PI 3b+ USB flash drive and USB Hard drive. Boot fail "could not mount /dev/sda1"

jimmy · November 29, 2018 at 6:30 PM

I have already search here in this forum and PI forum to see if there is a solution, but I haven’t found an answer to the problem. I might have missed it. I will be pleased if someone could help me out.

Hardware :

Pi3b+ (Already setup to USB boot)

Scandisk 16gb USB flash drive with Image: LibreELEC-RPi2.arm-8.2.5.img.gz

Seagate USB 2TG hard drive (Movies)

No SD card (not insert)

Working from Windows 10 using Etcher. Got putty.

Cmdline.txt

boot=/dev/sda1 and disk=/dev/sda2

Working:

Boot from USB flash drive Without USB hard drive plug in. Insert USB harddrive after boot up. Kodi will working fine.

Problem:

Keep booth flash drive and hard drive plugged in at same time and boot up.

Getting message. *** Error in mount_flash: most_common: could not mount /dev/sda1 ***

Sh: can’t access tty,; job control turned off

How do I get this to work?

**Iridium** · November 29, 2018 at 6:48 PM Official Post

Quote

Cmdline.txt

boot=/dev/sda1 and disk=/dev/sda2

Is not required on new RPi3B+ the firmware is already included.

Is Seagate USB 2TG hard drive (Movies) on a powered HUB?

jimmy · November 29, 2018 at 8:17 PM

Quote from Iridium

Is not required on new RPi3B+ the firmware is already included.

Is Seagate USB 2TG hard drive (Movies) on a powered HUB?

Thank for a fast answer Iridium

Should I remove "boot=/dev/sda1 and disk=/dev/sda2" from the text file. You tell me its not required, but not to remove it.

its a 3 1/2 size USB3 4TG hard drive with its own power supply (I mistake it with another 2TG drive). I will say 3-4 years old.

Forgot to tell there is also a USB keyboard connected to the pi, but I don't think that makes the boot problem.

**chewitt** · November 29, 2018 at 9:08 PM Official Post

If you force it to use /dev/sda1 and /dev/sda2 everything depends on device probe order (whichever gets probed first gets sda, next device gets sdb) and might change. If you want consistent behaviour use UUDI or LABEL instead.

jimmy · November 30, 2018 at 2:36 PM

Quote from chewitt

If you want consistent behaviour use UUDI or LABEL instead.

@chewitt thanks for giving me some direction.

New to Linux I move slow, need to read and try to understand.

I found some more info about how to setup the booting profile.

I used some info from this thread:

"Get the UUID and LABEL info"

Since I couldn’t SSH to the unit, I put back the flash card and booted. SSH to it and got follow info when I enter:

Kodi:~ # blkid

/dev/mmcblk0: PTUUID="81331199" PTTYPE="dos"

/dev/mmcblk0p1: SEC_TYPE="msdos" LABEL="LIBREELEC" UUID="755A-75E5" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="81331199-01"

/dev/mmcblk0p2: UUID="b2f9a5b6-1120-49c4-bc8f-a65245122d03" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="81331199-02"

/dev/loop0: TYPE="squashfs"

/dev/sdb1: SEC_TYPE="msdos" LABEL="LIBREELECT" UUID="755A-75E5" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="81331199-01"

/dev/sdb2: SEC_TYPE="msdos" UUID="20C6-7F0B" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="81331199-02"

/dev/sda1: LABEL="Seagate Backup Plus Drive" UUID="CC9AA9A49AA98B90" TYPE="ntfs"

Kodi:~ #

I used the UUDI from sdb2 and added them into cmdline.txt

root=UUID=20C6-7F0B

I got follow text on screen when I boot (SD card and hard drive has been removed):

**** error in mount_flash: mount _parth: unknow file system ***

I also tried to use root=UUID=755A-75E5 in cmdline.txt with same result.

What do I do wrong?

**Iridium** · November 30, 2018 at 5:52 PM Official Post

I think the latest problem is due to duplicate UUID's

How did you create the LE image on your USB drive?

/dev/sdb1 should be msdos - So OK but the LABEL is "LIBREELECT" which is wrong.

/dev/sdb2 should be ext4 NOT msdos.

Use LE Writer to write LibreELEC-RPi2.arm-8.2.5.img.gz to your USB drive.

Boot the RPI with this USB (Don't touch cmdline.txt) - don't use a SD card nor plugin your Seagate Backup Plus Drive.

/boot should have a LABEL of LIBREELEC /root should have a LABEL of STORAGE

If this sounds vague, it's because I'm doing it from memory - it's been a while since I've done this.

**Iridium** · December 1, 2018 at 9:54 AM Official Post

EDIT: Apologies talking rubbish. Looks like cmdline.txt does need to be edited.

So cmdline.txt should look like at first.

boot=/dev/sda1 disk=/dev/sda2 quiet

Once up and running - change to UUID - change to your UUID values.

mount -o remount,rw /flash

boot=UUID=755A-75E5 disk=UUID=b2f9a5b6-1120-49c4-bc8f-a65245122d03 quiet

This should only be required on <= LE8. LE9 uses UUIDs automatically.

jimmy · December 7, 2018 at 6:56 PM

Quote from Iridium

EDIT: Apologies talking rubbish. Looks like cmdline.txt does need to be edited.

So cmdline.txt should look like at first.

boot=/dev/sda1 disk=/dev/sda2 quiet

Once up and running - change to UUID - change to your UUID values.

mount -o remount,rw /flash

boot=UUID=755A-75E5 disk=UUID=b2f9a5b6-1120-49c4-bc8f-a65245122d03 quiet

This should only be required on <= LE8. LE9 uses UUIDs automatically.

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Sorry for the late reply.

My house boiler got problems = Cold house = wife.

It fixed my problem,

Now it will boot from USB flash drive with an external hard drive for movies and no SD card insert.

Iridium Thanks for getting it to run.

chewitt Thanks for giving me a lead to UUDI or LABEL.

Both of you, was a big help to me

Status: solved