Forum:Copy files fails miserably...

Hi all,

Finally I had enough with the Iomega Forum so I guess this is a more "open" and friendly place to chat about SP... Anyway, nice to meet you all. I guess SP is a "bad product" for the end users and a fantastic gadget for those who want to beak and experiment with things :) Now, I did the 1.8 upgrade to firmware and I guess i have to redo all the "add on goodies from scratch". But my main problems still remains: It is almost impossible to copy files (either via smb or fpt) to the drive as half way through (I am talking about files > 50M) the ftp or smb connections just fail. Yesterday I got the funniest message half way through coping: Directory too deep!! (or something like this).

Now my network IS not fast, I have to admit it, as I am trying to send the files via HomePlug equipment. However, this "network drop" behavior has never happened between any of my PCs (linux Ubuntu), and believe me I have many of them around. So, I am start thinking that MAYBE there is something wrong with ScreenPlay PRO HD which appears in my case because of the slow network (it has time to do it... maybe...). Saying this, as I had the drive hooked on the USB yesterday for the firmware update I tried later to copy some files.... Which was fast... but failed again half way through. Any chance to be the NTFS filesystem? Maybe I have to change to ext3... Suggestions?

Finally, I still not feeling comfortable with the FTP add-on. Is there any ssh option? And yes... the telnet "enable" wiki instructions is missing that part on how to mount the file system rw (something like mount -rw -o /deb/sdxx /home/blablabla) otherwise you can't edit the inetd.conf

Thanks for the hospitality Yiannis


 * Yiannis,
 * Regarding the wiki telnet enable instructions, both methods involve hooking the screenplay up to the PC and mounting it there. So mount -o rw,remount /  doesn't apply because you would only be able to do that if you were already in a telnet session.
 * For copying, the R1.8 doesn't have the 2 GB problem anymore. If you're encountering a problem trying to copy smaller files, my first inclination would be that the NTFS partition has some corruption and you should check it with chkdisk.  But from what you've said, you just formatted the whole drive anyway when you applied the R1.8 firmware (or you should have).  That would make me lean toward the NTFS filesystem not being a problem.
 * I have seen a similar situation when my wifi lost connection. But again, you said it was directly connected to your computer and still having that problem.  Maybe this is related to the number of files.  Try copying a smaller number of files at a time and see if that takes care of it.  If it does, consider using the command line xcopy command (which can also copy subdirectories with the /s option) to see if that takes care of it.  --JCoug 20:37, 14 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Hello and thanks for the answer,
 * Perhaps I didn't make myself clear with the mounting issue. Since the telnet is not enabled, we hook the SPP on a USB to access the partitions like a normal USB drive. Once you plug the USB cable, the automounting procedure on / partition results in a ReadOnly drive (at least in Ubuntu) so you can't alter the inetd.conf. Thus you must umount it and mount it again as ReadWrite. Hope this is more clear.
 * As for the copy procedure, I found a reliable way around but it applies only to those who have a second Linux box available. It seems that if you mount the SPP via fstab at boot in a directory it results in a "stable" connection OR something takes care to "keep it alive" seamlessly.. I moved last night around 160GB on the drive with no problem. But it needs more investigation. Thanks again - Yiannis
 * Thanks for the clarification. So you were referring to the second method mentioned. I am using Ubuntu Live CD and when I connect any drives, it mounts them as RW.  But if you're seeing a Read Only mount, then I better add the instructions for remounting it as Read Write.
 * Keep us posted with what you find out about your other problem. What type of drive is in your screenplay?  When you copied it from Ubuntu, were you using a Live CD, or another computer altogether?  --JCoug 13:54, 15 May 2009 (UTC)
 * My Ubuntu is a full version so I had no live CD. Perhaps in the live CD you are considered root by default thus you get rw permission. In my case I have to log in so the mounts were all ro. How can I find out the type of drive in my screenplay?--Sxwiz 21:32, 15 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Somehow I missed your post. There are several ways to identify the drive.  This wiki page shows how to read the raw information.  Since you are versed in Unix, you could also just use hdparm -i /dev/sda (or hda or wherever the drive is).  I have compiled ssh and successfully got it working on the drive, but the connection is even slower than the FTP.  I'm going to do a write-up on my blog and then I'll add full instructions in the wiki. --JCoug 20:56, 26 May 2009 (UTC)