Internal SATA Bh & Hdd larger than 2TB

Shiro

BH-C
Recently i have the known that many sellers discourage to buy internal hard disks larger than 1 tera because they think that large disks have problems in Vu+ box.

As i already explained the problems with large disks are related to the operative system.
To be clear you cannot create a Linux partition larger than 2 TB using the fdisk command. The fdisk won't create partitions larger than 2 TB. This is fine for desktop and laptop users, but on your Vu+ you need the entire hdd for your media files. For example, you cannot create 3TB or 4TB partition size using the fdisk command. It will not allow you to create a partition that is greater than 2TB.

To solve this problem we have to use parted command with GPT. It supports Intel EFI/GPT partition tables. Partition Table (GPT) is a standard for the layout of the partition table on a physical hard disk. It is a part of the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) standard proposed by Intel as a replacement for the outdated PC BIOS, one of the few remaining relics of the original IBM PC. EFI uses GPT where BIOS uses a Master Boot Record (MBR).

Because enigma2 use sfdisk you cannot partiotion and format large disks from your standard menu hdd function.

So to partion format and use this large disks in Vu+ box we will need the parted tool and the kernel EFI support.

The kernel support is already present in the latest Bh images and the parted tool will be added in the next 2.0.5 version if all the tests will be positive.

To try to introduce in the next bh the full support for large disks with a black hole tool to partion and format i was ordering today this disk:
SEAGATE Desktop HDD.15 HDD 4 TB SATA III 6 GB / S 3.5" BUFFER 64 MB

I choose this hdd because:
1) is cheap (about 150 euro)
2) is large: 4 Tera
3) is ideal for Vu+ linux stb because low rpm (5900), low temperature and low power consumption
4) is sataIII 6/gb (to test compatibility)

When the disk will i arrive i will inform you about it supports and compatibility with Vu+ box and Black Hole image.

stay tuned
 

angelofsky1980

BlackHole Driver Specialist
Recently i have the known that many sellers discourage to buy internal hard disks up to 1 tera because they think that large disks have problems in Vu+ box.

As i already explained the problems with large disks are related to the operative system.
To be clear you cannot create a Linux partition larger than 2 TB using the fdisk command. The fdisk won't create partitions larger than 2 TB. This is fine for desktop and laptop users, but on your Vu+ you need the entire hdd for your media files. For example, you cannot create 3TB or 4TB partition size using the fdisk command. It will not allow you to create a partition that is greater than 2TB.

To solve this problem we have to use parted command with GPT. It supports Intel EFI/GPT partition tables. Partition Table (GPT) is a standard for the layout of the partition table on a physical hard disk. It is a part of the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) standard proposed by Intel as a replacement for the outdated PC BIOS, one of the few remaining relics of the original IBM PC. EFI uses GPT where BIOS uses a Master Boot Record (MBR).

Because enigma2 use sfdisk you cannot partiotioned and format large disks from your standard menu hdd function.

So to partion format and use this large disks in Vu+ box we will need the parted tool and the kernel EFI support.

The kernel support is already present in the latest Bh images and the parted tool will be added in the next 2.0.5 version if all the tests will be positive.

To try to introduce in the next bh the full support for large disks with a black hole tool to partion and format i was ordering today this disk:
SEAGATE Desktop HDD.15 HDD 4 TB SATA III 6 GB / S 3.5" BUFFER 64 MB

I choose this hdd because:
1) is cheap (about 150 euro)
2) is large: 4 Tera
3) is ideal for Vu+ linux stb because low rpm (5900), low temperature and low power consumption
4) is sataIII 6/gb (to test compatibility)

When the disk will i arrive i will inform you about it supports and compatibility with Vu+ box and Black Hole image.

stay tuned

Uhm... only 150 euros .... I think it's time to upgrade my NAS to 16Tb storage system :D
 

NEUROSURGERY

Vu+ User
Hi Shiro you have installed your HDD in Duo2, with the gigaLAN, how speed you can transfert from PC to duo2 and from duo2 to PC?
THANKS
 

Shiro

BH-C
Hi Shiro you have installed your HDD in Duo2, with the gigaLAN, how speed you can transfert from PC to duo2 and from duo2 to PC?
THANKS

Yes i have installed in Duo2 but sorry i have not time for this kind of tests.
I have only verifyed that it works and registrations and reproductions are ok.
I have few time and i have to use my time to write the support of these hdd in bh 2.0.5 because at the current state you cannot inizialize this kind of hdd in current e2 images.
 

Shiro

BH-C
Hi Shiro you have installed your HDD in Duo2, with the gigaLAN, how speed you can transfert from PC to duo2 and from duo2 to PC?
THANKS


I think this is not the way to check hdd transfer speed because results will depend from many things like your network, your router and the way to transfer file.

If you want to make an hdd performance comparaison between my hdd and your you can follow this procedure:
http://www.vuplus-community.net/board/threads/my-hdd-performance.13450/
 

NEUROSURGERY

Vu+ User

Shiro

BH-C
I don't try to do a comparison between my hdd and yours, but I just want to know the speed of transfer DUO2 and PC :)

Uff... look that this test is in my opinion unuseful because it depends from network/router/pc and the tranfer files program

Ok here is the log of my ftp session.
I used a Linux Pc to tranfer the bhimage file
1) From Pc to duo2 hdd (ftp put)
2) From duo2 hdd to Pc (ftp get)

ftp.png

As you can see we have tranfered a file about 75 Mega via ftp.
From Pc put into duo2 hdd: 76591449 bytes sent in 6.46 secs (11581.4 kB/s)
From Pc get from duo2 hdd: 76591449 bytes received in 6.51 secs (11491.7 kB/s)

that's all.
 

Katikakus

Vu+ User
The thread topic is quite confusing. "up to" does not mean "larger than" it mean the exact opposite. So by "HDD up to 2 TB" you are actually saying "Hdd of 2 TB or less"

The thread is about large HDDs with capacity higher than 2 TB.
 

zoro25

Vu+ Newbie
Hi Shiro ,

Just wondering if you need to partition the same size as the platter (1TB in your case) I'm about to get a 3TB drive (seagate barracuda) and am wondering if the new tool will detect the platter size and if partitioning like this would give any performance increase.
 

Shiro

BH-C
Hi Shiro ,

Just wondering if you need to partition the same size as the platter (1TB in your case) I'm about to get a 3TB drive (seagate barracuda) and am wondering if the new tool will detect the platter size and if partitioning like this would give any performance increase.

The 2.0.5 will be out soon.
There is not a separate tool but the changes are inside the usual hdd inizalise menu function that will partiotion your hdd entirely using the optimal alignment.
The "parted" tool will be included in the image.
So If you want to partiotion the hdd in a different way you can telnet to your box and use the parted program to customize your hdd partition.
 
Top