amtm USB drives failing

[Prodeje79]

Thanks for the help! Since I disable wifi on my 86u, could I have used usb3?

So I'm currently running my 86u on latest merlin with latest FlexQoS.... It also obviously now comes with amtm too. I am preparing to follow the instructions and they don't feel 100% accurate now. Will I lose my FlexQoS implementation and basically wiping and them forcing everything to run on the usb?

I am currently only planning to run FlexQoS and Skynet......



These: https://www.snbforums.com/threads/amtm-step-by-step-install-guide-l-ld.56237/#post-483421

 

[Matthew Patrick]

Thanks for the help! Since I disable wifi on my 86u, could I have used usb3?

So I'm currently running my 86u on latest merlin with latest FlexQoS.... It also obviously now comes with amtm too. I am preparing to follow the instructions and they don't feel 100% accurate now. Will I lose my FlexQoS implementation and basically wiping and them forcing everything to run on the usb?

I am currently only planning to run FlexQoS and Skynet......



These: https://www.snbforums.com/threads/amtm-step-by-step-install-guide-l-ld.56237/#post-483421

Yes if you don't run 2.4ghz wifi at all, you could just use usb 3 adaptor with usb 3 mode / port in the router since it's gonna be faster .. also I have the same configuration. 86u with SkyNet and flexqos. With connmon and spdmerlin tho..

Now this I don't know, since every scripts I know needs usb. But maybe flexqos doesn't? Anyways I always recommend to just redo from start since you're using a new usb drive too. Doesn't take much time to reconfigure anyways haha. What i recommend is jffs wipe and factory reset. Then configure the router and then do ssh to configure the usb and scripts...

When you're configuring the scripts, just plug the usb in. And then on ssh just type amtm. Should work and run like the first time since It's data files on jffs has been reset. Anyways, there just type fd . And follow the instructions to format. Then enable dc to check disks every boot. And then from the install option, install entware manually using amtm. Done. Now it should all be fine. Now you could install every scripts you want like SkyNet etc

 

[johnv621]

OP here with an update... I managed to kill yet ANOTHER usb drive...

I flashed my AX88U to 386_1.2 last night. Everything went smoothly, and WebGUI prompted me to reboot manually which I did (hard power cycle) --- but stupidly without safely removing/unmounting my EXT4 USB (swap, diversion, entware). The router restarted, but Diversion disappeared so I checked the disk check log and saw a "read-only" e2fsck error. Then I remembered that I've managed to kill 3-4 flash drives this way (manual router reboot or pulling them directly without first unmounting). After the first few losses, I even bought a Patriot Rage recommended by other users thinking my problem was due to low-quality drives. But now I'm convinced that a manual reboot while the drive is in use will cause it to go into write-protect mode. I've had this experience with several drives of various sizes from multiple manufacturers.

I'm assuming the drive went into write-protect mode because it was in use (swap file?) when it was removed/restarted. I don't have any reason to think the drive physically failed...but it's stuck in "read only" mode so I can't reformat it or mount it to backup my files. USB shows up as unmounted in the GUI.

admin@RT-AX88U-9770:/tmp/home/root# e2fsck -v /dev/sda
e2fsck 1.45.6 (20-Mar-2020)
e2fsck: Read-only file system while trying to open /dev/sda
Disk write-protected; use the -n option to do a read-only
check of the device.

e2fsck -n check says it's good

admin@RT-AX88U-9770:/tmp/home/root# e2fsck -n /dev/sda1
e2fsck 1.45.6 (20-Mar-2020)
Warning: skipping journal recovery because doing a read-only filesystem check.
rtrusb: clean, 1557/1896832 files, 735522/7575548 blocks

fdisk-l output:

admin@RT-AX88U-9770:/tmp/home/root# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 31.0 GB, 31029460992 bytes
64 heads, 32 sectors/track, 29592 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 2048 * 512 = 1048576 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks  Id System
/dev/sda1               1       29592    30302192  83 Linux

DiskPart (windows):

DISKPART> detail disk


Patriot Memory USB Device
Disk ID: 00000000
Type   : USB
Status : Online
Path   : 0
Target : 0
LUN ID : 0
Location Path : UNAVAILABLE
Current Read-only State : Yes
Read-only  : No
Boot Disk  : No
Pagefile Disk  : No
Hibernation File Disk  : No
Crashdump Disk  : No
Clustered Disk  : No


There are no volumes.

DISKPART> list partition


  Partition ###  Type              Size     Offset
  -------------  ----------------  -------  -------
  Partition 1    Primary             28 GB    16 KB

DISKPART> detail partition


Partition 1
Type  : 83
Hidden: Yes
Active: No
Offset in Bytes: 16384


There is no volume associated with this partition.

So the partition and file system are still intact? But the device is 'dead' because it went into write-protect? Have others had this same issue? Is there a way to reset the drive or can I force a -rw mount to recover my files?

Thoughts on how to prevent this in the future? I've burned through ~4 drives less than a year (not to mention the pain of reinstalling/reconfiguring scripts).

 

[Prodeje79]

Thoughts on how to prevent this in the future? I've burned through ~4 drives less than a year (not to mention the pain of reinstalling/reconfiguring scripts).

Did you try the recommendation in this thread of using a good micro-sd to USB adapter (2.0 is you use wireless) with a micro-SD from the SanDisk Max Endurance lineup or maybe the Samsung Pro Endurance lineup? I got a cheap $1 adapter from microcenter and one of those cards. So far so good.

 

[Matthew Patrick]

Did you try the recommendation in this thread of using a good micro-sd to USB adapter (2.0 is you use wireless) with a micro-SD from the SanDisk Max Endurance lineup or maybe the Samsung Pro Endurance lineup? I got a cheap $1 adapter from microcenter and one of those cards. So far so good.

Yeah I've been suggesting this all the time. The calculated TBW is so much higher than normal flash drives and well it's cheap as well. Not that expensive for 32gigs Sandisk Max Endurance..

 

[PeterR]

OP here with an update... I managed to kill yet ANOTHER usb drive...

I flashed my AX88U to 386_1.2 last night. Everything went smoothly, and WebGUI prompted me to reboot manually which I did (hard power cycle) --- but stupidly without safely removing/unmounting my EXT4 USB (swap, diversion, entware). The router restarted, but Diversion disappeared so I checked the disk check log and saw a "read-only" e2fsck error. Then I remembered that I've managed to kill 3-4 flash drives this way (manual router reboot or pulling them directly without first unmounting). After the first few losses, I even bought a Patriot Rage recommended by other users thinking my problem was due to low-quality drives. But now I'm convinced that a manual reboot while the drive is in use will cause it to go into write-protect mode. I've had this experience with several drives of various sizes from multiple manufacturers.

I'm assuming the drive went into write-protect mode because it was in use (swap file?) when it was removed/restarted. I don't have any reason to think the drive physically failed...but it's stuck in "read only" mode so I can't reformat it or mount it to backup my files. USB shows up as unmounted in the GUI.

admin@RT-AX88U-9770:/tmp/home/root# e2fsck -v /dev/sda
e2fsck 1.45.6 (20-Mar-2020)
e2fsck: Read-only file system while trying to open /dev/sda
Disk write-protected; use the -n option to do a read-only
check of the device.

e2fsck -n check says it's good

admin@RT-AX88U-9770:/tmp/home/root# e2fsck -n /dev/sda1
e2fsck 1.45.6 (20-Mar-2020)
Warning: skipping journal recovery because doing a read-only filesystem check.
rtrusb: clean, 1557/1896832 files, 735522/7575548 blocks

fdisk-l output:

admin@RT-AX88U-9770:/tmp/home/root# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 31.0 GB, 31029460992 bytes
64 heads, 32 sectors/track, 29592 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 2048 * 512 = 1048576 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks  Id System
/dev/sda1               1       29592    30302192  83 Linux

DiskPart (windows):

DISKPART> detail disk


Patriot Memory USB Device
Disk ID: 00000000
Type   : USB
Status : Online
Path   : 0
Target : 0
LUN ID : 0
Location Path : UNAVAILABLE
Current Read-only State : Yes
Read-only  : No
Boot Disk  : No
Pagefile Disk  : No
Hibernation File Disk  : No
Crashdump Disk  : No
Clustered Disk  : No


There are no volumes.

DISKPART> list partition


  Partition ###  Type              Size     Offset
  -------------  ----------------  -------  -------
  Partition 1    Primary             28 GB    16 KB

DISKPART> detail partition


Partition 1
Type  : 83
Hidden: Yes
Active: No
Offset in Bytes: 16384


There is no volume associated with this partition.

So the partition and file system are still intact? But the device is 'dead' because it went into write-protect? Have others had this same issue? Is there a way to reset the drive or can I force a -rw mount to recover my files?

Thoughts on how to prevent this in the future? I've burned through ~4 drives less than a year (not to mention the pain of reinstalling/reconfiguring scripts).

This is a very comprehensive site for information related to USB flash drives (mainly fixing them) https://www.usbdev.ru it's in Russian but quite easily navigated with Google translate.

 

[JaimeZX]

FWIW I have (almost) never ejected my USB drive when rebooting. If you issue the <i>reboot</i> command at the prompt or with the button in the GUI it should be graceful.

 

[AntonK]

Thanks. Can you recommend a good brand of USB drive? So far I've killed an HP, Verbatim, and a no-name drive.

Out of curiosity, I guess the swap file is (might be?) constantly reading/writing to the drive, but are there other amtm scripts constantly accessing the USB?

This has worked perfectly for me for over a year now. No sign of any trouble...

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077VXV323/?tag=snbforums-20