Re: MP3/player/USB-stick with unrecognised filesystem


Jim wrote:
insomniux came up with this when s/he headbutted the keyboard a moment ago
in comp.os.linux.misc:


Jim wrote:
insomniux came up with this when s/he headbutted the keyboard a moment
ago
in comp.os.linux.misc:

Hi,
I have a cheap Actions Semiconductors MP-Ki MP3 player. When I connect
it to the USB port, it is recognised, the driver (usb-storage) is also
loaded, but the drive cannot be mounted. fdisk -l shows:

Disk /dev/sdb: 1024 MB, 1024311808 bytes
32 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1008 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 1984 * 512 = 1015808 bytes

This doesn't look like a partition table
Probably you selected the wrong device.

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 ? 942426 1027451 84344761 69 Unknown
Partition 1 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(68, 13, 10) logical=(942425, 2, 42)
Partition 1 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(288, 115, 43) logical=(1027450, 1, 25)
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdb2 ? 857621 1800102 934940732+ 73 Unknown
Partition 2 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(371, 114, 37) logical=(857620, 22, 38)
Partition 2 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(366, 32, 33) logical=(1800101, 9, 4)
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdb3 ? 2 2 0 74 Unknown
Partition 3 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(371, 114, 37) logical=(1, 9, 32)
Partition 3 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(372, 97, 50) logical=(1, 9, 31)
Partition 3 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdb4 1 1731408 1717556736 0 Empty
Partition 4 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(0, 0, 0) logical=(0, 0, 1)
Partition 4 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(0, 0, 0) logical=(1731407, 31, 62)
Partition 4 does not end on cylinder boundary.

Partition table entries are not in disk order

It seems to contain filesystems which are not recognised by my linux
kernel (2.6.18).
Is there a way to mount this device?
Mike

If you have a Windows box or access to one, mount the player then follow
these steps*:

1. copy the hidden file settings.dat from the player to a temporary
folder
2. copy any other folders from the player to the same folder
3. remove existing partitions from the player
4. unmount the player, unplug it then plug it into your Linux box. From
here, make a FAT partition on the player.
5. Plug the player into the Windows box again, make sure you can mount
it,
then copy the settings.dat and other data back onto the drive. Unmount
and
make sure that the player still runs standalone. It should be fine.

*DISCLAIMER: I have performed this operation on: Samsung 128MB Micro MP3
player, X-Micro Video 512MB player, and Durabrand RB-200 player. All
successful, and all still in service. If the preceding operation turns
your
player into a brick... well, you did something wrong.

HTH


Jim,
This sounds somewhat dangerous. I am hesitant, since I see 4 partitions
in linux and just one in windows.

Delete the partition you see in Windows, I'll bet the other three disappear.

Don't know which partition in linux I
need to reformat. The MP3 player can also be used as usb-stick (with
encryption as option).
Aren't there less risky tricks? Could it be a filesystem type which is
not compiled regularly with the kernel.
Mike

You're seeing 4 partitions because the partition table is misconfigured for
the device. A new partition table is needed; portable mp3 players have one
partition in the flash area, the firmware is held elsewhere. Portable mp3
players and other flash media are invariably formatted with the FAT
filesystem.

As to the procedure, yes it can be dangerous, but only if you don't get it
right - in rare cases (I haven't come across one yet), you can render the
player useless.
--

Jim,
No succes.
There is no hidden file settings.dat (or it is on a partition which is
not shown in windows). I dd-ed the entire flash memory to a file on my
linux-box. Then I went to Windows and formatted the disk as FAT. This
did not change the problem. Then I went back to linux and cfdisk -z the
flash disk to OB type (should this be correct?) and formatted the disk
to FAT. Then I could use it as usb-stick under linux and windows, but
the device did not play any of the files (no-files detected). So now I
dd-ed back the entire file system and I'm back to where I came from.

Any other options?
Mike

.

Quantcast