[bobbanico]

Hello,

I looked in some different threads to find a way to solve my issue:

I loaded sam's crystalbuntu image on a USB HDD, and managed to make atv boot on it.

What i am looking to do is to use the remaining space in order to use it for media.

I tried to add a partition, but i got an error message. I am not sure what is going on.

If you have any ideas, it'd be really appreciated

Thanks,

Regards,

Nicolas.

[kar200]

Hey Nicolas,

I had the same issue. I ended up using Ubuntu from my normal PC and attached the HDD. It fixed the partition table and also let me resize the partition with ease.

Give it a go and let us know if it works for you.

K.

EDIT: Forgot to mention I used Gparted from Ubuntu

[bobbanico]

Hi,

Thanks a lot, will give a try

I am using osx so will find a pc and boot from ubuntu image, and will see.

i'll keep you updated about this,

Thanks,

Regards,

Nicolas.

[bobbanico]

Hi,

I booted from GParted live usb, then managed to resize or use the remaining space without success.

I got an error message from GParted saying :

The GPT Backup table is not at the end of the disk, as it should be. This might mean that another operating system believes the disk is smaller. Fix, by moving the backup to the end (and removing the old backup) ?

I am not familiar with this so i really do not know what to do.

Thanks,
Regards,

Nicolas.

P.S : what i would like to have is the 3 partitions used by sam's image, then using the remaining in hfs format.

[bigjuggler]

I really want to expand the size of my external usb drive as well.

I have been running Sam's images (original Crystalbuntu and Beta) for some time and they are excellent....stable, speedy and I don't have to mess with the regular Apple ATV software (my family prefers the OSX stuff).

I booted a machine off of an Ubuntu Live disk and ran gparted. I tried to resize the last partition to take advantage of all the extra unused space (it's a 40gb drive) and I get the same error message as bobanico.

I have spent a lot of time reading the Sam's Beta thread and some others trying to sort out how to do this.

I believe you have to use a "patched" version of parted (not gparted). Apparently one of the other partitions confuses gparted and this patched version knows what to do. It is available here;

http://code.google.com/p/atv-bootloader/downloads/list

I am a total Linux noobie, willing to learn, but I cannot figure out how to download, build, install and run the patched version of parted on Ubuntu live. I am not sure if it's possible on the live version (booted from cd). This page seems to show the terminal code to do that, but I don't think this will work on Ubuntu Live.

I don't have a machine that I can fully install Ubuntu on.

Any advice from Linux gurus?

I would love make this work. Mostly, so I can enable DDS fanart on the external usb bootdrive.

Cheers,

Craig

[bobbanico]

Hi,

I tried the parted version you told in your message, anyway i think i was wrong in the process :

I updated the crystalbuntu with the parted version, and accessing using ssh the os, i ran parted.

I got a message :

Error: The backup GPT table is not at the end of the disk, as it should be.
This might mean that another operating system believes the disk is smaller.
Fix, by moving the backup to the end (and removing the old backup)?

So i asked to fix it, but i am not sure i can do that using the partition meanwhile.

So i may have to install an ubuntu image on an usb key then plug this hdd then try again.

Does it worth trying or i will get the same issue ?

Thanks,

Regards,

Nicolas.

[kar200]

Hi guys,

I had the same issue with the patched parted. and by the way gparted is just the GUI version for parted.

I am doing this again. I am waiting for the backups to finish. I am sure I used gparted before.

you have to first fix that drive issue (I did anyway). Also make sure all the partitions are not mounted from the drive.

I think I might have deleted the 3rd (ext3) partition from the drive and created a new one with the whole saize. I then used the command:

sudo cp -R /dev/sdx3 /dev/sdy3

sdx= original drive from sam's image
sdy= New drive.

Give that a go and let me know. I will give it a go when my backup is over.


Also since the 2 paritions are ext3 really you can just mount them and copy the content.

K.

[kar200]

Hi guys,

Had the same issues again .
I managed to do it though although it was not the most efficient way. I can get around Linux but not as good as some here.

Anyway, here is what I have done:

Code:

sudo parted
print all

After parted tries to print the partition it will offer to fix the filesystem twice. Accept it both times.

Code:

sudo gparted

Then go to the disk, delete the linux partition and recreate a new one that uses all the space.

Here I thought something like that would work. pleas use the corresponding disk letters

Code:

sudo cp /dev/sdb3 /devsdc3

for some weired reason it did not work. but also I had to reboot my PC as my USB drive started goimg funny.

This should work though:

Code:

sudo dd if=/dev/sdb3 of=/dev/sdc3

once it finished copying

Run the following 2 commands:

Code:

sudo e2fsck -f /dev/sdc3
sudo resize2fs /dev/sdc3

And it should fix the size.

Let us know how you go and obiously if you have an easier way to do it.

K.

[pmcd]

Then go to the disk, delete the linux partition and recreate a new one that uses all the space.

Here I thought something like that would work. pleas use the corresponding disk letters

This should work though:

Code:

sudo dd if=/dev/sdb3 of=/dev/sdc3

once it finished copying

Run the following 2 commands:

Code:

sudo e2fsck -f /dev/sdc3
sudo resize2fs /dev/sdc3

And it should fix the size.

Let us know how you go and obiously if you have an easier way to do it.

K.

When you run dd what is sdb3? Is it just Sam's image on a 4gig disk? Won't sdc3 just be the same?

When you make a disk from the image you get 3 partitions of a 4gig space. The last is Linux and is ext3. If you delete that then you have two partitions.

Then you add it back? Where? On the flash drive? If that is the case then why another dd?

This whole thing is confusing. It should be easy!

philip

[kar200]

When you run dd what is sdb3? Is it just Sam's image on a 4gig disk? Won't sdc3 just be the same?

When you make a disk from the image you get 3 partitions of a 4gig space. The last is Linux and is ext3. If you delete that then you have two partitions.

Then you add it back? Where? On the flash drive? If that is the case then why another dd?

This whole thing is confusing. It should be easy!

philip

Hi Philip,

Sorry about the confusion. The last thing I am good at is expressing my thoughts .

In my example (and case) I actually have a USB stick (sdc) that already has the Sam's image on it and I have a proper Sata HDD (sdb) which I use now inside the apple TV (with IDE to Sata converter).

It was easier for me to transfer from the USB to the HDD as the partition are there and I can play with that. I did not go through the whole process as all what was asked was to resize.

I suppose if you don't have another drive that contains the image my steps cannot be followed.

I hope this still helps people that are struggling to expand the third partition. What I have done is just delete the third one and recreate it with the rest of the size. The bit I struggled a bit with was to copy the content (and keep permissions)

I am sure you can also copy the data from the img directly onto the new ext3 partition just by using the correct start/stop point. I did not research this option.

K.

[bobbanico]

Hello,

Thanks Kar200, i will try this to see if it works for me

I had another problem yesterday, i decided to rather than resizing my hdd to install the img on a usb stick then boot from it and then mount the hdd.

The thing is that i tried with 2 different usb keys, loading on it the exact same image as the one i loaded on my hdd, and i was never able to get to xbmc app.

I got the splashscreen with appletv and pinguin, then kernel messages, and right after it detects all hdds, it stops. Nothing happen then.

I am sooo disappointed

If you have any clues again, it would help a lot !

By the way, yesterday i tested the videos playing with the crystalbuntu and it is incredible it is so better than with xbmc on atv os !


Thanks,

regards,

Nicolas.

[kar200]

Hello,

Thanks Kar200, i will try this to see if it works for me

I had another problem yesterday, i decided to rather than resizing my hdd to install the img on a usb stick then boot from it and then mount the hdd.

The thing is that i tried with 2 different usb keys, loading on it the exact same image as the one i loaded on my hdd, and i was never able to get to xbmc app.

I got the splashscreen with appletv and pinguin, then kernel messages, and right after it detects all hdds, it stops. Nothing happen then.

I am sooo disappointed

If you have any clues again, it would help a lot !

By the way, yesterday i tested the videos playing with the crystalbuntu and it is incredible it is so better than with xbmc on atv os !


Thanks,

regards,

Nicolas.

Hi Nicolas,

I am not sure I get what you mean here but I had something similar.
There is 2 files that need to be modified if you are moving from a USB to a HDD and vice versa. This is only the case if the HDD is plugged in directly to the IDE cable inside.

The IDE drive is seen by the Apple TV as /dev/sda. The USB is /dev/sdb. Bandit Kaine awesone guide shows that.

The first file is in the first partition "com.apple.Boot.plist". you have to edit it and make sure you change any reference to /dev/sdx to the other. I actually had a similar symptom like yours when I did not modify this as it cannot mount the root partition during boot.

The other one is the in the ext3 partition and it is "/etc/fstab". Mine worked fine even without modification but you need it correct for the swap to be mounted correctly.

K.

[bobbanico]

Hello,

I think you are right, i will check that, i did not realised the failure was at the moment of mounting root filesystem.

My current settings are :

I got the apple tv, then an usb hub, then plugged on it 1 hdd for media storage and an usb key for booting to crystalbuntu.

The only issue despite the one i reported is that everytime i switch on the apple tv, it does not boot on usb directly, i have to reboot it in order for it to boot on usb key.

As i do not plan to shut it down often it should not be a big problem anyway

I will check the file. Mine contains this :


<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Background Color</key>
<integer>0</integer>
<key>Boot Fail Logo</key>
<string></string>
<key>Boot Logo</key>
<string>\System\Library\CoreServices\BootLogo.png</string>
<key>Kernel</key>
<string>mach_kernel</string>
<key>Kernel Cache</key>
<string>mach_kernel.prelink</string>
<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string></string>
</dict>
</plist>


I think i have to set it between <string></string>.

I feel comfortable with this, but i just wanted to know if i set an incorrect value, will i still be able to ssh into the box ? (as i am not sure what to put in this :p)

Thanks,

Regards,

Nicolas.

[bobbanico]

Hi,

I found my mistake creating the usb key. I am not familiar with this so i think i did it wrong.

So finally i am running crystalbuntu with an usb hub and an external hdd plugged.

The best solution would have been to have crystalbuntu on my external hdd (in order to keep atv software installed as it is faster imo to browse photos), and having the end of the partition in hfsplus format. but i really do not know how to do that, all that i tried failed

Thanks all for your help,

Regards,

Nicolas.

[feikenberg]

You can install the image onto your internal HDD and keep OS X. Look right here:

http://forum.xbmc.org/showpost.php?p=682...tcount=152