Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: formatting CRU drive on DSS servers

This is topic formatting CRU drive on DSS servers in forum Digital Cinema Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 11-18-2018, 07:27 AM:

Quoting from one of Steves post in another thread:

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Use the formatStore.sh command with the argument "removable" (without the quotes) to format a CRU.

It has been awhile since I've used it so there may be additional bits like:

./formatStore.sh localhost removable
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Is there some documentation available for the formatStore.sh command/script? Available options?
Any risk you could destroy your content raid with it?

- Carsten

Posted by Ioannis Syrogiannis (Member # 3235) on 11-18-2018, 09:05 AM:

As linux is case sensitive, use "Removable" instead (capital r).
There is a "USB" option also, for FAT32 formatting.
As far as Dolby was concerned, those effect only the connected devices.

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 11-18-2018, 10:41 AM:

Thank you Ioannis,

Doremis have similar functions, but on an more or less unrestricted linux level, and you have to be careful which of the classic-unix style devices you choose in such commands. Looks as if on the DSS servers, only safe options are possible, as this is not a generic linux command, but a tailored script (similar to Doremis RAIDinit).

There is a colleague with a seemingly urgent need for RAID reinit and database wipe on his two DSS200, and, him being remote, I am trying to convince him to format his own ext2 disc in order to backup his content before his tech arrives on site. Obviously, he feels uneasy about issueing terminal commands.

- Carsten

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 11-18-2018, 11:55 AM:

I tried the formatstore command once or twice, but never had any success with it. Twice, I saw drive activity, but then the light went out and it just hung forever.

The easiest way to format an ISDCF-legal DCP drive is to use a PC running a native Linux-based OS. Ubuntu or CentOS will do fine (including running as a live image), for example. The command line is mke2fs -t ext3 -I 128 /dev/sdXY

You can substitute ext2 for ext3 if you wish, and omit the Y altogether if you want to use the entire drive.

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 11-18-2018, 12:30 PM:

We'll give it a try on a 4.9.118 system with a 2TB drive, don't know if that script can deal with larger drives properly.

- Carsten

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 11-18-2018, 01:27 PM:

I've done it up to 4TB with success...it took on the order of 40 minutes to format the entire drive.

The only documentation that I'm aware of is in the 4.5.x release notes and it doesn't tell you much beyond that the command exists. I believe that if you execute it incorrectly, it will let you know what options are available. To the best of my knowledge, there is just "removable" and "usb." I think they are lower-case but I could be wrong on it. If I'm wrong, I'm sure the script will admonish you with what the choices are.

Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 11-18-2018, 02:57 PM:

If it's a bash script then it's a text file.

You could with this command and find out exactly what it does and what the actual options are:

less ./formatStore.sh

Posted by Ioannis Syrogiannis (Member # 3235) on 11-18-2018, 03:58 PM:

The script (sh) calls a python script elsewhere.
That is as far as I went, earlier.

edit: I am not sure that the "less" command will be available in DSS. It is rather striped.
Only figure that there is no shutdown command, to do the trick.
The "cat" one will probably be, though. And the script is a few lines long.

Posted by Ioannis Syrogiannis (Member # 3235) on 11-28-2018, 07:37 AM:

I couldn't edit my post after all that time, sorry for posting one comment after another:
After all, in order to correct myself and verify Frank, if someone would list the directory of /bin would find both the "less" and "cat" commands. Would also find that the "ifconfig" command is there (instead of the non-present -for the administrator- /sbin folder)