LinuxMCE Admin --> Files & Media cannot access (sdb1) after reinstalling Core

[pigdog]

Hi,

I've just rebuilt from scratch (now at 2.29) and will have to add my MD's.

I'll watch for your problem.

[rocketlynx]

When it disappears again, take a look at the "online" tick box in the drive device data. It may be going offline, in which case the media will disappear (this is correct behaviour as you don't want to see media that is on a device that isn't currently available)

If so, then you need to troubleshoot why the system thinks the device is offline (just reticking the box will not fix the underlying issue!)

You should also see in the UpdateMedia log file whether UM can actually still see the files, but is marking them offline, or whether UM can't even see the files.

Things that spring to mind that could cause a problem are the autofs automouting is screwed up, the symlinks from /mnt/device to /home/public/data/etc are screwed up, or the storage device radar is having problems and thinking the device is offline... all should be fixable, but you need to determine the above first.

Collin, it has happened again.  But this time, as per pigdog's comments, I watched very carefully what transpired before the failure.  After adding several devices which required several router reloads, all was ok with the media drive.  It was only when I had to reboot the core, with a proper shutdown, after the reboot, I then checked the orbiters and all showed the video and audio files missing.

I checked the device tree from admin and the drive was still shown as before.  Checking the drive info data, the online box was ticked as to be online, but viewing the files from Admin-> Files & Media | Media Files Sync, there were no videos (movies), listed.

This whole setup is different than when I originally installed the core on 810-alpha2, and then aquired the 1.5TB drive to be added as a seperate media disk.  When I originally set up the 1.5TB, I partitioned the drive and formatted for ext3, plugged it in, rebooted the core and it was discovered and asked the normal questions.  I selected use it, all public, and it was then presented to me anytime I inserted a DVD for example, and chose to copy it.  The system defaulted to it instead of the smaller OS drive and I copied the DVDs to the Public area.  Never A Problem.  Many router reloads and many Alpha2 updates and many Reboots of the core never destroyed the setup or the Orbiters/Media Directors from seeing and using it.

Also I remember that when I went into Admin-> Files & Media | Media Files Sync, the drive was listed on the left, without having to go into videos, under data, under public, under home.  I just went into Admin-> Files & Media | Media Files Sync, selected the drive,  ST31500341AS (sdb1)-CORE [79], selected show content, and all of my movies, for example, was there, both in the database and on the disk.  Never a problem!

Only after having to reinstall the core, did problems begin to surface regarding the media drive, (sdb1).  It has never been correct or reliable since then.  I have tried to view UpdateMedia.log with several programs but it is so damm large, Kate, nor other, even windows programs, will open it.  It's over 2gig large.  I haven't deleted it yet, but I have copied it over my network and stored it on my on-Line drive for access by other Linux and Windows computers.  If I looked into the (sdb1) drive with Dolphine I could then figure out what the original structure was because I don't remember it having the LinuxMCE structure vs. the Public, and it worked, flawlessly.

I've tried deleting and letting it be rediscovered several times, picking the LinuxMCE structure makes it work until a core reboot and picking the public dosen't even let it show up, period.

It's got about 190 DVD movies and a handful of cds ripped to it.  To many to start over ripping.

Any help would be more that appreciated.

Thanks,
Bewildered Charles

[colinjones]

OK, firstly it isn't that you have selected LMCE folder structure instead of public.... the vast majority of people use that method without any issue, and it is the correct method to use in 95% of cases for a long list of reasons. The behaviour you are seeing is not normal, and my guess is there was a problem during your most recent install. That being said, one approach would be to reinstall again - heavy handed and long winded, however extremely likely to solve your problem. Failing that we need to troubleshoot.

Some tips... don't try to open log files with desktop apps, go to a terminal (command line) either on the core's desktop or remotely using an ssh program like Putty. To browse back and forth in a large log file use the command "less /var/log/pluto/logfilename.log" and you can page up and down very quickly irrespective of how big the file is. But if you want to see realtime changes, use "tail -f /var/log/pluto/logfilename.log" as this will continually display the bottom of the log file as new events are added... very useful.

Lets establish if the standard linkages for media drives are in place. First get the device number of your drive. Now from a terminal session:

ls -al /mnt/device

You should see a list of disk devices in there that are just a number. One number per device, and one of the should be the number you noted above. For instance if the device number is 30, then....

drwxrwxrwx  root root   0    2009-08-15 20:15  30

The first bit are the permissions and ownership - check these are the same as above. (drwxrwxrwx root root) Now...

ls -al /mnt/device/30

You should get a directory listing of what is on that drive starting with public and user_1/2. Do a few more ls's into the directories to confirm that the content is all there. If so, then at least you know that the drive is 1) accessible and 2) mounted correctly.

Now LMCE patches each of the media folders into the correct media library location using symbolic links. Do a,

ls -al /home/public/data/videos

This should list an entry for each media storage device, and you can see that it is a link back to the /mnt/device location - confirm that all looks fine and is pointing to the correct location. The permissions should look like this:

lrwxrwxrwx root public

Note the first letter is "l" meaning "link". Now try ls'ing inside that link (it behaves just like the directory it points to) and you should be able to see the contents of the drive, but in this new location rather than its mounted location. This will confirm that the link is in place, right permissions, active and pointing at the right thing.

[tschak909]

I would also like to add, that sometimes devices are in their unmounted cycle, which means they won't show up in /mnt/device until they've been accessed. It's the nature of our automounter.

-Thom

[schaferj]

Charles,

It sounds like the same underlying problem is in http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=8684.0 "Data Disk lost after latest update"

Have you been able to find a cure?

thanks,
joseph

[rocketlynx]

Charles,

It sounds like the same underlying problem is in http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=8684.0 "Data Disk lost after latest update"

Have you been able to find a cure?

thanks,
joseph

Just to let everyone know, I took collinjones suggestion and reinstalled the core with Alpha2.29.  I kept my old core's installation because I had a clean, spare drive to use as a new Core OS.  Upon installation, I quickly discovered a host of improvements, new messaging as things were loaded/started, and the new default Titanium-Blue menus.  I left the 1.5TB data drive in and connected for the new install, and during the later part of the installation, the drive was discovered and I selected the LinuxMCE structure and all went well.  I have had several Router reloads as per adding X10, Z-Wave, Ip Cameras, Analog Cameras on Bluecherry PCI card and many core reboots to test the installation and I haven't yet had a problem with my (sdb1) data drive being lost  as before.

The only bug I've found is in the new Titanium Menus.  The first time the menu for the Core was generated during the initial setup, all of the buttons were present.  The second time, when the system requested to regenerate the Orbiters after device installations, the media buttons on the core's Orbiter were all gone.

I remembered this strange behavior on the prior installation when one upgrade included the Titanium menus the first time.  I simply edited the Orbiter's menu choice in Admin back to Basic from Titanium, saved, reloaded the router and regenerated the Orbiter and the media buttons were back.

There has to be a bug in the regeneration script for Titanium that dosen't show up in the initial build/first generation.

I hope this helps others and thanks to all who contributed to supporting my problems.
Charles