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Cootey · 06-21-2021, 04:07 AM

I was writing this up as you two posted your replies. Thank you for pitching in and trying to help. You both make good points.

Here's how I fixed things on my Mac:

1. According to this post, Magic Memory Upgrade Mod doesn't work with firmware above 4.11 (https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...&postcount=278), so that would explain why Kobo Clara HD running firmware 4.26.16704 is stalling when copying data to RAM.

2. I took a look at my homebrewed 128GB SD card on my Mac and discovered that my rPi had formatted the data partition as Windows_FAT_32, not DOS_FAT_32. Some say that Fat32 is Fat32, but they are wrong. DOS_FAT_32 is 0x0B in a Master Boot Record partition map, and Windows_FAT_32 is 0x0C, which enables logical block addressing. I'm not an expert, so I have no idea what those hexadecimal values signify, but I know that if the Kobo is expecting one thing and you give it another, there will be some problems.

3. Here's how I solved the problem. There is no way to alter the drive format without destroying the data, so I typed "sudo rsync -av /Volumes/KOBOeReader/ ~/Desktop/KOBOBackup/" into the Terminal. This created the backup folder on my Desktop with all the contents of the Kobo's visible data partition. (The two Linux partitions are hidden, and we don't need to worry about them with this tutorial).

4. Once the backup was complete, I opened Disk Utility and erased the KOBOeReader drive with MS-DOS Fat formatting.

5. Next, it was time to restore the data. I typed "sudo rsync -av ~/Desktop/KOBOBackup/ /Volumes/KOBOeReader/" into Terminal. Make sure you get those ending / marks, especially on the backup. Otherwise, you'll create a new folder called KOBOBackup on the root of KOBOeReader.

6. I ejected the SD card and (making sure the Clara was off) plugged it into my Clara. Then I turned it on. Voilà! I'm back in business.

Since the original poster of Memory Upgrade Mod Guide (With Pictures) (https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=209122) never got around to adding Mac/Unix/Linus directions, I wonder if people would be interested in a cleaned up version of what I have done. It's possible that somebody already explained how to do this on a Mac, but I never found it in all my poking around.

06-21-2021, 04:07 AM	#12
Cootey Absentminded Reader Posts: 1,199 Karma: 6467283 Join Date: Apr 2017 Device: Kobo Mini, Clara HD, Elipsa; Kindle Paperwhite 3 & 4; iOS eReader apps	I was writing this up as you two posted your replies. Thank you for pitching in and trying to help. You both make good points. Here's how I fixed things on my Mac: 1. According to this post, Magic Memory Upgrade Mod doesn't work with firmware above 4.11 (https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...&postcount=278), so that would explain why Kobo Clara HD running firmware 4.26.16704 is stalling when copying data to RAM. 2. I took a look at my homebrewed 128GB SD card on my Mac and discovered that my rPi had formatted the data partition as Windows_FAT_32, not DOS_FAT_32. Some say that Fat32 is Fat32, but they are wrong. DOS_FAT_32 is 0x0B in a Master Boot Record partition map, and Windows_FAT_32 is 0x0C, which enables logical block addressing. I'm not an expert, so I have no idea what those hexadecimal values signify, but I know that if the Kobo is expecting one thing and you give it another, there will be some problems. 3. Here's how I solved the problem. There is no way to alter the drive format without destroying the data, so I typed "sudo rsync -av /Volumes/KOBOeReader/ ~/Desktop/KOBOBackup/" into the Terminal. This created the backup folder on my Desktop with all the contents of the Kobo's visible data partition. (The two Linux partitions are hidden, and we don't need to worry about them with this tutorial). 4. Once the backup was complete, I opened Disk Utility and erased the KOBOeReader drive with MS-DOS Fat formatting. 5. Next, it was time to restore the data. I typed "sudo rsync -av ~/Desktop/KOBOBackup/ /Volumes/KOBOeReader/" into Terminal. Make sure you get those ending / marks, especially on the backup. Otherwise, you'll create a new folder called KOBOBackup on the root of KOBOeReader. 6. I ejected the SD card and (making sure the Clara was off) plugged it into my Clara. Then I turned it on. Voilà! I'm back in business. Since the original poster of Memory Upgrade Mod Guide (With Pictures) (https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=209122) never got around to adding Mac/Unix/Linus directions, I wonder if people would be interested in a cleaned up version of what I have done. It's possible that somebody already explained how to do this on a Mac, but I never found it in all my poking around. Last edited by Cootey; 06-21-2021 at 05:11 AM.