[OpenIndiana-discuss] USB mass storage equality or lack thereof

[Martin Bochnig]

On Sat, Sep 29, 2012 at 3:52 AM, Reginald Beardsley <pulaskite at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Just in case someone who mucks about w/ this is following the list.
>
> Format(1m) has improved from Solaris 10 u8 in that it recognizes hard drives connected via USB. However, it does not acknowledge flash drives.
>
> While they are not equal in terms of performance from my experience, it would be nice if USB mass storage devices were treated in a consistent manner.
>
> NB:
> c1t0d0p0 is an empty SD card slot.
> c2t0d0p0 is an USB hard drive
> c3d1 is an internal SATA drive
> c4t0d0p0 is an USB flash drive
>
>
> # rmformat
> Looking for devices...
>      1. Logical Node: /dev/rdsk/c1t0d0p0
>         Physical Node: /pci at 0,0/pci10de,cb79 at 4,1/storage at 4/disk at 0,0
>         Connected Device: Single   Flash Reader     1.00
>         Device Type: <Unknown>
>         Bus: USB
>         Size: <Unknown>
>         Label: <Unknown>
>         Access permissions: <Unknown>
>      2. Logical Node: /dev/rdsk/c2t0d0p0
>         Physical Node: /pci at 0,0/pci10de,cb79 at 6,1/storage at 3/disk at 0,0
>         Connected Device: Maxtor   OneTouch         0125
>         Device Type: Removable
>         Bus: USB
>         Size: 305.2 GB
>         Label: <None>
>         Access permissions: Medium is not write protected.
>      3. Logical Node: /dev/rdsk/c4t0d0p0
>         Physical Node: /pci at 0,0/pci10de,cb79 at 6,1/storage at 2/disk at 0,0
>         Connected Device:          USB Disk         8.07
>         Device Type: Removable
>         Bus: USB
>         Size: 15.4 GB
>         Label: <Unknown>
>         Access permissions: Medium is not write protected.
> # format
> Searching for disks...done
>
>
> AVAILABLE DISK SELECTIONS:
>        0. c2t0d0 <Maxtor-OneTouch-0125 cyl 38910 alt 2 hd 255 sec 63>
>           /pci at 0,0/pci10de,cb79 at 6,1/storage at 3/disk at 0,0
>        1. c3d1 <Unknown-Unknown-0001 cyl 30398 alt 2 hd 255 sec 63>
>           /pci at 0,0/pci-ide at b/ide at 0/cmdk at 1,0
> Specify disk (enter its number): ^C
> # uname -a
> SunOS openindiana 5.11 oi_151a i86pc i386 i86pc Solaris
>
> Please don't think I'm complaining.  I'm very grateful for all the work being done on OI/Illumos.  I just thought it worth noting.
>
> Reg




Reg,

thanks for your mocking. It cannot harm. And often I wished, the dumb
general society would mock a bit more against the military industrial
complex and the banks.
As written yesterday, I used Sol10 only half a year in it was the old
FCS version. But I even recall from that short time, that its format
_____did_____ recognize USB attached hard disks.
I know this 100%, because it was a 300GB Maxtor external USB drive
that I bought in spring 2005.
I attached it to a Blade 2000 and used it for Xorg.

In your example your format command line misses a small but important
detail: the "-e" option!
The format "-e" option that was described in virtually every of
yesterdays mails in this thread. Little option, big effect!

And further, I don't see how format has improved. Because it has
always been that good! Only thing: USE "-e", for the last time  ...


If really something has been a moving target and has improved, then it
is rather rmformat.
I didn't read that in a blog, just experienced it. And didn't do extra
research for this statement. So it is just from the stack: rmformat,
as far as I recall, should give users with standard privileges the
ability to manage media, but of course only removable media. It was
derived from fdformat or how it was called, after floppies disappeared
and when USB sticks started to be widely available.
Technically it cannot do _anything_ better.
It only has lots of limitations. And the last time I messed with it
was half a decade ago.
Because if you do have RBAC privileges or just the root pw, then you
simply do not need rmformat. Use format and take the -e flag. ("-e"
for expert, enhanced or extended)

Addition: I peronally don't format my flash drives on the computer, as
recommended by Canon I do this in the 5D and in the Camcorder. As
these cameras don't simply do the pcfs format, but also copy a
skeleton of directories to a newly formatted flash drive. So I never
pcfs format anything under Solaris (nor on any other OS). It may well
be, ok, that rmformat can candle FAT. But even if yes, then again
that's something that should not be used (because all manufacturers
recommend, that you pcfs-format flash drives in the target devices
themselves, directly).




--
regards
   %martin bochnig