partitions on internal hds

[notoneofmyseeds]

I just read, on the WebUI, that every internal disk must have a swap
partition.

None of mine have these. I simply partitioned them with ext4 and install
them. Or allowed, the box to partition them.

I do have swap "enabled" on USB.

What is the best way to partition the internal HDs.
Why must the internal HDs have swap partitions, but not the external HDs?

I moved my Alt-F USB stick to an unpowered USB Hub.

The right disk, 1.5tb shows up on the status page but the 300gb disk
does not. It has a solid blue light.

Does this have to do with the unpowered USB?

Thanks a lot.

[notoneofmy]

I am not starting a new thread as this is related.

Just for kicks, I removed the HUB and put things as they were and all is
well with the 300gb.

So, what went wrong in that simple change of moving the Alt-F folder
from the USB port on the DNS to a HUB?
Does this mean that once Alt-F is configured either directly connecting
the Alt-F folder to the DNS or a HUB, you cannot alternate?
This is really strange and it would be good to get an insight on it
because for example, you upgrade your drive to a larger one; this means
you cannot simply put the drive in an enclosure and copy the data over
to the larger new drive. I tried doing this with the 300 gb and got
"permission denied," using a linux box to access the contents. It's a
ext4 formatted drive.

Thanks

Cheers,

[notoneofmyseeds]

This bit a rather an interesting observation than a question concerning
the hd labeled 300gb as discussed earlier.

I dug out anther flash drive onto which I had installed an Alt-F folder.
And plugged into Debian the 300gb showed up on the file manager. So it
would seem Alt-F created a link of the hard drive. Is this related to
why I could not access the content of that disk when mounted via USB
enclosure?

It will be good to have answers to all these questions to be able to
understand how Alt-F handles hds.

I hope others benefit from this.

[João Cardoso]

I will not reply in detail as this has been already discussed several times.

-Alt-F will use the first Alt-F dir that it finds during mounting. It works OK on any device or partition, whatever is is.

-When USB pens/disk are attached during boot, and depending on how fast they get ready in relation with internal disks, that might change the normal device enumeration, i.e., the sda/sdb/sdc names. I had cases where sda was a USB pen, not the left or right disks.

-filesystems are mounted based on they device names, unless they have a label. This means that if left disk was sda, a filesystem will be mounted at /mnt/sda2, but if on another boot the same disk is named sdc, it will be mounted /mnt/sdc, and paths in configuration files (Samba shares, e.g.) will become invalid.

-A USB device name might be altered if the disk is uncleanly unplugged and replugged. If it was sdc, it might become sdd after improperly unplugged and replugged.

-Swap is needed to provide enought space for fscking filesystems. A TB filesystem might need  to work tens or hundreds MB of memory, that the 323 don't have, so swap must be available before the first filesystem starts being fscked. Thus the swap must be in the first disk partition and on all disks because that is the only way to guarantee that swap is available in case a disk fails or is removed.

[notoneofmyseeds]

On 06/18/2015 04:30 PM, João Cardoso wrote:
> I will not reply in detail as this has been already discussed several
> times.
>
> -Alt-F will use the first Alt-F dir that it finds during mounting. It
> works OK on any device or partition, whatever is is.
> -When USB pens/disk are attached during boot, and depending on how
> fast they get ready in relation with internal disks, that might change
> the normal device enumeration, i.e., the sda/sdb/sdc names. I had
> cases where sda was a USB pen, not the left or right disks.
> -filesystems are mounted based on they device names, unless they have
> a label. This means that if left disk was sda, a filesystem will be
> mounted at /mnt/sda2, but if on another boot the same disk is named
> sdc, it will be mounted /mnt/sdc, and paths in configuration files
> (Samba shares, e.g.) will become invalid.
> -A USB device name might be altered if the disk is uncleanly unplugged
> and replugged. If it was sdc, it might become sdd after improperly
> unplugged and replugged.
> -Swap is needed to provide enought space for fscking filesystems. A TB
> filesystem might need to work tens or hundreds MB of memory, that the
> 323 don't have, so swap must be available before the first filesystem
> starts being fscked. Thus the swap must be in the first disk partition
> and on all disks because that is the only way to guarantee that swap
> is available in case a disk fails or is removed.

Thanks a lot. And my apologies for asking. But please know that only
some of this information is in the group. Others, not.

How do you propose a fix for the late start of a USB disk onto which the
Alt-F folder is installed? I plan on adding disks via a USB hub and
internal disks as well. Also, how do you suggest dealing with changing
internal disks in a clean fashion, keeping SAMBA, for example, in mind.

To be precise, the question was not whether Alt-F could be on an
internal disk or USB; rather, which is best or ideal. I've since used a
HUB and everything seems fine so far. But as the system grows, I worry
how adding disks, internal and USB, might impact things.

Now that I have a HUB setup, I will be looking forward to
packages/applications that use USB, such as that great program, motion.

Thanks a lot for all your hard work. I see Alt-F getting 5,000+ plus
weekly downloads. This is great!

[João Cardoso]

Now that you know the rules, you have the guidance, keep and eye on device names.

If you only plug the USB after powerup, internal disks will always be sda/adb, and USB will be sdc/sddd/.... With several USB drives attached, each device name will be unpredictable.

So, set a Label to each filesystem (Disk->Filesystem), and it will be mounted accordingly, independently of its device name. Paths will be invariant.

When the Alt-F folder is found, no matter when and where, it will be used, and all services in the base firmware that need it or packages installed on disk will be started (if they are boot enabled).

[notoneofmyseeds]

On 06/19/2015 03:28 PM, João Cardoso wrote:
>
> If you only plug the USB after powerup, internal disks will always be
> sda/adb, and USB will be sdc/sddd/.... With several USB drives
> attached, each device name will be unpredictable.
> So, set a Label to each filesystem (Disk->Filesystem), and it will be
> mounted accordingly, independently of its device name. Paths will be
> invariant.
> When the Alt-F folder is found, no matter when and where, it will be
> used, and all services in the base firmware that need it or packages
> installed on disk will be started (if they are boot enabled).

This is wonderful and thanks.

But I must let you know though, perhaps it's a bug, I don't know. But
the flash drive on which Alt-F folder is located refused to accept the
disk label. I entered it, the hit submit, then save settings; and look,
but the "Label" area is empty.

[João Cardoso]

On Friday, 19 June 2015 22:26:32 UTC+1, notoneofmyseeds wrote:

On 06/19/2015 03:28 PM, João Cardoso wrote:
>
> If you only plug the USB after powerup, internal disks will always be
> sda/adb, and USB will be sdc/sddd/.... With several USB drives
> attached, each device name will be unpredictable.
> So, set a Label to each filesystem (Disk->Filesystem), and it will be
> mounted accordingly, independently of its device name. Paths will be
> invariant.
> When the Alt-F folder is found, no matter when and where, it will be
> used, and all services in the base firmware that need it or packages
> installed on disk will be started (if they are boot enabled).
This is wonderful and thanks.

But I must let you know though, perhaps it's a bug, I don't know. But
the flash drive

An external USB flash drive? What filesystem does it have? NTFS? Then you have to install the 'ntfs-3g-ntfsprogs' package to have labels support.

And if it is NTFS that it is not recommended to have Alt-F packages on it! NTFS and FAT are not linux native and does not supports some needed features. Alt-F packages should be installed on ext2/3/4 filesystems.

 

on which Alt-F folder is located refused to accept the
disk label. I entered it, the hit submit,

The page online help says: FS Operationss: Set Label - Sets the filesystem label using the Label entry. You have to do it that way, not just typing it and Submit.

[notoneofmyseeds]

On 06/20/2015 04:51 PM, João Cardoso wrote:

An external USB flash drive? What filesystem does it have? NTFS? Then you have to install the 'ntfs-3g-ntfsprogs' package to have labels support.

And if it is NTFS that it is not recommended to have Alt-F packages on it! NTFS and FAT are not linux native and does not supports some needed features. Alt-F packages should be installed on ext2/3/4 filesystems.

My Alt-F folder is installed on a ext4 USB drive. I will never, ever dream of installing it on an NTFS drive.
I will install the suggested package. Thanks a lot.

 

on which Alt-F folder is located refused to accept the
disk label. I entered it, the hit submit,

The page online help says: FS Operationss: Set Label - Sets the filesystem label using the Label entry. You have to do it that way, not just typing it and Submit.

I will admit so level of carelessness here. I'm sorry. Thanks for your time and response.