Can't use volume labels as mount points for HFS disk partitions

[cvkef]

Hi,

Just got my `RT-AX88U` and I flashed the `Asuswrt-Merlin` v384.15 firmware. I've installed `entware` too.

So, I have an 8T external disk with 5 HFS partitions attached to the front USB port of the router.
For some reason it doesn't use the volume labels as mount points but the device paths.

This is what I get with `blkid`:

/dev/sda1: LABEL="EFI"          UUID="…"
/dev/sda2: LABEL="Torrents"     UUID="…"
/dev/sda3: LABEL="TimeMachine"  UUID="…"
/dev/sda4: LABEL="Music"        UUID="…"
/dev/sda5: LABEL="Movies"       UUID="…"
/dev/sda6: LABEL="Shows"        UUID="…"

This is what I get with a `df -Th`:

Filesystem           Type            Size      Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda2            thfsplus      186.1G    288.8M    185.9G   0% /tmp/mnt/sda2
/dev/sda3            thfsplus      745.1G     86.7G    658.3G  12% /tmp/mnt/sda3
/dev/sda4            thfsplus        2.1T      1.1T      1.1T  50% /tmp/mnt/sda4
/dev/sda5            thfsplus        2.3T    921.6M      2.3T   0% /tmp/mnt/sda5
/dev/sda6            thfsplus        2.0T    589.3G      1.4T  29% /tmp/mnt/sda6

I have to mention that, I also have a USB drive attached to the back USB port for `swap` file and `entware` (both partitions are ext4).

Using disk labels is important to me because I've noticed that when I reboot the router the device paths change between disks. It can be `sda` and `sdb`, `sdb` and `sda`, `sda` and `sdc`, etc.

Is there any way to force the router recognise the HFS volume labels? This was not happening with my `DSL-AS68U` and `asuswrt`.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Same issue reported here. Sounds like HFS+ has two different ways of storing the volume label.

 

[cvkef]

Same issue reported here. Sounds like HFS+ has two different ways of storing the volume label.

Do you know if there is any way to keep mount configuration (e.g. `fstab`)?
And since the device paths can change with reboots, is there any point after all to do it?

I guess I must find a way to reformat my partitions to something less Apple.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Do you know if there is any way to keep mount configuration (e.g. `fstab`)?
And since the device paths can change with reboots, is there any point after all to do it?

I guess I must find a way to reformat my partitions to something less Apple.

You can create a custom fstab but as you have realised the problem with that is that the device path is unpredictable.

As I said in the other thread I had no problem when I was using the router's own built-in HFS+ formatting command, but then I don't have the same firmware/hardware as you.

Ideally from the router's perspective you would reformat the drive as ext4. However that might limit your options if you are expecting to plug this into a Windows PC (in which case NTFS might be better). I don't know what's best for macOS. On the one hand HFS+ is depreciated by Apple, but on the other hand their replacement format is proprietary and incompatible with Time Machine .

 

[cvkef]

Thank you @ColinTaylor.

Yes, my main interaction is with macOS, thus the HFS. A couple of years ago I tried the exFAT format but the drivers were unstable.
I guess I'll have to check compatibility of my streaming devices for ext4 and try that too. Migrating some TBs of data will be painful though.

Thanks again

 

[ColinTaylor]

The router doesn't support exFAT anyway.

If you're using something like NFS or SMB/CIFS (or even DLNA) then the underlying filesystem is largely irrelevant* because the client only sees the abstracted network filesystem.

* Obviously there are some inherent filesystem-specific limitations like FAT32's 4GB maximum file size.

 

[cvkef]

I'm using most of them, DLNA, SAMBA, UPnP.
I guess I'll go for ext4 and leave the HFS for TimeMachine.

 

[Butterfly Bones]

Just a point, I used HFS and a couple other Apple file systems for TimeMachine for my Macbook Air on a one TB SSD attached to my RT-AC86U. I had problems with the Macbook finding TimeMachine disk after every reboot and had to reconfigure, meaning previous backups were unusable.

After hours of searching and reading on SNB, then googling in general, I switched that SSD to ext4 with jouirnalling, and had no issues connecting and reconnecting. It has been over four months with no TimeMachine issues either AC86U or Macbook Air. (shrug)