ExFAT - cutting through the BS [SOLVED]

[_wb_]

mount.exfat is just a symlink to mount.exfat-fuse

You don't need the & at the end.

I'm packaging a PND installer for this. I'm going to have to put in a more recent version of mount itself too, which is needed to make "mount -t auto" work for exFAT, which is needed to make the auto-mounting of volumes upon insertion work. The current firmware has mount version 2.17 (actually it's part of util-linux), and exFAT support in the auto detection of file system types was added in 2.18, but I tried it with the latest 2.22 and that seems to work fine (although I broke my SD install by installing all of util-linux 2.22, one of those other tools broke stuff).

 

[Franko]

Damn.....you guys are confusing the hell out of me.  Maybe I should just WAIT until a general consensus is achieved.  I really liked BAFelton's guide HOW TO make my favorite isometric games work on the Pandora...Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 and Icewind Dale just work...he "dumbed it down" for others (like me)...I get that I don't get this topic...LOL...and you all should keep up what you're all doing.  Hopefully I'll pick up something and learn which is part of the fun and the process for me.  Great community and great device - I don't mind reading between the lines.  Don't mind me...  

 

[_wb_]

My aim is to produce a PND that you just have to run once to install exFAT support, and from then on, exFAT just works automagically. I'm getting there.

 

[Franko]

My aim is to produce a PND that you just have to run once to install exFAT support, and from then on, exFAT just works automagically. I'm getting there.

Then by all means, carry on!    ...and I shouldn't have complained, but it's good to know and see any feedback from intelligent  developers.....I'm downloading your system monitor program, because it became obvious that THIS is the best diagnostic tool that we have currently.  Many thanks, _wb_.


My 

 

[_wb_]

OK, I put an installer on the repo. I hope it works. Please give it a try, but be prepared to reflash because I may have screwed something up. It works for me though.

 

[Franko]

Oh geeez, I really don't want to reflash.  I'm  usually the one that lets others figure these things out - I'm a human being, not a guinea pig.  Damn it Jim!  I'm a doctor not a beta tester!

 

[Franko]

Alright - installing... will let you know.

 

[Franko]

Heaaaay, so far, so good.  I'm going to try to format an 8GB card to exfat now....testing.  Not an available option within the menu.

_wb_ -  Any tips?

 

[elwing]

just a guess... it only support mounting existing partitions?

edit: it's all what's really needed... you don't really want to format card to exFat for the pandora, being able to mount cards from other device is the only important thing...

 

[Franko]

Not sure, but a decent guess at any rate.  Also, I'm probably not the best test subject at the moment - my laptop (which has my only other sd card reader) has a dead battery and I can't find the AC power supply due to a recent move...so I'm just trying to wing this here.  I'm thankful that the Pandora is an SD card reader in itself, but I'd like an outside (computer) "opinion" on this one - looks like _wb_ might have a great option for us....damn me...

 

[_wb_]

Ugh, maybe we need an updated version of GParted.

For now, either do your formatting on another computer, or do it manually on the command line. I'll explain how. You first need to know how the partition is called. It should be something like "/dev/mmcblk0p1". If the partition is already formatted as something else, it will show up when you type "df -h". Unmount the partition first:


sudo umount /dev/mmcblk<something>
 

then format it as exFAT like this:


sudo mkfs.exfat -n "LABEL" /dev/mmcblk<something>
 

When that's done, type "sync", and try removing/reinserting the card, it should get auto-mounted now.

 

[Franko]

I'd expect that _wb_ would eventually try to integrate a successful exfat formatting within the current OS.  I'd love to see it, and I'm excited by the possibilities.  The more supported formats, the better.

I'd expect that _wb_ would eventually try to integrate a successful exfat formatting within the current OS.  I'd love to see it, and I'm excited by the possibilities.  The more supported formats, the better.

Edit 1: Okay, understood.

 

[Franko]

I don't see a problem on this side...Pandora usage seems okay.  Until I find my laptop's power supply, I'm not sure about the "portability" of this SD format, but I would expect compatibility - you (_wb_) seem to know your stuff.  I can format my card(s) as exfat and move them between the (two) SD card slots on the Pandora.  Does that count?  

 

[_wb_]

Sounds good. It's probably a good idea to leave a comment on the repo to inform others that it seems to work for you. The disclaimer I put in the description may be a bit too intimidating

 

[Franko]

^^ Very good then, will do.  Thanks for your efforts.  I look forward to testing this out further but it seems stable.

 

[_wb_]

I guess we can consider this issue to be solved then. Can I update the topic title with "[sOLVED]" ?

 

[Grench]

Dang you're fast.  I was looking forward to beta testing this late tonight and you already have a .pnd?  Nicely done!

After some use/testing/etc....  Next question:  Should this be rolled into the next version of the codec pack?

Yes - you can edit to [sOLVED].

Thank you!  I look forward to being able to interchange phone & camera cards on my Pandoras!

 

[Exophase]

mount.exfat is just a symlink to mount.exfat-fuse

You don't need the & at the end.

I'm packaging a PND installer for this. I'm going to have to put in a more recent version of mount itself too, which is needed to make "mount -t auto" work for exFAT, which is needed to make the auto-mounting of volumes upon insertion work. The current firmware has mount version 2.17 (actually it's part of util-linux), and exFAT support in the auto detection of file system types was added in 2.18, but I tried it with the latest 2.22 and that seems to work fine (although I broke my SD install by installing all of util-linux 2.22, one of those other tools broke stuff).

Derp, that's what I get for looking at it in WinRAR on a Windows machine..
Does the mount program background/fork itself, ie visible with a ps, or is it doing something else to somehow be resident?

 

[kirkanoss]

thanks a ton WB can't wait to try this out i like to have a lot of music/vids for my 2nd card and having built my pc to move large amount of data fast. too bad i came to learn you must have cards formated to exfat to get the fast speeds (50mb/s) with nstc or fat even would be lucky to get 10mb/s

 

[EvilDragon]

I'll update the internal formatter tool to check whether exFAT is installed or not and offer formatting as well.

Also, would it make sense adding this into the community codec package?