Re: USB memory keys -- the plot thickens

David T. Johnson wrote:
Lon Hooker wrote:
tholen@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Lon Hooker writes:

Partitioning a USB memory key works only if LVM sees the correct
capacity,
and it did not in the case of the 128 MB CompUSA memory key, listing it
as
having 31 MB.

Make sure you do NOT have CWUSBMSD.ADD installed. It can cause weird capacity errors.


You may find the following sequence of events interesting.

Not really. Too much unco-ordinated "business" for there to be any useful information. For starters, you don't say what file system is on the disk... it makes a BIG difference in what you see. Also, you don't mention exactly what versions of the various drivers you have installed.

So...

<<Snip it all and start at the beginning>>

First thing. Drivers. You say they're "up-to-date", but the symptoms you report are what I've seen with outdated, obsolete or improper software. Here's what you need. If anything else is used, things will NOT work as expected.

OS2DASD.DMD... bldlevel 14.104

DANIS IDE driver suite... version 1.75 is current.
USB basic stack... release 10.162
USB MSD stack... release 10.162
FAT32.IFS... ver. 0.9.11. The ONLY acceptable version. Older versions WILL cause data loss similar to what you describe. From NetLabs.

NOTE 1. Make sure you aren't using CWUSBMSD.ADD... it causes major errors in reported drive space.

NOTE 2. Do not use DANIDASD.DMD... it is NOT LVM aware, so can't work with LVM systems.

NOTE 3. Forget about windows... all it does is screw things up anytime it touches an LVM system... LVM WILL choke.

This is not true. I use USB thumb drives routinely between Windows XP and OS/2 and never have any problems using either FAT16 or FAT32 file systems. Windows XP just ignores the LVM volume letter but otherwise it works normally.

I should have been more clear... what I meant by "touch" was the use of W$ partitioning tools. W$, PQMagic etc. do wacky things to the partition tables and the only way out is as described. Once the drive has a good partition table (one written either by DFSee or LVM) and has been blessed by LVM, there's no problem formatting and using it on a W$ machine, as you have noted.



CONFIG.SYS: Here are the relevant lines from mine. No parameters other than what you see are needed. Case sensitive.

*****************************************
BASEDEV=DANIS506.ADD (No parameters normally needed for this driver
BASEDEV=OS2DASD.DMD (No parameters for this driver)

BASEDEV=USBEHCD.SYS
BASEDEV=USBUHCD.SYS (The number of UHCD/OHCD controllers
BASEDEV=USBUHCD.SYS is determined by running hcimonit.exe)
BASEDEV=USBUHCD.SYS
BASEDEV=USBD.SYS
BASEDEV=USBHID.SYS
BASEDEV=USBMSD.ADD /V /FLOPPIES:0 /REMOVABLES:3
(If your laptop uses a USB floppy, set "FLOPPIES" accordingly)
(Set "REMOVABLES" to however many units you intend to attach
at any one given time)

BASEDEV=DANIATAPI.FLT

IFS=X:\OS2\BOOT\FAT32.IFS /Q /H /CACHE:2048
CALL=X:\OS2\CACHEF32.EXE
*****************************************

Here's a procedure that should get your drive working right. There's a good chance it will trap if you eject it at the finish, so save your work before you start.

Get DFSee 8.xx and, using the interactive menu:

1. File-->Open object to work with. Select your drive from the pick list.

2. Actions-->Erase, wipe selected areas-->Erase, wipe current object. This may take a while... be patient.

3. Mode=FDISK-->Create new partition. Create a primary partition, checking the boxes for "Create NEW mode" and "Include LVM information". Selecting "OK" brings up an "Edit LVM info" dialogue where you can enter a volume name and drive letter. Follow the dialogues. Allow DFSee to write the changes. You don't need to choose a partition type... that is set by the format program. Make sure the box labelled "Sync drive letter assignment with live LVM engine" is left unchecked... it doesn't apply to removables.

4. If you want to use FAT16/32, use DFSee to format the volume now. (HPFS/JFS will have to wait until the drive has been ejected and re-attached):

I've never used DFSee to format a USB thumb drive for FAT, FAT32, or HPFS. I've just used the standard OS/2 tools (LVM, PMFORMAT, etc.) and I've never had a problem.

And normally you won't. Quite frequently, however, a drive that has been worked over by a W$ partitioning tool is not 'seen' by LVM or PMFORMAT so cannot be processed by them. DFSee, on the other hand, will work with any drive that can be attached... that's why I use it for all my partitioning/LVM work and recommend its inclusion in any standard toolkit.

I let Windows format if FAT32 is used.

I used to do that, too, but ONLY after the partition had been created by either LVM or DFSee. Since DFSee's FAT32 formatter appeared, however, I've used that exclusively... one less thing to do on W$.

For
OS/2, I'm using the 25 December 2005 FAT32 driver which works okay except for the occasional Virtual Pascal runtime error in cachef32.exe when another app is started.

Not to mention the abominable write speeds. :-( If the errors are too annoying, you can simply turn cachef32 off... its benefits seem marginal at best and, as you note, it can cause trouble.

Remember that FAT32.IFS is still beta, so if you find a problem, report it to the development people at NetLabs. No guarantee as to if/when it will be fixed, but we can always hope... there is *some* work being done on it.


Actions-->Format volume or partition-->With a FAT/FAT32 file system. Follow the dialogues.

5. Close DFSee and eject the drive. This is where the system may trap, but that (and the subsequent autocheck) can be avoided by leaving the drive attached and doing a normal system shutdown.

6. Format the drive for FAT16 or HPFS using either PMFormat or the CLI. If you want JFS, you'll have to use LVM to delete the volume you just created and create a new partition with an "LVM" (as opposed to "compatibility") volume. (DFSee only creates compatibility volumes)


Some, but now my concern has moved on to the COPY /V option. I'm
looking for a reliable storage method for changeable files other than
the hard disks themselves, and floppies develop CRC errors all too
frequently. A memory key seems like a good solution, but not if files
can disappear anytime you forget and use /V on a copy operation.

What file system? I've heard about some problems with write verification on older versions of FAT32.IFS, but mostly with third party file managers. Nothing with other file systems.

Get the drive working right, first... right now it's so hosed-up I'm surprised it copies anything at all.

HTH

Lon




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