doesn't work

Using the script I installed Debian on a hard disc connected via USB.

The partition tables looks as following:

Is the order a problem for uboot? I do not think so, because I attached the drive to my PC and looked in /var/log
There is a dmesg and a dmesg.0 file:

...
[ 3.923794] SCSI subsystem initialized
[ 3.950877] Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...
[ 3.956093] scsi0 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
[ 3.962767] usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage
[ 3.969415] usb-storage: device found at 3
[ 3.969424] usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
[ 3.969468] USB Mass Storage support registered.
[ 8.965939] usb-storage: device scan complete
[ 8.966884] scsi 0:0:0:0: Direct-Access SAMSUNG SP1614C PQ: 0 ANSI: 2 CCS
[ 9.007824] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 312581808 512-byte logical blocks: (160 GB/149 GiB)
[ 9.016311] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
[ 9.021127] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 00 38 00 00
[ 9.021136] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 9.028930] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 9.035052] sda: sda1 sda2 sda3 sda4
[ 9.063059] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 9.069212] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI disk
[ 14.062182] udev[166]: starting version 164
[ 15.277750] Adding 1049560k swap on /dev/sda2. Priority:-1 extents:1 across:1049560k
[ 21.651808] eth0: link up, 1000 Mb/s, full duplex, flow control disabled
[ 37.832543] NET: Registered protocol family 10
[ 37.842556] lo: Disabled Privacy Extensions

They both end with that line.

[ 9.021137] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 9.028929] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 9.035053] sda: sda1 sda2 sda3 sda4
[ 9.063059] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 9.069213] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI disk
[ 14.062070] udev[166]: starting version 164
[ 15.344368] Adding 1049560k swap on /dev/sda2. Priority:-1 extents:1 across:1049560k
[ 35.111293] eth0: link up, 1000 Mb/s, full duplex, flow control disabled
[ 51.142525] NET: Registered protocol family 10
[ 51.149361] lo: Disabled Privacy Extensions

Also, after every failed boot-up fsck /dev/sdc1 shows problems:
Durchgang 2: Prüfe Verzeichnis Struktur
Eintrag »random-seed« in /var/lib/urandom (106721) hat gelöscht/unbenutzt Inode 106731. Bereinige<j>? ja
Eintrag »dmesg.0« in /var/log (106711) hat gelöscht/unbenutzt Inode 106806. Bereinige<j>? ja
Eintrag »motd« in /var/run (106713) hat gelöscht/unbenutzt Inode 106735. Bereinige<j>? ja
Eintrag »sshd.pid« in /var/run (106713) hat gelöscht/unbenutzt Inode 106827. Bereinige<j>? ja
Eintrag »dhcpcd-eth0.pid« in /var/run (106713) hat gelöscht/unbenutzt Inode 106826. Bereinige<j>? ja
Eintrag »ifstate« in /etc/network/run (213763) hat gelöscht/unbenutzt Inode 213794. Bereinige<j>? ja
Durchgang 3: Prüfe Verzeichnis Verknüpfungen
Durchgang 4: Überprüfe die Referenzzähler
Durchgang 5: Überprüfe Gruppe Zusammenfassung
Block Bitmap differieren: -426518 -428091 -432129 +432133 +434178 -438346 -440330 -440375 -440382 -440397 -444417 -448595 -450564 -882691

What to do?

/dev/sdc1   *     7984305    22667714     7341705   83  Linux
/dev/sdc2                     63      2099199     1049568+         82  Swap

Also, when no hard disc is attached it boots normaly and I can login to pogoplug!

When it dies booting the hard disc, the LED dies down.

Eww, that fsck doesn't look good.

FWIW, my Dockstar boot proceeds very much like yours up to the "Disabled Privacy Extensions", but then continues on with another dozen lines or so from RPC, eth0, etc. Since the fsck has removed some necessary files, you'll have to reload to try it again. Pay close attention to the repopulation of your root partition to see if there are any errors there. Have you tried a different USB port for your hard drive? Can you perhaps try an entirely different hard drive?

Let us know what you find. Viel Glück!

I just reinstalled and it died again.

Hmm, does sda1 have to be ext2 or can it be ext3? Because mine is ext3... Not a good idea to install root on ext2.

I read posts that say, sda1 gotta be ext2/ext3 as if it would not matter. Just ext4 is explicitly forbidden.

I booted pogplug without usb. I set fw_setenv usb_rootfstype ext3. I rebootet it again, checked. It is set to ext3.
Then I repaired the usb-partition at my pc (fsck), then I pluged it into the pogoplug and tried booting from the usb. Again, it died. What else shall I do?

The fact that the first partition does not start at the beginning of the hard disc, is not a problem?

It shouldn't be a problem that the first partition doesn't start at the beginning of the hard disk. Are you sure that your partition table doesn't have any overlaps?

As far as the ext2/ext3 thing, when I went to a hard drive solution, I also created the root partition as ext3. I had avoided doing that on the thumb drive because the ext3 journal can significantly increase the number of writes. In any event, I find my root partition is still mounted as an ext2 partition, even though it was created as an ext3. This happens because the uBoot forces that via the "usb_rootfstype" environment variable. It doesn't hurt to mount an ext3 fs as an ext2 as long as you umount it sanely, but ext3s are more robust in the face of power-fail type interruptions and restarts.

Good luck with diagnosing your problem. Keep us informed.