Walk me through your external HDD setup guys

[disrespect]

Pi Model: B+
RetroPie Version Used: 3.3
Built From: SD Image
USB Devices connected: mini USB wifi dongle /WD 500gb passport mini HD/ 2x controller (give or take)
Controller used: SNES Usb, or Sixaxis
Error messages received: NA
Guide used: NA

Issue: PI2 works great, emus are up just fine. I’m trying to get my PSX isos on the passport external HDD to pick up. Here’s what I’ve done so far:

*sudo apt for NTFS-3g package on the pi
*sudo blkid shows drive is connected at dev/sda1
*Voltage to ports increased, I confirm drive is powered well enough. I have a backup usb hub I have tried, voltage is not the issue. Drive+PI are on enough juice.

*edited etc/fstab with the following:
UUID=3C180DE0180D99D2 ntfs-3g defaults,permissions,locale-en_US.utf8 0 0

(I was suggested to mount by UUID instead of relying on the port)

sudo blkid output: (I’m not sure why I see this drive labeled twice at different locations)

/dev/sda1: LABEL=”external” UUID=”3C180DE0180D99D2″ TYPE=”ntfs”
/dev/sr0: LABEL=”WD SmartWare” TYPE=”ntfs”

I edited es_systems.cfg to point to what I thought was the correct directory, I have tried:

/dev/sda1/PSX
/media/external/PSX

any thoughts?

[InsecureSpike]

well I used to run my system from my USB, but now I’ve changed my setup to using USB only for roms and sd for system files,

ok here’s what I did and all works perfect,

since you’ve done a lot of work already I’d suggest trying this as your addressing your es_systems.cfg

/media/usb0/PSX

if no good I’ll go through my step by step set up

[disrespect]

if no good I’ll go through my step by step set up

Let me see what you did, maybe it will show where I went wrong. For what it’s worth, I see my drive on sudo blkid but not ls /media/usb* (which SHOULD show a drive, right?)

[InsecureSpike]

I’d like just to point out, I’m not saying this is the way this should be done, this is the way I have done it & it works well for me

ok, here goes,

firstly I edited /boot/config.txt on a fresh RetroPie image.

sudo nano /boot/config.txt

adding right at the bottom

max_usb_current=1

next I format the drive to ext4 via a spare rPi running Raspbian, using gparted

sudo apt-get install gparted

next boot the RetroPie image I prepared earlier, with the drive in.
once set up RetroPie, I set permissions on the drive with, this will allow to add files as & when needed via ftp

sudo chown -R pi:pi /media/usb0

now I don’t use any uuid’s as I don’t plan on using any other drives, (I use a 128gb USB drive)

then i can create folders & add roms…

then edit the es_systems.cfg

pointing directories to

/media/usb0/

[InsecureSpike]

but, if your other roms are showing up fine then there may be another reason, maybe something simple, maybe….

uppercase or lowercase text?

[rdhanded2]

Format the drive fat32

[disrespect]

Insecure spike did you have to edit fstab to make the drive mount automatically at every boot? I don’t see anything about it there.

[InsecureSpike]

no mate usb’s auto mount, in RetroPie

[disrespect]

[quote=112949]no mate usb’s auto mount, in RetroPie

[/quote]

I bet that’s what my problem is, I’ve been tweaking with fstab file thinking it matters here

[InsecureSpike]

quite possible, mate

[disrespect]

I think it may be working now:
*deleted altered entries in /etc/fstab
*formatted 500gb drive to ext4
*ftp’d an iso over to it as a test (took a horrible long time at around 250k/s)
*altered path for PSX to /media/usb0/psx , ISO is found and working

Is there a way to tell by command what capacity there is available on the drive? or through emulationstation? I can see the SD card capacity through ‘sudo blkid’ but that doesn’t list the external drive space.

[InsecureSpike]

df -h

[disrespect]

[quote=112993]df -h

[/quote]

You’re awesome, thanks. That confirms it’s connected and at the right size ;)

[InsecureSpike]

your welcome fella, glad ya got it all sorted!

[Author]

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