James wrote:

Hello,

I just got a 500G FreeAgent (Seagate) drive.
I have it working via ivman:

/dev/sdb1 466G 144M 466G 1% /media/FreeAgent Drive

Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0bc2:3000 Seagate RSS LLC

I'm able to cd into it's directory tree and read various
files.


I assume it has NTFS by default. I have all of the legacy
doz file systems enabled along with idonify in the kernel.


I want to use it on both gentoo and windows systems
for a variety of tasks. What the best way to set it up
(ideas) so as to ensure what I copy onto the drive,
form either gentoo or xp I can copy off onto a gento
or XP based system? Should I delete any of the original
stuff that Seagate installs on the drive?

Also, I'm thinking about a udev rule or fstab entry
on the gentoo system to uniquely identify the drive
as I often attach several usb(stick or drive) devices
to one system at any given time; so I'm looking for
a scheme that they will each be unquely recognized (Labeled?




any caveats?



James





Most, in fact all of the external drives I have used come formatted with
fat32 standard even the 500GB iomega I recently bought.


So copying between OSes should not be a problem :-)

Wayn0
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On Tuesday 08 January 2008, James wrote:

> I assume it has NTFS by default. I have all of the legacy
> doz file systems enabled along with idonify in the kernel.
>
>
> I want to use it on both gentoo and windows systems
> for a variety of tasks. What the best way to set it up
> (ideas) so as to ensure what I copy onto the drive,
> form either gentoo or xp I can copy off onto a gento
> or XP based system? Should I delete any of the original
> stuff that Seagate installs on the drive?

I have no idea what Seagate installs on the drive. Assuming that it is NTFS,
you may want to read about www.ntfs-3g.org. It's also in portage:

$ eix -l ntfs3g
[i] sys-fs/ntfs3g
Available versions:
1.810 [suid]
~ 1.1030 [suid]
~ 1.1104 [suid]
~ 1.1120 [debug suid]
Installed versions: 1.810(18:22:30 09/18/07)(-suid)
Homepage: http://www.ntfs-3g.org
Description: Open source read-write NTFS driver that runs under
FUSE

I have been using it for some time now on data (non-OS) partitions and had no
problems. YMMV.

> Also, I'm thinking about a udev rule or fstab entry
> on the gentoo system to uniquely identify the drive
> as I often attach several usb(stick or drive) devices
> to one system at any given time; so I'm looking for
> a scheme that they will each be unquely recognized (Labeled?

You may want to check the Gentoo Documentation and Gentoo Wiki and this ML and
the forums, for multiple suggestions and examples of setting up udev rules.
--
Regards,
Mick

Mick <michaelkintzios <at> gmail.com> writes:

> $ eix -l ntfs3g

> I have been using it for some time now on data (non-OS) partitions and had no
> problems. YMMV.


Yep, same here ntfs3g is wonderful!


> > Also, I'm thinking about a udev rule or fstab entry
> > on the gentoo system to uniquely identify the drive
> > as I often attach several usb(stick or drive) devices
> > to one system at any given time; so I'm looking for
> > a scheme that they will each be unquely recognized (Labeled?

> You may want to check the Gentoo Documentation and Gentoo Wiki and this ML and
> the forums, for multiple suggestions and examples of setting up udev rules.



Yes, some help with udev rules or a slick trick via fstab is what I was
really after. Or maybe something cool related to the usb buss and
a trick to *uniquely lable* usb devices.....

I'll take a cut at the udev rules myself, then post my
sorry excuse for udev rules and ask for help....


thx,

James




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James wrote:

Yes, some help with udev rules or a slick trick via fstab is what I was
really after. Or maybe something cool related to the usb buss and
a trick to *uniquely lable* usb devices.....



Would using the UUID for the partition work for you?

vol_id /dev/sdXX

You can use UUID=blah in your fstab.
--
Christopher
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Christopher Copeland <chrcop <at> gmail.com> writes:


> > Yes, some help with udev rules or a slick trick via fstab is what I was
> > really after. Or maybe something cool related to the usb buss and
> > a trick to *uniquely lable* usb devices.....

> Would using the UUID for the partition work for you?

> vol_id /dev/sdXX

> You can use UUID=blah in your fstab.

Possible,

I'm not sure what the UUID (Universally Unique ID)?

OK so here's what I have from lsusb:


Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0bc2:3000 Seagate RSS LLC

I not sure what the FStab entry would like like?
I use ntfs-3g for many of them. Currently, it's a
manual juggling act as to which device is called what
on the various systems. Very prone to mistakes
as there is no consistency as the devices are moved
between systems in an asymmetrical dance....

If I use a UUID, how do I 'burn/label/add' it to the
device, so when it is moved to another system
it's UUID that I have created is recognized? Maybe use
the serial number as a unique (UUID) label? If so, I'd need
a tool/script/program to rip the serial number from the usb
buss..... and then compare it to the FStab or udev rules.
Maybe sd(serial-number) so they always show up uniquely?
Add cameras and audio devices, not to mention embedded programmers
and boards and I'm ready to .<>.


From usbview:

FreeAgentDesktop
Manufacturer: Seagate
Serial Number: 6QG1FYPA

Can you flesh out your idea with a little bit more detail?
(remember I have many usb devices and move them frequently between
windows and Gentoo systems).


James

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On Wed, 9 Jan 2008 04:56:42 +0000 (UTC), James wrote:

> > > Or maybe something cool related to the usb buss and
> > > a trick to *uniquely lable* usb devices.....

> I'd need
> a tool/script/program to rip the serial number from the usb
> buss..... and then compare it to the FStab or udev rules.
> Maybe sd(serial-number) so they always show up uniquely?
> Add cameras and audio devices, not to mention embedded programmers
> and boards and I'm ready to .<>.

This all seems to betting unnecessarily complicated. See
http://www.reactivated.net/udevrules.php for an explanation of how to
write udev rules to give persistent naming based on any attribute of the
device, including serial numbers.


--
Neil Bothwick

Electric chairs are period furniture: they end a sentence

James wrote:

Can you flesh out your idea with a little bit more detail?
(remember I have many usb devices and move them frequently between
windows and Gentoo systems).


James



Just to be clear this isn't *my* idea, see:

http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/Fstab

ubuntu and I assume others have started populating the fstab with UUID
entries rather than device names. To me it seems like an elegant
solution to a problem, maybe not YOUR problem but that is likely down to
my not understanding as completely as you do.


As Neil said, udev rules can make it work or you can edit one line of
your fstab. So that this:


/dev/sdd1 /mnt/usb type defaults 0 0

Becomes:

UUID=123456 /mnt/usb type deftauls 0 0

You can find 123456 by issuing:

vol_id /dev/sdd1

Again, whether or not this is what you need, only you can say.
--
Christopher


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gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org mailing list

On Wednesday 9 January 2008, James wrote:

> > > Also, I'm thinking about a udev rule or fstab entry
> > > on the gentoo system to uniquely identify the drive
> > > as I often attach several usb(stick or drive) devices
> > > to one system at any given time; so I'm looking for
> > > a scheme that they will each be unquely recognized (Labeled?

Uhm, don't know about your setup, but on all my gentoo boxes every device
shows up in /dev/disk/by-id, and can be easily uniquely identified using
that name.
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Neil Bothwick <neil <at> digimed.co.uk> writes:


> This all seems to betting unnecessarily complicated. See
> http://www.reactivated.net/udevrules.php for an explanation of how to
> write udev rules to give persistent naming based on any attribute of the
> device, including serial numbers.


OK, let me do some reading up on this. Excellent link....

thx

James




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Christopher Copeland <chrcop <at> gmail.com> writes:


> As Neil said, udev rules can make it work or you can edit one line of
> your fstab. So that this:

> /dev/sdd1 /mnt/usb type defaults 0 0

> Becomes:

> UUID=123456 /mnt/usb type deftauls 0 0

This make perfect sense...

> You can find 123456 by issuing:

> vol_id /dev/sdd1

vol_id is very, very cool.... thanks for this tip!
I need to experiment with vol_id and udev now.....


> Again, whether or not this is what you need, only you can say.

No, I do not mind listing a dozen devices into the fstab on each
gentoo system. When I add a device to my collection of usb gear
it'll get listed.

*THANKS*
James


> --
> Christopher
>




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