USB Jumpdrive problems and Gnome: Don't use GPILOTD

Jeff Vian jvian10 at charter.net
Wed Sep 1 21:11:55 UTC 2004


On Wed, 2004-09-01 at 09:18, Sam Williams wrote:
> I need to be able to go between windows and linux with these things.
> Thats why it is necessary to get it working under gnome... I think I was
> misunderstood in my first note.... If you have problems with anything
> over 256 Mbytes, then make sure GPILOTD is not running as it more then
> likely is getting in the way. Not sure why, but the problem and solution
> are 100% reproducible....
> 
> Besides, you have a finite limit on the number of times that you can
> write to these devices. I would think that formatting them might shorten
> their useful life a little.... The fat filesystem should work fine, in
> the same that it does on floppies when these are used between Operating
> Systems...
> 
> Sam

Mine works well with a vfat filesystem.  I also have a SecureDigital
card that works both in my camera and as a filesystem as well.

A drawback to repartitioning and formatting as anything other than vfat
is the thumb drive or flash card is then NOT usable in any other system
--- (cameras, windows, etc)


> On Wed, 2004-09-01 at 08:17, Terry Polzin wrote:
> > On Tuesday August 31 2004 22:01, Wolfgang Gill wrote:
> > > On Tue, 31 Aug 2004 20:12:38 -0500, Sam Williams wrote
> > >
> > > > I have been having difficult with usb thumb style drives and FC1 /
> > > > FC2 for a long time. I have scoured the web for reports of similar
> > > > problems and solutions. While I found quite a number of problem reports
> > > > there were no solutions. In fact, to the contrary, people seemed to
> > > > abandon the search.
> > > >
> > > > Recently I purchased a Lexar JumpDrive (128 mbytes), which replaced the
> > > > 256 Mbytes Sandisk MiniCruiser that I just knew was bad. Well, it worked
> > > > great and I didn't give it a second thought.... My wife, kind soul that
> > > > she is, went out and bought me the 256 Mbyte Lexar Jumpdrive. I was
> > > > excited. I had another jumpdrive with twice the capacity.... I was
> > > > shocked when I plugged it into my system and had the exact problem I
> > > > had seen with the MiniCruiser. The problem scenario looks like a
> > > > defective device. The system tries multiple-times to mount it, then
> > > > ultimately comes up with some timeout messages and a message that says
> > > > that the fat filesystem is unreadable!!!
> > > >
> > > > After many days I have found the source of the problem. If I have
> > > > gpilotd ( version 2.0.10) running on my system I can mount and use
> > > > 128Mbyte jumpdrives and lower, but it will not allow me to use anything
> > > > of higher capacity then this. If I kill or pause the gpilotd, EVERYTHING
> > > > works just fine!!! I can use both of my 256 Mbyte usb drives as well
> > > > as all the lower capacity ones that I now own....
> > > >
> > > > Gpilotd has some real problems. It is somehow getting in the way of
> > > > my use of the jump drives, and it will not allow an easy hot-sync
> > > > with my Sony Clie. I have to try multiple times. Sometimes I have to
> > > > try and then recycle the gpilotd, before I can get a successful
> > > > sync. There is a real problem with this daemon.... Sadly, I think
> > > > I'm the only person that has seen this relationship..
> > > >
> > > > Anyway, for all of you that have been having these types of usbdrive
> > > > problems I would suggest you make sure and try it without gpilotd
> > > > running in the mix....
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > > Sam Williams                                             samurai at acm.org
> > >
> > > [snip]
> > >
> > > I've had simlar problems with an Apacer HT202 (1GB). I've noticed that the
> > > format on these devices are not of the standard configuration. As it would
> > > not mount on my system either. However, it had some instructions in the
> > > manual to reconfigure the drive. And now it works perfectly. I'm not
> > > familar with your device, but if you goto this site (below), and download
> > > the manual. It has the instructions there on how to reformat it, so you can
> > > mount it properly in Linux.
> > >
> > > http://www.apacer.com/apacer_english/product_html/handy_steno_ht202.asp
> > >
> > > Hope this helps.
> > >
> > > Wolf
> > > --
> > > Open WebMail Project (http://openwebmail.org)
> > I just did this yesterday to a Lexar 256mb jumpdrive sport.  Fdisk followed by 
> > mke2fs followed by mount.  Default partitioning on Lexar appears to be FAT16
> -- 
> Sam Williams                                             samurai at acm.org
> +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
> +"It is easy to be blinded to the essential uselessness of computers   +
> + by the sense of accomplishment you get from getting them to work at  +
> + all."                                                                +
> +                                                     - Douglas Adams  +
> +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
> 





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