Expanding the B1's capacity

[Mitch Russo]

I just received my B1 and it's certainly an interesting device. It's built in speaker actually sounds pretty good for a portable device and the screen is great. I love the internet radio access and the YouTube capability, this is what sets it apart from so many other devices. Also, being able to control it from a web browser is fantastic. 

It's a bit odd that it doesn't have bluetooth out or an Aux out, but I understand there are work-arounds coming for that. I would like it better if it did, because my headphones and my auxiliary sound system are preferable to the small internal speaker.  

Here's my main question. I want to add a 256GB micro SD card and expand the selection of music I can access from my library but I don't know how to get that done. Yet I remember reading something about how it can be done.

Does anyone know how? 

I would appreciate that!

Thanks,

Mitch

[PMB]

Hi Mitch,

You'll need an SD Card to USB Adapter -

Plug target SD (256GB) into USB adaptor and plug that into USB port

Settings->Maintenance->Advanced->Copy SD OS (and delete P3) - will take five minutes or so

Turn off and on - with the power button

 

At this stage you will have a bootable but empty (no music) SD

 

Settings->Maintenance->Advanced->Create P3 - takes a while depends on size of your SD  

Settings->Maintenance->Advanced->Copy P3 - takes a long while depends on how much music you have.

Power off the BB1 and remove SD Card/Adapter.

 

To fit the new card you will need to prise off the fabric cover and then slide it forward. If your fingernails are not made of steel I use a credit card to get it moving and slip under the edges to detach. The SD Card socket has a push-push action to fit and remove the card.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[Robin]

Hi Paul can you be more specific as to where about you prise the BB1 cover. I would like to upgrade the SD card would hate to mark/damage my shiny new BB1😄

[MRB]

and what is a P3?  I'm getting my BB1 soon and also want to expand the card.

Thanks,

Mark

[Rearwing]

Hi, I did this today, taking my BB1 from 32gb to 128gb. I used a SanDisc so card to keep the brand the same. Paul’s instructions were very useful to format and load the card, but a little vague for the removal of the front cover. So here goes my version: very carefully insert a credit card between the fabric and the body of the BB1 on the (short) sides of the body, then carefully increase the gap on alternate sides until the fabric is lifting from the front of the body. Once you can see the ‘feet’ that anchor the fabric to the body you can start to ease the ‘feet’ out gently from their retaining sockets, once they are out the whole fabric cover can be lifted free.

The sd card slot is on the right hand side edge of the BB1 and the card should slide out easily. Once you have inserted the formatted and loaded card, you can begin to reinstall the cover, take special care to line up the retaining tabs that locate the cover to the short sides of the BB1 and then gently squeeze the ‘feet’ back into their locating sockets.

I found that taking it slowly and gently had my new formatted and loaded card in place within thirty minutes.

[john Henrick]

I managed to upgrade to 400gb SD card by just releasing the one side and pulling forward slightly rather than removing the whole cover

The p3 is the software copy to the SD card

[PMB]

Hi Guys,

Please see attached images which should be self explanatory.

The middle retaining pegs seem to be very tight so ease the front panel a little at each side to avoid breaking the panel. It is fairly flexible so shouldn't snap. As John H says, you may not have to pull the front completely off to access the SD Card.

The SD Card simply pulls out - take note of the orientation.

Hope this helps.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[Robin]

Thanks everyone, very clear explanations and pictures. I have ordered my 400gb card.😄

[PMB]

Hi MRB,

Creating a new SD Card is a 3 stage process - 

1. Copy the operating system software - Settings > Maintenance > Advanced > Copy SD OS (and delete P3)

This produces a bootable SD Card but has no music on it.

2. Create P3 - makes an area on the SD Card for storing music (I assume P3 means 'Partition 3' but not 100% certain).

3. Copy P3 - copies music from the existing SD Card to the new one.

Paul

Brennan Support

[Chris A]

I am in the process of upgrading the SD card. I am using a SanDisk Ultra 400GB microSDXC (purchased from Amazon). https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B074RNRM2B/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (so I am confident (as is possible to be) that it is a genuine card).

Stage 1 of the process (ie Copy SD OS (and delete P3) seemed to go OK (but I did have to restart the B1 manually even though I have the latest software update). However, Stage 2 (ie Create P3) does not work - the display briefly shows "Writing to USB" and then changes to  "Failed". I have tried several times but the result is the same.

Any suggestions appreciated. Thanks.

[WAS]

here is a link

https://www.brennan.co.uk/imagprod/newBrennan/bb1UpgradeSD.pdf

[Chris A]

Hi WAS

Thanks for this - but that is the process I was following. I get as far as indent "3)" when I get the "Failed" message.

[john Henrick]

Sorry yes try formatting the card on the B2 first it removes any other software i did this with mine

[Chris A]

Hi Peter and John

I have to admit that I did wonder if there was a need to format the card to FAT32 in advance (as has to be done for use with the B2). But the guidance on the website about upgrading suggested (in Indent 3):

 

 "FYI its formatting partition 3 (P3)"     [I wonder if this should say "partitioning" rather than "formatting"???]

Be that as it may, I did format to FAT32 (using my B2) but the results are the same. . . . . . . Step 2 (Copy SD OS (and delete P3)) appears to work properly but Step 3 (Create P3) gives a "Failed" message after less than 2 seconds.  :(

[Daniel Taylor]

I don't have the answer, but I think I remember having seen this problem addressed in the forum awhile back.  Additional searching might turn up the right thread.

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Chris,

Back to the drawing board!  Back in September 2019 I received my BB1 (32GB) and, at the same time, I purchased a 256GB SSD to do an upgrade.  I went through the process that you did with your new SSD card. I got slightly further than you did in that the P3 partition was created, and I began to copy the music folder from my B2 to the BB1.  I had about 19,000 tracks to copy, but I got a 'copy failed' error message after about 10,000 tracks were copied.

I repeated this process twice more with no success and realised that there was a fault somewhere.  After some work, I came to the conclusion that the new SSD card was possibility faulty, so I purchased another one.  On going through the build and copy process on the second 512GB SSD, it then worked perfectly!  I took the faulty SSD card back to Argos and got a refund for the first one.

Since then I have built a 512GB SSD card for the BB1 with no problems.

Do you have another SSD card that you could do a test build on?

Regards,

Peter.

[Chris A]

UPDATE:

I think I can now see why subsequently formatting on the B2 (after having first failed on the BB1). On examining the card's structure immediately after formatting on the B2, I discovered that there were still three partitions which, presumably, means the B2 formatting command only sees the first partition which it then formats and ignores the subsequent two partitions.

As I was not certain my thinking was correct on that, I have followed the advice given by others about trying EaseUS (free). Using the software, I deleted all three partitions, creating one, single partition which I then formatted to FAT32. This I thought, would mean I was at the start with a clean card in the correct format.

Hooked up to the BB1 for:

Step 2 "Settings->Maintenance->Advanced->Copy SD OS (and delete P3)"                       As suggested in the instructions this probably took about three minutes before the "Success" message appeared. Reboot was not automatic - I had to manually restart (even though I have the latest update).

Next came Step 3  "Settings->Maintenance->Advanced->Create P3"                                  "Writing to USB" appeared briefly (less than two seconds") when it changed to "Failed" and then reverted to the "Advanced" menu.

Next I looked again at the card with EaseUS. Three partitions were back and all are marked as "Primary":

H: Boot      FAT16       7mb used of 24mb              There were two folders: Overlays (which has about 117 files) and System Volume Information (2 files) plus 9 other files

I:               "Other"      1.74GB used of 1.74GB       I cannot explore this drive at all and Windows File Explorer wants me to format it first!

J:              FAT32         364.69GB of 365.05 free     This is what I would expect

 

In summary therefore, Steps 2 and 3 seem to replace one, single, FAT32 partition with three partitions - one as FAT16, one unformatted and one as FAT32.

Not sure where to go from here.

 

[Chris A]

Hi Peter

Your post crossed with mine.

I don't have any large cards (8GB or 16GB) but I guess I should give one a try and see how I get on. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Chris,

I have managed to find some of my notes I took while working through my SSD card problem.  My investigation produced results very similar to your post above.

In my case, I experimented with a 32GB SSD and after running the processes above, I got this output when looking at the SSD through my PC.

                              Total          Used     Free 

boot (D:)    FAT      30.8M      7.16M      23.7M  (this is the boot partition)

         (E):   FAT32   27.4G      540M      27.4G  (this is the P3 partition)

rootfs (F:)  EXT3    1.73G      798M      981M   (this is the partition where the Linux & Brennan software is located)

In your case, the I: drive is a Linux partition, and is where the Linux and Brennan software files are located.

Your P3 FAT32 partition seems to have been created.  If you have the capability (with hardware), using your PC could you create a new folder 'music' in the SSD FAT32 partition?  Then copy 3 or 4 of your music folders in the format of 'Artist/ Album Name' into the 'music' folder. Then put the  SSD into your Brennan and run 'Scan Disk', and check to see if the albums appear in the Brennan listing.

If you want to read the Linux partitions in Windows you can download a product called 'Ext2Fsd for Windows' (a free download) which enables Windows to understand other types of partitions.  A word of warning, DON'T download the latest version of Ext2Fsd (0.69 I think) but download 'Ext2fsd v0.53' because versions after 0.53 don't work on Win10 for some reason.

Cheers,

Peter

[Chris A]

Hi Peter

I think there must be something wrong with my "Linux" partition - it appears to be completely full - all 1.74GB of it (which cannot be right). In contrast, only 798mb of yours appears to have been used.

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Chris,

I have just checked both of my Brennans and the Linux 'root' partitions are as follows.  

On my BB1 (which is on software version BB1 Jan 29 2020 10:55:31); root partition 1.7GB total; 758M used; 896M free 46% used .

On my B2 (which is in software version B2B Jan 28 2020 11:48:02); root partition 1.89GB total; 199M used; 1.56G free 11% used.

At the moment I can't think why your 'root' partition is filling up but if I do, I will make another post to you.

Regards,

Peter.

[PMB]

Hi Chris,

I bought a SanDisk 128GB SDXC Card to upgrade my BB1 and out of the box it too failed at Create P3. I tried several times and during the session I decide to fit the SD Card-USB adapter onto a 1m USB extension cable., for easier access. Create P3 then worked first try.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[Chris A]

Hi Paul (and everyone else who has commented so far)

I have tried again to upgrade the 400GB Sandisk SD card using a longer lead this time (Paul's suggestion). I started with the card freshly formatted to FAT32 in EaseUS.

Unfortunately, no success. Again, I had to do a manual reboot after Step 1 but then got the same "Failed" result as before a couple of seconds into Step 3. 

According to EaseUS I ended up with three partitions: 

first FAT16 file system with 7MB used (and 24MB free); 

second with "other" file system and 1.74GB used (0 free); and 

third in FAT32 file system with 365MB used (and 365.05GB free).

Next I repeated this with a different card (a 32GB micro SD card) (Peter's suggestion). It was freshly formatted to FAT32 in EaseUS. It too failed a couple of seconds into Step 3. 

This time, EaseUS gave the same results as above for Partition 1 and Partition 2; but, with this card, Partition 3 was "unformatted" according to EaseUS (and needed to be formatted according to Windows 10)  [and obviously had much less free space (29.48GB)]

The key points which strike me (some of which may or may not be important): 

The BB1 does not auto-reboot after Step 1;

in every case, Partition 2 ends up being an "other" file system (according to EaseUS or, according to Windows 10, requiring formatting before use); 

in every case, Partition 2 is completely full (at 1.74GB compared to another user (Peter) who reported just 798MB); 

whilst the BB1 does create a FAT32 file system in Partition 3 for the 400GB Sandisk, if fails to format Partition 3 at all for the 32GB card.

Any further thoughts/suggestions much appreciated.

[Chris A]

The second line of my previous post this evening should read ". . .  .manual reboot after Step 2 . . . . ."

[It is one of those annoying little errors that crept in after I clicked "post"]

[Daniel Taylor]

Can BB1 micro SD card software be built from scratch usint the Etcher program the same way you can for the B2?

[PMB]

Hi Chris and Peter,

Which software version are you running?

Paul

Brennan Support.

[Chris A]

Hi Paul

I running 29 Jan 2020 10:55:31

Chris.

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Paul,

I've just read the Brennan 'Create BB1 SD Card" instructions properly and found the line

"You need to prepare your new (larger) micro SD card", so I will rerun my tests with a "small to larger" setup this time.

Regards,

Peter.

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Guys,

@Paul; I am running on BB1 Jan 29 2020 version of software.

I deleted two of my posts above because I was not following the Brennan 'Create BB1 SD Card' instructions fully and therefore most of the data I supplied was erroneous.  My apologies for that. I was trying to create a 16GB new card from a 32GB installed card, which is not to be done.

I reran the copy processes this afternoon using a 32GB source card and a 64GB target card.  The new card was exFAT and I did not reformat it.  I just plugged it into the BB1 USB slot, followed the Brennan copy instructions and it worked perfectly. So the Brennan deals with new SD cards without reformatting.

@Chris; I was having the same 'issue' as you were with the 'rootfs' partition showing as 'Other' format and 0% available.  However on looking at the partition through Windows & 'Ext2Fs' volume manager, the partition is showing as 'Ext3'  and Total 1.78GB; Used 796MB which looks correct.  I think that 'EaseUS' has a bug which is preventing it from reading the Ext3 details.

I'm having another think about your problem now and will update here if I can come with any ideas.

Regards,

Peter.

[Chris A]

Hi Paul

I have still not had any success with upgrading my 400GB Sandisk Card for the BB1.

But two thoughts struck me:

First, whilst they mean nothing at all to me, I attach two debug reports of the process in case they are of any use at your end. The first Report covers the process from switching on my BB1 (with the new card attached to the USB), through running "Copy SD OS (and delete P3)", through the manual reboot (it won't auto reboot) and then attempting to "Create P3" (which always results in a "Failed" message within two seconds).

Next, I wondered if, in fact the "failed" message is correct. So, I ignored it and tried "Copy P3" anyway to see what would happen. (There is little loaded on the BB1 at the moments - just the preloaded music and a few YouTubes). I expected another "Failed" message (or similar) but didn't get one. The resulting Debug Report is also attached).

Next I was going to prise off the front the front cover and try the new card to see if it works (despite everything) but, before I do so, I should be interested to know if the Debug Reports look as you might expect (assuming, of course, they mean anything to you).

Regards

Chris.

[PMB]

Hi Chris,

I'll pass the debugs to Martin Brennan as he does all the clever 1's and 0's stuff.

Might be quicker for you to fit the bigger SD Card and see what happens.

It could be a faulty SD Card as others have mentioned.....

Paul

Brennan Support.

[Chris A]

Hi Paul (and others)

Further to previous posts, here is some feedback on upgrading my BB1 to a 400GB Sandisk micro SD following the earlier “Failed” messages while attempting to run the “Create P3” process.

In brief, most things seem to work, though not always as I would have expected though I will highlight the following:

• On “Switch-On” the front display erroneously reports a 512GB card (rather than 400GB card).

• The clock reverted to BST rather than GMT (but I guess that the Time Zone setting was stored on the “old” card).

• Before removing the old card, I had run “Copy P3” (despite the “Failed” message during the earlier step) just to see if it would work. I didn't get any message at the time to say if it had or hadn't but I can report that  Martin's promo video, the four pre-loaded sample tracks and the half dozen YouTubes I had downloaded onto the old card had were not copied across to the new card during the “Copy P3 procedure”. This isn't an issue for me but it might be if someone had their entire music collection on the smaller card and didn't have access to a backup to copy across from.

• I hooked up my Backup Drive and imported 532 albums (all FLAC). (This took about 6½ hours (which seems about right). As the Backup was only recently made from my B2, this should have resulted in my BB1 being an exact mirror of my B2. In the process, I appear to have “lost” one track (BB1 = 8598 compared to B2 = 8599) (but no big deal). Interestingly, "Settings" in the Web UI correctly records "Capacity 382.41GB Used 185.5GB (in contrast to the power-on front display).

• So far, I have not been successful in using the BB1's "Browse USB" functions to copy across my Playlists.

• I have also tried using NAS to copy the B2's Playlists to the BB1 and then running ScanDisk. The folder contents appear to be identical to those on my B2 but it does not work – instead I just end up with “Playlists” being counted as one extra “Artist”!

• I have also tried to create new Playlists, from scratch, on the BB1. Artists are successfully added to the Playlists (and play properly) but the “count” against the Playlists remains at “0”!

Everything else I have tried seems to be fine so, unless the “Failed” message is a forewarning of potential problems looming sometime in the future (possibly when attempting to do something I have not yet tried), then I am not too worried.

If anyone has any thoughts on the unresolved “Playlists” issue, these would be appreciated. Meantime, thanks to all who offered their suggestions and support.

Regards

Chris.

[Chris A]

Hi Paul (and others)

Further (and hopefully final) update.

I have resolved the Playlists issue. 

I should, of course, have used  Main Menu>Settings&Tools>Tools>Import Playlists and then run ScanDisk (and not tried to use Browse USB Functions)! Playlists now working properly.

The only anomaly remaining - and one I can live with - is the misreporting of the 400GB card as a 512GB card. But this will only further impress my friends!

Regards

Chris.

[Ian Voce]

Hi Chris

I think you will find this is a basically a Raspberry Pi software programming issue. The internal software was probably programmed in common SD card sizes, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512 etc. The 200 and 400 are new iterations for SD cards.

I upgraded to a 200GB SD and the front screen of the B1 shows 256GB. Am I bothered, not in the slightest!

Hope this helps

Ian

[Daniel Taylor]

I can envision a possible problem with the misreporting of the card's capacity.  When the 400 GB card gets near to being full, and the software thinks there are still 112 GB available, it's hard to tell what will happen.  Worst case, new music might overwrite old music.  If it was me, I'd use a card with a capacity that the BB1 could recognize.

[Chris A]

Hi Ian - what you suggest makes sense. 

On Friday, February 7, 2020 at 6:35:40 PM UTC, Daniel Taylor wrote:

I can envision a possible problem with the misreporting of the card's capacity.  When the 400 GB card gets near to being full, and the software thinks there are still 112 GB available, it's hard to tell what will happen.  Worst case, new music might overwrite old music.  If it was me, I'd use a card with a capacity that the BB1 could recognize.

Hi Daniel - fortunately, the card's total size (and remain space available) are correctly recorded in the "Settings" page. But I'll keep my eye on the total usage "just in case"! 

[Ian Voce]

Hi Chris

Just checked my Stats, it shows capacity 190.35GB for the 200GB SD.

For information, I’ve just used the new facility in Tools to compress WAV to FLAC and the Used capacity has gone down from 86GB to just 36GB. (202 mainly Classical Albums, 2314 tracks). Wow, lots of space.

Regards

Ian

[PMB]

Hi Chris,

Great to hear that you have got the upgrade to work. Did you just continue the process, ignoring the 'Failed' message and it worked OK in the end?

Paul

Brennan Support.

[Chris A]

Hi Paul

Yes, that is correct. I ignored the "Failed" message at the "Create P3" step and continued to the "Copy P3" step. 

I then swapped cards over but it seems that "Copy P3" didn't work  (as P3 was entirely empty). However, importing files from my B2's backup went without a hitch and I am now up and running fine :)

Regards

Chris.

[Russ Iden]

Hi, I'm very impressed with my new BB1, I do wish it had been more obvious from the home page on the site that a custom larger capacity option was available, I filled the 32gb card pretty quickly.

I have now brought a 400gb High Speed class10 card, I followed the instructions to set it up using Etcher, all went OK but when I updated the WIFI it stopped working and would only display the Brennan logo, I redid the setup again and left the update and added my songs and it seemed fine but when I turned it on again this morning, just stuck at the the Brennan logo again?

I wiped the car and added just one album to test it, it played fine but when I turned it off and on again, same thing, stuck at the logo and won't access the menu? I would be very grateful for any suggestions. I wondered if Brennan had considered selling larger capacity cards pre-set up so that the upgrade process was a bit less of a can of worm. I know other posters have got the 400gb card to work but would it be easier to use a smaller capacity card?

Cheers Russ

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Russ,

I have used balenaEtcher on many cards, B2s and BB1s, and to date the Brennan site instructions and software have worked perfectly with with all of these.  At the moment, one of the possibilities could be that you have been sold a 'fake' or faulty microSD card.  The Internet and Amazon are swamped with bad cards.  I only buy (micro)SD cards from Argos in the UK or BestBuy when I'm in the USA.

If you go to the link below, you will find advice and a link to a small software app which will enable you to test your card.  It is very easy to download and use.

https://groups.google.com/d/msg/brennanb2/1BakkcoHSQQ/sXqO8ZJkBgAJ

Let us know how you get on.

Regards,

Peter.

[Russ Iden]

Hi, thanks for your help.

Having checked the card it does seem to be dodgy, it has 2013 printed on the back and the label isn't even printed straight, sponsored product on Amazon, it was probably too cheap to be true, it's going back and I've ordered a 256gb card with decent reviews and will give that a try.

Kind regards Russ

[Russ Iden]

I have decent (and genuine) 256gb SD card, all working fine now, thanks so much for the help.

Kind regards Russ

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Russ,

Thanks for the update; it's very helpful to other forum users to know the outcome.

Regards,

Peter.