read only ?

[pathe]

Unbelievable !
I plug-in my iPod photo 60Gb,
its icon is as usual displayed on my desktop,
rhythmbox boots automatically,
everything has the usual behaviour.
Except that... my iPod is now read-only !
I can't even upgrade it when I'm root !

Any idea ?

PS : I'm a debian user. I didn't configure udev or anything.

[cool_walking_]

Mount it from a command line and it'll give you a message as to why it was mounted read-only.  Probably filesystem corruption, for which you want to look at the fsck.vfat man page.

[LambdaCalculus]

In haiku:

File system problems
Check to see that all is well
fsck.vfat works best

Comments on my haiku prowess are welcome.

[pathe]

Well, I don't get it :
sometimes the iPod is attached automatically but read-only,
sometimes it's attached and read-writeable,
sometimes it's not even recognized by my laptop :

Code: [Select]

# lsusb
Bus 002 Device 005: ID 05ac:1204 Apple Computer, Inc.

It's on the bus, but :

Code: [Select]

# mount /mnt/ipod/
mount: special device /dev/sda does not exist

Anyway, I upgraded rockbox, which is the most important.

Thank you for your help,
and for the haiku.

[cool_walking_]

Maybe you've got a bad USB cable or port.

Lambda, your haiku is broken by my pronunciation of the dot 

Maybe you could use something like "dosfsck works the best" instead?

[gevaerts]

This ipod that lives on the forums
Gave its owner a lot of problems
No writing afoot
Not even by root
Fsck will teach it some lessons

[pondlife]

There once was a read-only DAP,
Whose user got into a flap,
And though philanthropic,
The rhymes, so off-topic,
Did nothing to help the poor chap.

pondlife (gets his coat)

[AlexP]

My effort:

The topic that we are discussin'
To do with the subject has nothin'
So let's not be fools,
And follow the rules,
Lest we cause mods to start fussin'

*I'm not chastising anyone here, I just had a 'good' rhyme to use

[pathe]

It's still read-only.

Code: [Select]

# cat /proc/partitions
major minor  #blocks  name

...
   8     0   58605119 sda
   8     1      40131 sda1
   8     2   58564957 sda2
...

# fsck.vfat -a /dev/sda
dosfsck 2.11, 12 Mar 2005, FAT32, LFN
Root directory has zero size.

Then :

Code: [Select]

# fsck.vfat -n /dev/sda1
dosfsck 2.11, 12 Mar 2005, FAT32, LFN
Currently, only 1 or 2 FATs are supported, not 123.

# fsck.vfat -a /dev/sda2
dosfsck 2.11, 12 Mar 2005, FAT32, LFN
/Histoiredesfemmes/Femmes24sur25.mp3
  Contains a free cluster (74137). Assuming EOF.
/Histoiredesfemmes/Femmes24sur25.mp3
  File size is 24010628 bytes, cluster chain length is 16384 bytes.
  Truncating file to 16384 bytes.
/Willie Alexander/The Holy Babble/waiting_for_bc_kagan.mp3
  Contains a free cluster (763315). Assuming EOF.
Reclaimed 8 unused clusters (131072 bytes) in 4 chains.
Free cluster summary wrong (1721525 vs. really 1721520)
  Auto-correcting.
Performing changes.
/dev/sda2: 3565 files, 1937002/3658522 clusters
#

More of this :

Code: [Select]

# tail -f /var/log/syslog
...
Oct 19 13:17:11 localhost kernel: attempt to access beyond end of device
Oct 19 13:17:11 localhost kernel: sda: rw=0, want=117210240, limit=117210239
Oct 19 13:17:11 localhost kernel: Buffer I/O error on device sda2, logical block 117129914
Oct 19 13:17:11 localhost kernel: attempt to access beyond end of device
Oct 19 13:17:11 localhost kernel: sda: rw=0, want=117210240, limit=117210239
Oct 19 13:17:11 localhost kernel: Buffer I/O error on device sda2, logical block 117129914

Any idea ?

[GodEater]

Firstly, don't run fsck.vfat on /dev/sda - that's not a partition, it's the entire disk.

Secondly, don't run it on /dev/sda1 either, that's the firmware partition, and does not contain a filesystem.

Finally, the error messages you get from the check and repair attempt on /dev/sda2 do indeed suggest there's something wrong with with filesystem there. Could you post the results of running fsck.vfat on it a subsequent time ?

[pathe]

Here you are :

Code: [Select]

# fsck.vfat -a /dev/sda2 dosfsck 2.11, 12 Mar 2005, FAT32, LFN
/dev/sda2: 3567 files, 1937004/3658522 clusters

... and nothing more, except this :

Code: [Select]

# cat /proc/partitions
major minor  #blocks  name
...
   8     0   58605119 sda
   8     1      40131 sda1
   8     2   58564957 sda2

# umount /media/debianIpod/

# cat /proc/partitions
major minor  #blocks  name
...
   8     0   58605119 sda
   8     1      40131 sda1
   8     2   58564957 sda2

I really can't unmount the ipod !
The only way to get rid of that "Do not disconnect" message on the ipod screen is to shut down the computer !
I'm losing my mind with this ipod !

[GodEater]

Have you tried typing "eject /dev/sda" at the command prompt ?

[bluebrother]

The only way to get rid of that "Do not disconnect" message on the ipod screen is to shut down the computer !

The Ipod showing "do not disconnect" does not mean the Ipod is (un)mounted. Mounting is done on the OS. If you unmounted your Ipod you can safely disconnect it -- that screen on the Ipod waits for some eject command before it switches to the "safe to disconnect" screen. Nevertheless, if the Ipod is unmounted (safely ejected on windows) it's safe to unplug it. I do that all the time and never had any issues arising from it.

[pathe]

Ok : the eject command works fine.
I didn't know it hadn't the same effect on the iPod as the umount command : thank you for this.

[GodEater]

It doesn't - you still need to issue the umount command, but if you want the "Do not disconnect" message to disappear, you have to use the eject command too.