:
http://forum.doozan.com/read.php?8,13263

But first, does the LED lit green, or orange at all? what is the behvior of the LED light during the time you power on until it seems to get stuck?

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/13/2014 03:35PM by bodhi.

These work to boot from.

USB:
Sandisk Cruzer Blade 4GB
WD My Passport Essential 500GB USB 3.0

MMC:
Sandisk Ultra SDHC 8GB (40mb/s)

Haven't tested the speed though... The startup-time is the same with the slow Cruzer Blade and the Sandisk Ultra... (35 sec after kernel-boot).

Sandisk Ultra SDHC 8GB (40mb/s):

dd count=100 bs=1M if=/dev/zero of=./test.img
100+0 records in
100+0 records out
104857600 bytes (105 MB) copied, 10.6813 s, 9.8 MB/s

WD My Passport Essential 500GB USB 3.0:

dd count=100 bs=1M if=/dev/zero of=./test.img
100+0 records in
100+0 records out
104857600 bytes (105 MB) copied, 4.51808 s, 23.2 MB/s

Interesting...

That 8GB Cruzer Fit I mentioned at the beginning of this page stayed in operation for over 2 years. 859 days uptime, no issues.

Currently using a 32GB Cruzer Fit in place of it now.

Let me give my voite for a Sandisk Ultra-Fit USB 3.0 drive (http://www.sandisk.com/products/usb/drives/ultra-fit3/). Works well with Kirkwood and Oxanas platforms. I just saw them online on sale and I think the 64gb version was $28.00. I've come to think the USB 3.0 controllers are still faster even if accessing on USB 2.0 lines. Here is a test with a Pogoplug Pro Oxnas:

hdparm -tT /dev/sda

/dev/sda:
Timing cached reads: 502 MB in 2.00 seconds = 250.67 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 82 MB in 3.04 seconds = 26.96 MB/sec

dd count=100 bs=1M if=/dev/zero of=/test.img
100+0 records in
100+0 records out
104857600 bytes (105 MB) copied, 17.4454 s, 6.0 MB/s

For comparison sake, here is hdparm for a 7200rpm SATA drive attached via USB to the same system:

hdparm -tT /dev/sdb

/dev/sdb:
Timing cached reads: 504 MB in 2.01 seconds = 251.36 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 74 MB in 3.02 seconds = 24.51 MB/sec
:



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/04/2015 11:06AM by LeggoMyEggo.