Tried to format SD as ext2, now doesn't mount Options

[aka1nas]

Hi all,
I was trying to reformat my Sandisk 128MB SD card as ext2 so I could use it for program installation more easily. It gets to the point where it says it is writing superblock information and it never seems to get past it. The mkfs.ext2 process is still running in the system info tool and afaik it never finishes. the card is now unmountable and removing or inserting it does nothing. I have tried to redo the format a few times and it never finishes. Any suggestions? This is on OZ 3.5.1

[Shdwdrgn]

I found that on older versions of OZ, I was able to format my card despite there being no active partitions on it (so I formatted the device /dev/mmcda rather than a partition like /dev/mmcda1).

With 3.5.1 that changed and now appears to require a valid partition.
From a command prompt:
1) fdisk /dev/mmcda
2) p (print partition info). You probably won't see any. If there is a partition already, delete it
3) n (for new parion)
....p (primary)
....1 (make first partition)
....set start/end blocks based on what you want.
4) w (write partition)

Now format the new partition with mke2fs /dev/mmcda1
After it finishes, it may auto-mount the card, or you may need to pop it out and back in again.

One other issue which I had is that the default options in /etc/fstab did not work for my SD card. Edit this line:
/dev/mmcda1 /mnt/card auto defaults,sync,noauto,noatime,user,exec,suid 0 0
and change it to this:
/dev/mmcda1 /mnt/card auto defaults 0 0

(* note you may want to also keep the noatime option, but I'm not certain what this does)
Reboot and the card should now automount.

[aka1nas]

Your method was very helpful and it got my sd card formatted again.....until it needed a reformat and now it does the same thing again. The partition is now just /dev/mmcda1 but it gives me the same problem formatting if I use your instructions

[iamasmith]

Just checking something...

If you do this on a Sharp ROM your card isn't autodetected as ext2 (or ext3 with Cacko) automatically when you use mount from the command prompt, try...

mount -t ext2 /dev/mmcda1 /mnt/card

...instead... Also you may simply want to just eject the card and see if the hotplug scripts for the card mount it correctly, as does happen with the Sharp ROM and Cacko ROM scripts.

- Andy

[Shdwdrgn]

Oh one more thing... you mentioned this is a Sandisk card? Let's just say that Sandisk is not the most reliable card to use on a Z. Some people use them with no problems. The rest of us... don't.

My first SD card was a Sandisk 256MB. Preformatted as FAT. Worked ok, but was unusable to me without being formatted as ext2. After formatting the first time, the card worked for 2 days, then became unreadable. I formatted again, but it would corrupt information every time I rebooted. After 4 days the card was unreadable, so I put it back in the card reader on my Windows machine and reformatted to FAT. The card completely failed all testing and would no longer work in any device, and I had been using it for less than a week.

Many other people have reported problems with Sandisk. The cards do not seem to be sub-standard quality and work reliably in other devices, but there have been many issues reported when used with the zaurus. All I can say is best of luck...

[aka1nas]

Are viking SD cards ok to use then? Buy.com has a Viking 256MB SD card for 24.99 with a $15 MIR that I might jump on.

[kcurrie]

I'm using a PQI 1GB SD card that I'd formatted as ext2, ext3 and reiserfs with no issues. reiserfs takes too much memory though, so for small boxes like the Z it's probably not the best choice.

BTW, I have ext3 modules I compiled for OZ 3.5.1 (5000/5500 series) on my site here:
http://undertow.2y.net/zaurus/

[katufzed]

kcurrie: I also have the same sd card & want to convert it to ext3

Presumably, if I tar up the entire card onto my linux desktop, I can mkfs.ext3 the card & then untar contents back on again??

[katufzed]

It worked!
I had to edit /etc/sdcontrol
to specify sd card as ext3

& also in /etc/fstab

[katufzed]

It worked!
I had to edit /etc/sdcontrol
to specify sd card as ext3

& also in /etc/fstab