Backup and Restore NAND mtds - Pogoplug V4 original MTD partitions

Ryan,

Your rootfs creation procedure was not done properly. This is what I always tried to tell users: the rootfs creation must be done exactly as instructed. Don't try to substitute a command in the instruction for another that you think will work.

You need to use a Linux box and log in as root. Use openwrt is great, try that again until you're successful. You need to install bzip2 if the tar -xjf command did not work (-j means using bzip2).

-bodhi
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up up~!

hello bodhi,

my steps above need your confirmation.

thanks~!

Ryan,

Your steps will not work. See my post above.

Quote

Your rootfs creation procedure was not done properly. This is what I always tried to tell users: the rootfs creation must be done exactly as instructed. Don't try to substitute a command in the instruction for another that you think will work.

You need to use a Linux box and log in as root. Use openwrt is great, try that again until you're successful. You need to install bzip2 if the tar -xjf command did not work (-j means using bzip2).

-bodhi
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hi bodhi

I am sorry for staying at page1, so I missed your reply in page2.

I will try again .

Thanks~!

Hello,

I can boot debian 3.16 rootfs and have serial and SSH working but I need stock files (full mtd0 or uboot and envs) for Pogoplug E02 (pink). I used archlinux tutorial and it didn't backup.

I might be able to find my stock Pogg E02 mtd0 backup somewhere. Remind me later if I forget.

-bodhi
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Hello Bodhi,

I've found two files
https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=1FBA17E697DFECC3!1596&authkey=!AGQcCvcl0yF5UNY&ithint=folder%2c

bodhi wrote:
>Don't do this if you have any bad block in these MTD partitions

In my DockStar dmesg shows:

Bad eraseblock 461 at 0x0000039a0000
Bad eraseblock 2553 at 0x000013f20000
Bad eraseblock 3186 at 0x000018e40000
Bad eraseblock 3322 at 0x000019f40000
Bad eraseblock 3905 at 0x00001e820000

Currently:

dev: size erasesize name
mtd0: 00100000 00020000 "u-boot"
mtd1: 00400000 00020000 "uImage"
mtd2: 02000000 00020000 "rootfs"
mtd3: 1db00000 00020000 "data"

When updating to the latest Uboot and kernel, all these mtds will be rewritten - correct? So the question is, when flashing the NAND, will the bad blocks be remapped automatically - for Uboot or kernel install, and by what program? If not, what will happen at update?

How often uImage and rootfs are written to NAND if booting from a USB Thumb - at each boot?

Do I need to remap or repair these bad blocks before the updates, and how?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/29/2016 08:06PM by sambul14.

sambul14,

> How often uImage and rootfs are written to NAND if booting from a USB Thumb - at each boot?

> When updating to the latest Uboot and kernel, all
> these mtds will be rewritten - correct?

They are never written by booting. u-boot image in mtd is read at boot by the boot ROM, and executed in RAM. And if you boot my released kernel/rootfs, they are in external drive (USB or HDD), not in NAND.

Only mtd0 is erased and written by flashing u-boot.

> Do I need to remap or repair these bad blocks
> before the updates, and how?

You actually don't need to. They will be ignored by the flashing commands.

The warning in the instruction not to flash an MTD if there are bad blocks in it is because: they cause the block size in the commands to change, so it is no safe to flash without examining the situation closely.

-bodhi
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/29/2016 10:08PM by bodhi.

Hi Bodhi,

I have a Pogoplug E02 (pink) that I'm attempting to restore to factory default. I have a copy of the original MTD0 images. Are your instructions for "How to restore NAND in Linux (any distro) applicable to the E02? Thanks in advance!

dumdedumda,

> I have a Pogoplug E02 (pink) that I'm attempting t
> o restore to factory default. I have a copy of the
> original MTD0 images. Are your instructions for "H
> ow to restore NAND in Linux (any distro) applicabl
> e to the E02? Thanks in advance!

The commands to restore are similar, but not exactly the same. The Pogo E02 has different mtd partition layout. It's very simple, but to be sure that you will not overwrite other partitions and it is the correct mtd0 backup, you should get these information:

System where you do the restore

uname -a

Commands syntax

flash_erase --help
nandwrite --help

Current partition layout

cat /proc/mtd

What the size of the Pogo E02 mtd0 backup file?

ls -lh mtd0

-bodhi
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bodhi Wrote:

>
> Dowload at Dropbox:
> pogoplug_v4_mtd_original.tar.bz2
> md5
> 064a298c89ae5a1b207061e11b401930

hello, I got myself a pogo-v4-a3-01 that is not working.. well kind of

It boots (I have serial console already) gets ip from dhcp but on web access it retuns http error 500.

Since I have not found any reference here or elsewhere on the web on how to solve it, on this post I found the link to the NAND backup, but the link is dead..

Can anybody post a working link or if possible tell if there is a way to solve the http error 500 ?

Thanks!

dbpm1,

> Since I have not found any reference here or
> elsewhere on the web on how to solve it, on this
> post I found the link to the NAND backup, but the
> link is dead..
>
> Can anybody post a working link or if possible
> tell if there is a way to solve the http error 500

I'm not familiar with stock OS so not sure what that error means.

We usually just go straight to install new u-boot and new rootfs, and not caring about stock OS at all.

Is the link I provided for mtds backup not working?

-bodhi
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bodhi,

first let me thank you for your quick reply!!


> Is the link I provided for mtds backup not
> working?

the link is down, it redirects to a dropbox unavailable file page. if possible could you repost it?

I intend to use it as a simple NAS, so since the stock OS seems to be not working as supposed (http error 500 is a blank page, no login or anything at all) and the previous owner did some changes of which I couldn't tell (the ssh was already active and the root password was not ceadmin) I may me inclined to try recovering the stock OS and use as it is if possible.

dbpm1,

I'm not sure what happen to the Dropbox tarball. I'll have to look for the backup.

However,

> I intend to use it as a simple NAS

Then you should install new u-boot and rootfs. Stock OS is not good enough for a NAS.

U-Boot:
https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?3,12381

Debian rootfs:
https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?2,12096

Since you have serial console and can log in into stock OS, you can install from there.

-bodhi
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bodhi thanks a lot for the links!

I'll source a faster usb or sd flash disk tomorrow and get it up and running.. since its Debian based I will try to compile openmediavault!

In https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?3,16789,16789#msg-16789 it mentions restoring mtd0, but what about mtd1 and mtd2 which were saved at the same time as mtd0?

Presumably the original instructions for the Pogoplug V4 can be adapted to a GoFlex Home... although I'm not sure if anything needs to be changed.