Cannot mount my ext3 partition (on extended partition)

[svaucher]

I've just received my router and I want to setup a 1TB HD to it. To allow me to store backups for my different machines. I setup a few partitions using gparted (under ubuntu).

Here is the setup as described by fdisk. Linux partitions were set as ext3.

[admin@WL-00235407FDEB /mnt]$ fdisk /dev/discs/disc0/disc

The number of cylinders for this disk is set to 121601.
There is nothing wrong with that, but this is larger than 1024,
and could in certain setups cause problems with:
1) software that runs at boot time (e.g., old versions of LILO)
2) booting and partitioning software from other OSs
(e.g., DOS FDISK, OS/2 FDISK)

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/discs/disc0/disc: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/discs/disc0/part1 1 653 5245191 83 Linux
/dev/discs/disc0/part2 654 1306 5245222+ 83 Linux
/dev/discs/disc0/part3 1307 1567 2096482+ 82 Linux swap
/dev/discs/disc0/part4 1568 121601 964173105 5 Extended
/dev/discs/disc0/part5 1568 18276 134215011 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/discs/disc0/part6 18277 121601 829958031 83 Linux

Command (m for help):

Partition 1 should be my router's root, and partition 3 my swap. Partition 2 is for booting another device and 5-6 are for storage. They are on an *extended* partition. I don't know if that is supported.

My problem is that I cannot mount the linux partitions that were create on ubuntu even though they were formatted as ext3. After executing 'mke2fs -j' on my empty partitions (1-2), I can mount them, but that is currently not an option for my backup partition which is too large. (unless mke2fs is nice and doesn't touch my data :p).

BEFORE mke2fs:

[admin@WL-00235407FDEB root]$ df
Filesystem 1k-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/root 3072 3072 0 100% /
/dev/discs/disc0/part5 134215008 383804 133831204 0% /tmp/mnt/disc0_5

AFTER:

[admin@WL-00235407FDEB root]$ df
Filesystem 1k-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/root 3072 3072 0 100% /
/dev/discs/disc0/part1 5162796 144608 4755932 3% /tmp/mnt/disc0_1
/dev/discs/disc0/part2 5162828 131228 4769340 3% /tmp/mnt/disc0_2
/dev/discs/disc0/part5 134215008 383804 133831204 0% /tmp/mnt/disc0_5

I'm not sure how I can diagnose the problem with my data partition. I performed a e2fsck on partition 6 (my backup format):

[admin@WL-00235407FDEB root]$ time e2fsck -p /dev/discs/disc0/part6
Linux storage: clean, 1929832/51879936 files, 75570964/207489507 blocks
real 0m 1.42s
user 0m 1.23s
sys 0m 0.09s

I saw the message http://wl500g.info/showthread.php?t=13178 which describes the same symptoms, but does not provide a solution.

Any insight would be appreciated.

Cheers,
Stephane Vaucher

[wpte]

what kind of disk are you using?

[svaucher]

It's an IOmega external:

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=0665000FS10114940&atab=&spviewed=&newlang=EN&logon=&langid=FR

I found the command to list the usb device description:

$ cat /proc/scsi/usb-storage-0/0
Host scsi0: usb-storage
Vendor: JMicron
Product: USB to ATA/ATAPI Bridge
Serial Number: 92306FFFFFFF
Protocol: Transparent SCSI
Transport: Bulk
GUID: 059b0475000092306fffffff
Attached: Yes
Port: 2
Bus: 01:03.2-2

Indeed it seems that there are compatibility problems with spindown, (http://wl500g.info/showpost.php?p=52360&postcount=20).

Is there any other information I can transmit? Is there a known size limit for partitions using oleg's firmware?

[wpte]

well... as far as I can see everything should be allright...
but what you say about the extended partition can be right... I once tried it and it worked, but maybe you can try less partitions?:)

and the maximum mountable size should be 2TB I think
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ext3
I have no problems with my WesternDigital discs, 1TB and 500GB.

I don''t know all about how oleg compiled the kernel, but there should be a quite reasonable support for harddisks and sizes.

[svaucher]

I see two possibilities:

1. Number of partitions: this is probably not the source of the pb since none of the partitions formatted on ubuntu as ext3 worked (only ntfs). I had to rebuild the fs for it to be recognised...
2. Particularities of the ext format: Maybe ubuntu adds some information that is incompatible on the router. I noticed that ubuntu remembers partition labels which seem to be stored on the drive.

I'll sacrifice my ntfs partition (which is almost empty) and convert it to ext3 on ubuntu to investigate, but any hints or leads are appreciated. If I find something, I'll post the solution here (and edit the problem description).

[wpte]

I see two possibilities:

1. Number of partitions: this is probably not the source of the pb since none of the partitions formatted on ubuntu as ext3 worked (only ntfs). I had to rebuild the fs for it to be recognised...
2. Particularities of the ext format: Maybe ubuntu adds some information that is incompatible on the router. I noticed that ubuntu remembers partition labels which seem to be stored on the drive.

I'll sacrifice my ntfs partition (which is almost empty) and convert it to ext3 on ubuntu to investigate, but any hints or leads are appreciated. If I find something, I'll post the solution here (and edit the problem description).


well yes, it's recommended to make partitions and format the hdd on the router...
but I never had any problems with pre-formatted sticks from ubuntu

[vdk]

I see two possibilities:

1. Number of partitions: this is probably not the source of the pb since none of the partitions formatted on ubuntu as ext3 worked (only ntfs). I had to rebuild the fs for it to be recognised...
2. Particularities of the ext format: Maybe ubuntu adds some information that is incompatible on the router. I noticed that ubuntu remembers partition labels which seem to be stored on the drive.

I'll sacrifice my ntfs partition (which is almost empty) and convert it to ext3 on ubuntu to investigate, but any hints or leads are appreciated. If I find something, I'll post the solution here (and edit the problem description).

All partitions must be PRIMARY, not Extended, and formated as ext3 or FAT32.

[svaucher]

Nope, they can be extended and they *must be formatted* on the router. When a hd is formatted ext3 on my ubuntu (8.10), it cannot be mounted. I sacrificed my ntfs partition, and I got it to mount.