[PB 626] How to modify internal storage ?

[Aramir]

Hello,

I bought a couple of years ago a "PocketBook Touch Lux 2" at Cultura, it is a PocketBook 626. And for the past couple of months it started running slower and slower. I tried to reset and format it but even after that, some cache files persist, for example I can see the cover of the previously opened books for a split second during the OS initialization sequence even thought the device is supposed to be fully formated.

After a little research, I discovered that there are many applications that have been made for it (mostly pbterm and ssh services) that would allow me to acuire full control on the device. So I tried to hook it onto my linux pc, copy paste the pbterm.app files and such. But every time I disconnect and reconnect the device, EVERY single modification that have been made to the file system is reversed. Deleting files ? Nope. Copying files ? Nope . Nothing ! I even opened the bloody thing, took the internal sd card and tried to modify it from my pc, but even that doesn't work.

So at the moment I'm stuck with a slow device, that I can't fully reset, on which I can't install applications. It's painful because it seems like there are tons of people out there that managed to tinker around with it. But I can't figure out what's wrong with mine. Please does anybody have any ideas of what I could be doing wrong ? There is no false answers here, I'll take any leads, ideas, tips.

tldr : internal storage seems to be protected by some shenanigans, loopback partitions, false partition tables (that seems to be the most plausible), and I don't know how to modify it / install apps.


Thanks for reading all of this, and even more thanks to anyone out there willing to help me.

[rkomar]

You should look at the following thread: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=278728

[Aramir]

Thanks for replying
but sadly, I already read that thread (multiple times) and our problems are not related. In the thread you pointed out, it's the PB626 that's printing an error about some internal file corruption yadi yada. Whereas in my case I can't modify the internal files from outside of the device (and obviously from the inside too because you can't modify internal files natively on a PB626, you have to go throught pbterm)

[rkomar]

It depends on which partition you are talking about. The OS is on a read-only partition that is never modified (except when the firmware is updated). Dynamic data (caches, ebooks, database,...) are on a separate partition that is writable. It is that partition that is exported via USB mass storage. If that partition has become read-only it is either because the SD card is failing and/or the filesystem is badly damaged. You can try fixing the filesystem yourself on a Linux machine, but if you can't even do that, then it is likely that the SD card is failing. Replacing the SD card is what that other thread is about.

[rkomar]

On a side note, I believe you can install applications on the external SD card, as well (it used to be the case in the past when I tested it). Just create an "applications" directory at the root of the filesystem and copy your files into there. It used to also work for "system/dictionaries" and "system/fonts", as well.

[Aramir]

Well whenever I try to open/read/write on the internal SD card (directly not going throught USB storage) I got weird responses. For example, Gparted prompt an error message going along the lines of "I can't handle overlaping partitions", and "sfdisk -l" freaks out too, here's its output :

Disk /dev/sdb: 1018 cylinders, 123 heads, 62 sectors/track
sfdisk: Warning: extended partition does not start at a cylinder boundary.
DOS and Linux will interpret the contents differently.
sfdisk: ERROR: sector 7 does not have an msdos signature
sfdisk: Warning: The partition table looks like it was made
for C/H/S=*/1/0 (instead of 1018/123/62).
For this listing I'll assume that geometry.
Units: 1MiB = 1024*1024 bytes, blocks of 1024 bytes, counting from 0

Device Boot Start End MiB #blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 493 3790 3298 3377152 b W95 FAT32
/dev/sdb2 * 36 67 32 32768 6 FAT16
/dev/sdb3 0+ 493- 493 504832 85 Linux extended
/dev/sdb4 0 - 0 0 0 Empty
/dev/sdb5 68 83 16 16384 83 Linux
/dev/sdb6 84 99 16 16384 83 Linux
/dev/sdb7 100 134- 35- 35328 83 Linux
/dev/sdb8 134+ 378 245- 250368 83 Linux
/dev/sdb9 379 476 98 100352 83 Linux
/dev/sdb10 477 492 16 16384 83 Linux

I'll try to find and switch internal SD card for another one tomorrow (even thought I've never see a SD card fail like this, some have failed me by the past going from "everything is fine" to "all your data, hopes and dreams are gone in the void, kisses")

And I'll give the external SD card a try too.

Thanks

EDIT :
installing application on the external card seems to work out. Thanks a lot ! I'll still investigate on the internal memory tho and will keep you up-to-date

[rkomar]

You should reformat the partition using Settings>Maintenance>Format_Internal_Memory. The ereader is running a basic linux system, and cannot handle some of the filesystems that Windows can create. The format operation also copies back files in /system, /applications,... that are necessary for a working system.

[rkomar]

If you add an SD card to the reader, does it show up on the PC? It is supposed to. If it doesn't, then maybe the problem is with the PC.