On Mon, Mar 01, 2021 at 09:41:31PM +0000, Stuart Henderson wrote:
> On 2021-03-01, Raimo Niskanen <raimo+openbsd@erix.ericsson.se> wrote:
> > Hi Misc!
> >
> > Unfortunately I do not have one clear question here, but I wonder if somebody
> > could shed som light on some problems I have encountered on my PC Engines APU2.
> >
> > It runs OpenBSD 6.7 from a 32 GB mSATA SSD disk, and I would like to change
> > the disk since it is a few years old now, so I buyed a 128 GB Kingston
> > mSATA SSD, and an mSATA -> SATA adapter and put that combo in an USB 2
> > external disk adapter.
> >
> > The disk showed up as a 4k sector disk, and after installing OpenBSD 6.7
> > over USB over the mSATA-SATA adapter I plugged it in the internal mSATA
> > connector, and it did not boot.
>
> This is a problem with some USB-SATA adapters. See e.g.
> https://www.klennet.com/notes/2018-04-14-usb-and-sector-size.aspx
>
Just my bad luck, then...
> > Much fumbling later it seems that when the disk is connected to the
> > internal mSATA slot it is seen as a 512 bytes per sector disk. I do not
> > know what the BIOS thinks of it (factory SeaBIOS 1.10.something). When I
> > re-installed with the disk in the mSATA slot I got a bootable installation.
> > Both fdisk and disklabel now says the disk has got 512 bytes per sector.
> > (fdisk says nothing but for a 4k disk it should say it is a 4k disk)
> >
> > My old 32 GB mSATA disk is readable over the mSATA-SATA adapter USB adapter
> > as a 512 bytes per sector disk.
>
> You could try looking for a different adapter but at this point
> I would probably install on the new drive (PXE boot or use another USB
> drive to boot the installer), then copy files back from the old drive.
>
> > So I am just curious about how to handle this disk. I can install to it
> > in the internal mSATA connector and read the old installation over the
> > mSATA-SATA-USB-adapter. But one day when I want to install to a new disk
> > again, I will not be able to read from the disk in the mSATA-SATA-USB-adapter,
> > so the next re-installation looks unpromising.
>
> backup/restore over the network via another machine perhaps?
>
> > Some more specific questions:
> > * Would upgrading the BIOS be a good idea
>
> yes but it won't help with this problem.
> (https://github.com/pcengines/apu2-documentation/blob/master/docs/apu_CPU_boost.md)
>
> > * Sould upgrading to OpenBSD 6.8 improve the situation
>
> it won't.
>
> > * How is the disk sector size determined, and can I affect that?
>
> by the manufacturer.
>
Thank you for the information! Enlighting!
Since I can boot from the internal SD card as well, I can use a different
USB drive as dump/restore storage instead of an external machine. This
USB encosure sector size pecularity only blocks me from direct copy from
old installation to new, for future re-installations.
But for current re-installation I can read the old disk from the USB
enclosure, since it apparently does not alter the sector size for the old
32 GB disk.
Cheers
--
/ Raimo Niskanen, Erlang/OTP, Ericsson AB
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