Format USB drive via Telnet

[sammyano]

Hello guys - using RT-AC66U with Merlin build .41 attached WD external usb ITB which is NTFS format. However, am having trouble sharing the the drive on my home network & Linux based STB. I have the NSFD option enabled in the router and specified the path /mnt/My_Passport/Movies.
The System log shows " mountd[2732]: Cannot export /tmp/mnt/My_Passport/Movies, possibly unsupported filesystem or fsid= required

I have read within the forum that rt-ac66u supports ext3 format, so wanted to know if I can use any telnet command to format the drive while connected to the router.

thanks

 

[ColinTaylor]

Something like this?

# df -h /tmp/mnt/My_Passport

# umount /tmp/mnt/My_Passport

# mkfs.ext3 /dev/sd**         Where ** is the device you found above

# mount /dev/sd** /tmp/mnt/My_Passport

NSFD? You mean NFSD right? Do you really need NFS?

 

[RMerlin]

NFS only works with ext2/ext3/ext4, so you will indeed need to reformat that hard disk.

Be warned that formatting from the router will be quite slow.

 

[sammyano]

Something like this?

# df -h /tmp/mnt/My_Passport

# umount /tmp/mnt/My_Passport

# mkfs.ext3 /dev/sd**         Where ** is the device you found above

# mount /dev/sd** /tmp/mnt/My_Passport

NSFD? You mean NFSD right? Do you really need NFS?

Cheers man - yes I meant NFSD, should I then disable the NFSD?

 

[sammyano]

NFS only works with ext2/ext3/ext4, so you will indeed need to reformat that hard disk.

Be warned that formatting from the router will be quite slow.

Cheers - So I have to reformat using windows then since you said doing so from router is slow. Is the any app need or just use normal windows format option?

 

[joegreat]

Cheers - So I have to reformat using windows then since you said doing so from router is slow. Is the any app need or just use normal windows format option?

Hi,

Windows? Are you seriously trying to format a LINUX partition with WINDOWS? That's the joke of the day...
WINDOWS doest not support ANY of the LINUX filesystems (nativly)!

Remember: Your router operating system is based on LINUX. So you better use LINUX to formate a LINUX partition!
Hope you got it: LINUX is the KEYWORD here...

If you really want to do it on your PC you can download a Linux distribution (like UBUNTU or FEDORA) and boot from the DVD or USB stick and format your EXTERNAL disk (be carefull to not format the INTERNAL) with the Live-Version of the Linux system.

But for me it sound simpler to do it on the router (just waiting a bit longer)...

With kind regards
Joe

 

[ColinTaylor]

Cheers man - yes I meant NFSD, should I then disable the NFSD?

As RMerlin pointed out, if you need NFS support you will have to reformat as ext2/3/4. But if you don't need it, turn it (NFSD) off. You can then leave your disk format alone.

You do realise that NFS is nothing to do with NTFS don't you?

Most PC's/Media players support CIFS/SMB (i.e. Samba), so unless you're a Linux geek who particularly likes NFS why would you use it?

 

[sammyano]

Hi,

Windows? Are you seriously trying to format a LINUX partition with WINDOWS? That's the joke of the day...
WINDOWS doest not support ANY of the LINUX filesystems (nativly)!

Remember: Your router operating system is based on LINUX. So you better use LINUX to formate a LINUX partition!
Hope you got it: LINUX is the KEYWORD here...

If you really want to do it on your PC you can download a Linux distribution (like UBUNTU or FEDORA) and boot from the DVD or USB stick and format your EXTERNAL disk (be carefull to not format the INTERNAL) with the Live-Version of the Linux system.

But for me it sound simpler to do it on the router (just waiting a bit longer)...

With kind regards
Joe

cheers - wasn't thinking of doing it directly via windows per say, just wanted to know if there was app like minitool partition that I could use to format to ext3 - if not I have multi boot of windows and ubuntu

 

[ColinTaylor]

cheers - wasn't thinking of doing it directly via windows per say, just wanted to know if there was app like minitool partition that I could use to format to ext3 - if not I have multi boot of windows and ubuntu

Or EaseUS Partition Master (but Ubuntu would be better).

 

[sammyano]

Something like this?

# df -h /tmp/mnt/My_Passport

# umount /tmp/mnt/My_Passport

# mkfs.ext3 /dev/sd**         Where ** is the device you found above

# mount /dev/sd** /tmp/mnt/My_Passport

NSFD? You mean NFSD right? Do you really need NFS?

Colin - wouldn't I need to delete the exiting partition first before create/formatting to ext3?

 

[ColinTaylor]

Colin - wouldn't I need to delete the exiting partition first before create/formatting to ext3?

You can just format over the current data. You might need to use fdisk to change the "partition type" from NTFS to ext2. It's probably a lot quicker/easier/safer to just use Ubuntu to delete the partition and recreate it as ext3.

 

[sammyano]

You can just format over the current data. You might need to use fdisk to change the "partition type" from NTFS to ext2. It's probably a lot quicker/easier/safer to just use Ubuntu to delete the partition and recreate it as ext3.

thanks - so the correct steps would -
(1)# df -h /tmp/mnt/My_Passport
/dev/sda1
(2) # umount /tmp/mnt/My_Passport
(3) #fdisk /dev/sda1
:d
:w
(4) #fdisk /dev/sda1
:n
(primary partition)
Partition Number:1
First Cylinder:Just use Default press enter.
Last Cylinder:Just use Default press enter.
:w

(5) # mkfs.ext3 /dev/sda1

(6) # mount /dev/sda1 /tmp/mnt/My_Passport

Please can you confirm - cheers

 

[ColinTaylor]

That sounds about right. You won't be able to unmount it if it's in use, so you might have to do that from the Web interface. Also, even though you can remount the file system, the router doesn't really understand that so it's best to reboot at that point.

 

[sammyano]

thanks for your time - now am able to mount and share the folder now without any error from rt-ac66u