On Mon, Mar 01, 2021 at 09:41:31PM +0000, Stuart Henderson wrote: > On 2021-03-01, Raimo Niskanen <raimo+open...@erix.ericsson.se> wrote: > > Hi Misc! > > > > Unfortunately I do not have one clear question here, but I wonder if > > somebody > > could shed som light on some problems I have encountered on my PC Engines > > APU2. > > > > It runs OpenBSD 6.7 from a 32 GB mSATA SSD disk, and I would like to change > > the disk since it is a few years old now, so I buyed a 128 GB Kingston > > mSATA SSD, and an mSATA -> SATA adapter and put that combo in an USB 2 > > external disk adapter. > > > > The disk showed up as a 4k sector disk, and after installing OpenBSD 6.7 > > over USB over the mSATA-SATA adapter I plugged it in the internal mSATA > > connector, and it did not boot. > > This is a problem with some USB-SATA adapters. See e.g. > https://www.klennet.com/notes/2018-04-14-usb-and-sector-size.aspx >
Just my bad luck, then... > > Much fumbling later it seems that when the disk is connected to the > > internal mSATA slot it is seen as a 512 bytes per sector disk. I do not > > know what the BIOS thinks of it (factory SeaBIOS 1.10.something). When I > > re-installed with the disk in the mSATA slot I got a bootable installation. > > Both fdisk and disklabel now says the disk has got 512 bytes per sector. > > (fdisk says nothing but for a 4k disk it should say it is a 4k disk) > > > > My old 32 GB mSATA disk is readable over the mSATA-SATA adapter USB adapter > > as a 512 bytes per sector disk. > > You could try looking for a different adapter but at this point > I would probably install on the new drive (PXE boot or use another USB > drive to boot the installer), then copy files back from the old drive. > > > So I am just curious about how to handle this disk. I can install to it > > in the internal mSATA connector and read the old installation over the > > mSATA-SATA-USB-adapter. But one day when I want to install to a new disk > > again, I will not be able to read from the disk in the > > mSATA-SATA-USB-adapter, > > so the next re-installation looks unpromising. > > backup/restore over the network via another machine perhaps? > > > Some more specific questions: > > * Would upgrading the BIOS be a good idea > > yes but it won't help with this problem. > (https://github.com/pcengines/apu2-documentation/blob/master/docs/apu_CPU_boost.md) > > > * Sould upgrading to OpenBSD 6.8 improve the situation > > it won't. > > > * How is the disk sector size determined, and can I affect that? > > by the manufacturer. > Thank you for the information! Enlighting! Since I can boot from the internal SD card as well, I can use a different USB drive as dump/restore storage instead of an external machine. This USB encosure sector size pecularity only blocks me from direct copy from old installation to new, for future re-installations. But for current re-installation I can read the old disk from the USB enclosure, since it apparently does not alter the sector size for the old 32 GB disk. Cheers -- / Raimo Niskanen, Erlang/OTP, Ericsson AB
