[arch-general] BTRFS USB key fails to boot

[Δημήτρης Ζέρβας]

well, I can format to ext4, but it would actually kill my sd
On Jul 31, 2012 11:15 AM, "Leonidas Spyropoulos" <artafinde at gmail.com>
wrote:

> On 31 Jul 2012 01:49, "Δημήτρης Ζέρβας" <01ttouch at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > yaffs2 would be faster than ext2?
> > On Jul 31, 2012 3:21 AM, "Δημήτρης Ζέρβας" <01ttouch at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > hm... I curently use ext2 and I have installation in a partition of my
> sd
> > > card. wich fs would be better than ext2, given that I need quich r/w
> but as
> > > less writes as possible?
>
> Usually you are limited by hardware not by the file system.
>
> > > On Jul 31, 2012 3:18 AM, "Leonardo Dagnino" <leodag.sch at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > >
> > >> Well, I don't think it will "destroy" the flash... As it is made of
> NAND
> > >> flash, I suppose that it reacts pretty much like an SSD. Anyway, it
> should
> > >> take a considerable time until it wears out, and if you use it only to
> > >> install an OS, it won't have any writes, what means that it shouldn't
> wear
> > >> out for some years (or at least I hope so)
> > >> For what I remember, btrfs uses a pretty big amount of space, what
> means
> > >> more writes.
> > >>
> > >> Leonardo Dagnino
> > >>
> > >> Obs.: NAND flash only has a limited amount of erases/writes, not
> reads.
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> 2012/7/30 Zhengyu Xu <xzy3186 at gmail.com>
> > >>
> > >> > I've no idea on how btrfs performs with a flash disk actually. My
> btrfs
> > >> > partition just locates on a normal hdd so I have never thought about
> it
> > >> :-)
> > >> >
> > >> > Regards,
> > >> > Zhengyu Xu
> > >> >
> > >> > On 2012-7-31, at 8:27, Δημήτρης Ζέρβας<01ttouch at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >> >
> > >> > > is it actually safe to format an usb flash to btrfs? won't it
> destroy
> > >> the
> > >> > > flash because of the read/writes?
> > >> > > On Jul 31, 2012 2:20 AM, "Zhengyu Xu" <xzy3186 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >> > >
> > >> > >> On Mon, 2012-07-30 at 17:36 -0400, Kyle wrote:
> > >> > >>> Trying to install Arch on a USB key, I am having trouble getting
> a
> > >> > >> bootable system. I created a basic BTRFS filesystem and mounted
> it
> > >> with
> > >> > SSD
> > >> > >> optimizations and compression. I didn't create any subvolumes or
> > >> > anything
> > >> > >> else that is said to be problematic when booting to a BTRFS
> > >> filesystem.
> > >> > >> From that point, I followed the installation guide for a normal
> > >> install.
> > >> > >> However, after reading the documentation for GRUB and Syslinux,
> my
> > >> newly
> > >> > >> created install doesn't boot. I looked at the wiki entry for
> > >> installing
> > >> > to
> > >> > >> a USB key, but it is still written for AIF and grub-legacy.
> However,
> > >> the
> > >> > >> main difference I can find doesn't seem to apply, because
> although it
> > >> > >> mentions that the USB key where grub-legacy is installed is
> always
> > >> > hd0,0,
> > >> > >> grub2 is supposed to look for the UUID of the disk, which matches
> > >> > correctly
> > >> > >> in /boot/grub/grub.cfg. I also tried setting up this install to
> boot
> > >> > using
> > >> > >> Syslinux, but both bootloaders just drop me into some kind of
> shell
> > >> and
> > >> > >> refuse to boot. Unfortunately, since I am
> > >> > >>> visually impaired and use speech to install and use Arch, I am
> > >> unable
> > >> > to
> > >> > >> see whether I am in a "normal shell" or a rescue shell, or even
> what
> > >> > kind
> > >> > >> of issue the bootloaders are having that keeps them from finding
> a
> > >> > kernel.
> > >> > >> Should I be using a different filesystem other than BTRFS, even
> > >> though
> > >> > both
> > >> > >> bootloaders are said to support it? Should I not be using
> compression
> > >> > on my
> > >> > >> filesystem? Could this be a problem that is entirely unrelated to
> the
> > >> > >> filesystem I'm using? Any help is greatly appreciated.
> > >> > >>> ~Kyle
> > >> > >>
> > >> > >> Did you add usb and btrfs to the hooks array in your
> mkinitcpio.conf?
> > >> > >>
> > >> > >> Regards,
> > >> > >> Zhengyu Xu
> > >> > >>
> > >> > >>
> > >> > >>
> > >> >
> > >>
> > >
>