Aura Internal storage does not show in computer

[Jellby]

My Aura is working fine, as far as I can tell, but today when I try to connect it to the computer (linux), only the external SD card appears as a mountable unit, the internal storage is not there.

When I plug the Aura, "dmesg" says:

Spoiler:

[816961.200343] usb 2-1.3: new high-speed USB device number 30 using ehci-pci
[816961.298276] usb 2-1.3: New USB device found, idVendor=2237, idProduct=4203
[816961.298288] usb 2-1.3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[816961.298293] usb 2-1.3: Product: eReader-3.11.0
[816961.298298] usb 2-1.3: Manufacturer: Kobo
[816961.298302] usb 2-1.3: SerialNumber: *************
[816961.301379] usb-storage 2-1.3:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[816961.301643] scsi24 : usb-storage 2-1.3:1.0
[816962.301145] scsi 24:0:0:0: Direct-Access Kobo eReader-3.11.0 0110 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[816962.302955] scsi 24:0:0:1: Direct-Access Kobo eReader-3.11.0 0110 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[816962.303682] sd 24:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
[816962.304562] sd 24:0:0:1: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 0
[816962.312932] sd 24:0:0:0: [sdb] 6653950 512-byte logical blocks: (3.40 GB/3.17 GiB)
[816962.315401] sd 24:0:0:1: [sdc] 15515648 512-byte logical blocks: (7.94 GB/7.39 GiB)
[816962.425182] sd 24:0:0:0: [sdb] Test WP failed, assume Write Enabled
[816962.535259] sd 24:0:0:1: [sdc] Test WP failed, assume Write Enabled
[816962.644985] sd 24:0:0:0: [sdb] Asking for cache data failed
[816962.644998] sd 24:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[816962.755048] sd 24:0:0:1: [sdc] Asking for cache data failed
[816962.755065] sd 24:0:0:1: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
[816962.874951] sd 24:0:0:0: [sdb] Test WP failed, assume Write Enabled
[816962.984783] sd 24:0:0:1: [sdc] Test WP failed, assume Write Enabled
[816963.094933] sd 24:0:0:0: [sdb] Asking for cache data failed
[816963.094948] sd 24:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[816963.204944] sd 24:0:0:1: [sdc] Asking for cache data failed
[816963.204957] sd 24:0:0:1: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
[816963.215565] sdc:
[816963.345376] sd 24:0:0:1: [sdc] Test WP failed, assume Write Enabled
[816963.454642] sd 24:0:0:1: [sdc] Asking for cache data failed
[816963.454655] sd 24:0:0:1: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
[816963.454663] sd 24:0:0:1: [sdc] Attached SCSI removable disk
[816963.462093] sdb: unknown partition table
[816963.594734] sd 24:0:0:0: [sdb] Test WP failed, assume Write Enabled
[816963.704848] sd 24:0:0:0: [sdb] Asking for cache data failed
[816963.704864] sd 24:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[816963.704874] sd 24:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk

Is there something I can do short of doing a factory reset? As I said, the unit seems to be working otherwise, and I have been able to connect before (a couple of weeks ago, last time). I've tried rebooting the Aura a few times, and different USB cables and ports.

I just tried, and I can connect with KSM (the "sdb: unknown partition table" message is still there), but not from Nickel.

[Jellby]

I guess there's no easy fix and I'll have to factory-reset.

Any way to backup and restore the internal filesystem, including the patched firmware, rc scripts, etc?

[tshering]

Originally Posted by Jellby

I guess there's no easy fix and I'll have to factory-reset.

Any way to backup and restore the internal filesystem, including the patched firmware, rc scripts, etc?

If you can telnet into your device you could copy all files you want to preserve to an external sd, or alternatively you could send them with netcat via wifi or usbnet to your pc. If you have KoboLauncher on your device, you could copy the files also vie ssh. As a last resort you could also use KSM's kbterminal.

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by tshering

If you can telnet into your device you could copy all files you want to preserve to an external sd, or alternatively you could send them with netcat via wifi or usbnet to your pc.

The tricky part is knowing which files are needed. What I was after is a way to copy everything, preserving permissions and directory structure. For the user-accesible partition I use rsync, but I guess rsync does not work through the telnet connection, right? Maybe tar + netcat?

[tshering]

Originally Posted by Jellby

The tricky part is knowing which files are needed.

On the system partition, there is not much I would consider worth preserving. You mentioned the two or three patched libraries and rcS. The only file I would consider keeping is /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf.

[frostschutz]

does sdb show up in /proc/partitions and in /dev for that matter?

what does 'file -s /dev/sdb' say?

[PeterT]

I would not worry about backing up and restoring the system area of the device. It would make far more sense to KNOW what 3rd party patches you had installed and redo them from scratch.

Likewise I would not restore the database. About all I would worry about backing up would be the .adobe and the directories where you have placed epubs (and / or PDFs). Possibly I might backup the conf file.

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by frostschutz

does sdb show up in /proc/partitions and in /dev for that matter?

Yes:

major minor  #blocks  name
   8       16    3326975 sdb

what does 'file -s /dev/sdb' say?

/dev/sdb: x86 boot sector

Everything looks correct, except for this "unknown partition table", but I guess that's normal, an that's why the device needs to be "connected" for the computer to recognize it. And in the device there is no sign that something could be wrong.

Originally Posted by PeterT

Likewise I would not restore the database.

I'd rather not wait for the device to process all the 1500 books again Unless this problem is caused by something in the database (pragma integrity_check says it's OK), I prefer restoring it

[frostschutz]

All that looks normal to me, so what happens when you try to mount it?

mkdir /mnt/somewhere
mount /dev/sdb /mnt/somewhere
ls /mnt/somewhere
dmesg | tail

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by frostschutz

All that looks normal to me, so what happens when you try to mount it?

Oh, If I try to mount /dev/sdb manually, it is mounted allright.

So the problem is that the internal storage does not appear in the device notifier (in KDE, Kubuntu), and that is because it's not detected as a removable device. If I change the settings to show all devices, then it's there. In any case, calibre detects it normally (I didn't try before, I was afraid of what could happen).

I'm not aware of having changing anything either in the Kobo or in the computer, and anyway, when I connect from KSB the device is identified as removable...

[frostschutz]

Can't help with KDE since I'm not using it. I prefer to mount things manually. For the H2O's internal memory I have this entry in /etc/fstab:

/dev/disk/by-label/KOBOeReader /mnt/kobo auto user,noauto,noatime 0 0

("KOBOeReader" being the default label Kobo uses for its internal storage)

So whenever I wish to access it, I just 'mount /mnt/kobo' and when I'm done I 'umount /mnt/kobo' and no need to concern myself with the peculiarities of the various frontends.