SSD doesnt always mount

comet424

hi i using a 1TB SSD with the retroflag nintendo case with the Raspberry pie 4
i have 2 of these and both dont always mount the SSD
doing a reboot emulation doesnt work
turning on the raspberry pi first time it will normally mount sometimes not..
then you need to do 2 reboots then it mounts hit and miss
i have done a update... but i also read people had bricked ssds or something with the firmware
is that the issue? i also boot off the microsd.. but i read some people say you want it booting off the SSD not the microsd.. so im totally confused

SSD is formated to NTFS and a folder called "retropie-mount" with the games in it

also i find some nintendo games dont work.. and the Commdore C64 games i cant get to work at all with the VICE installed

YFZdude

I hesitated to post earlier, but this could be perhaps related to another problem that has been discovered with certain SSDs.

Is your SSD a USB3.0 drive? If so, then the following page may be of help.
https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=245931

It primarily deals with slow transfer rates, but it may be worth a shot.

comet424

kinda im using a Western Digital 1TB Sata Drive using a USB to sata.. from Retroflag that make the nintendo enclosure for the raspberry pi 4
this the the enclosure
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B08CRDKX6T/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and ill try your link

i do notice if i do \192.168.0.x its kinda slow accessing the rom folder
its almost like its copying to the or reading the micro sd card then the ssd

and i read using microsd card is no good as they are not as good as a SSD and you wanna move your os it or usb i dunno

but ill try your link.. ya i just find it doesnt always mount.. so when the emulation runs it finds 0 roms and just shows retropie configuartion and if you do a restart emulation still wont find any on the SSD so i have to do a restart and a Restart from the menu doesnt always help you gotta power off then power back on then it detects the usb drive or whatever

this is the SSD i use i didnt have a smaller one to try and not sure what size you need for all these roms you can get
https://www.amazon.ca/Blue-NAND-1TB-SSD-WDS100T2B0A/dp/B073SBQMCX/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=wd+1tb+ssd&qid=1599796622&s=electronics&sr=1-3

comet424

@YFZdude so i tried the page
the ! doing dsmeg -C and then shov the drive in and do without C
it doesnt display anything an error or anything..
and my usb enclosure is plugged into the USB 3 port
am i doing something wrong

pi@retropie:~ $ sudo dmesg -C
pi@retropie:~ $ dmesg
pi@retropie:~ $

Clyde

Just some background: dmesg shows the Kernel Ring Buffer. dmesg -C clears the buffer, so a following dmesg displays only messages that came up after the clearing. (You can enter dmesg without dmesg -C before to see its normal output.)

So, it seems that plugging in your drive didn't create any Kernel messages. You can try this instead:

tail -f /var/log/syslog

It will print out the last 10 lines of the system log and then continously watch the log for further messages. Run it and plug in your drive to see if any messages come up. You can end the command with ctrl+c.

If your drive keeps not creating any system messages, you could try to plug in any other USB medium to see if they will do that, and if so, how these messages look.

comet424

@Clyde
ran multiple tests.. ... it seems the SSD isnt detectable till you put a USB in the slot first for the SSD to work as a hot swap... i used a usb in the white port of the nintendo case.. as it doesnt always detect.. is there something to toggle on and off ?

1... had the ssd out of the enclosure shoved cartridge in.. no change ... looks like it doesnt have hot swap capabilites

@retropie:~ $ tail -f /var/log/syslog
Sep 13 16:17:42 retropie systemd[648]: Reached target Basic System.
Sep 13 16:17:42 retropie systemd[648]: Reached target Default.
Sep 13 16:17:42 retropie systemd[648]: Startup finished in 160ms.
Sep 13 16:17:42 retropie systemd[1]: Started User Manager for UID 1000.
Sep 13 16:17:42 retropie systemd[1]: Started Session c1 of user pi.
Sep 13 16:17:49 retropie dhcpcd[597]: eth0: no IPv6 Routers available
Sep 13 16:17:53 retropie systemd[1]: Started Session c2 of user pi.
Sep 13 16:17:58 retropie systemd[1]: systemd-fsckd.service: Succeeded.
Sep 13 16:18:14 retropie systemd-timesyncd[331]: Synchronized to time server for the first time 198.27.76.102:123 (2.debian.pool.ntp.org).
Sep 13 16:18:19 retropie systemd[1]: systemd-hostnamed.service: Succeeded.

2... while the cartrige it is NOT in the slot... i shoved USB in the front and got this info (USB has some roms too)

Sep 13 16:26:35 retropie kernel: [  539.615367] usb 1-1.2: new high-speed USB device number 4 using xhci_hcd
Sep 13 16:26:35 retropie kernel: [  539.745927] usb 1-1.2: New USB device found, idVendor=abcd, idProduct=1234, bcdDevice= 1.00
Sep 13 16:26:35 retropie kernel: [  539.745943] usb 1-1.2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
Sep 13 16:26:35 retropie kernel: [  539.745956] usb 1-1.2: Product: UDisk
Sep 13 16:26:35 retropie kernel: [  539.745968] usb 1-1.2: Manufacturer: General
Sep 13 16:26:35 retropie kernel: [  539.745980] usb 1-1.2: SerialNumber: Љ
Sep 13 16:26:35 retropie kernel: [  539.748110] usb-storage 1-1.2:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
Sep 13 16:26:35 retropie kernel: [  539.750161] scsi host1: usb-storage 1-1.2:1.0
Sep 13 16:26:35 retropie mtp-probe: checking bus 1, device 4: "/sys/devices/platform/scb/fd500000.pcie/pci0000:00/0000:00:00.0/0000:01:00.0/usb1/1-1/1-1.2"
Sep 13 16:26:35 retropie mtp-probe: bus: 1, device: 4 was not an MTP device
Sep 13 16:26:35 retropie mtp-probe: checking bus 1, device 4: "/sys/devices/platform/scb/fd500000.pcie/pci0000:00/0000:00:00.0/0000:01:00.0/usb1/1-1/1-1.2"
Sep 13 16:26:35 retropie mtp-probe: bus: 1, device: 4 was not an MTP device
Sep 13 16:26:36 retropie kernel: [  540.816688] scsi 1:0:0:0: Direct-Access     General  UDisk            5.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
Sep 13 16:26:36 retropie kernel: [  540.817999] sd 1:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg1 type 0
Sep 13 16:26:36 retropie kernel: [  540.818842] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] 7864320 512-byte logical blocks: (4.03 GB/3.75 GiB)
Sep 13 16:26:36 retropie kernel: [  540.819076] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
Sep 13 16:26:36 retropie kernel: [  540.819091] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 0b 00 00 08
Sep 13 16:26:36 retropie kernel: [  540.820111] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] No Caching mode page found
Sep 13 16:26:36 retropie kernel: [  540.820126] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
Sep 13 16:26:36 retropie kernel: [  540.898393]  sdb:
Sep 13 16:26:36 retropie kernel: [  540.900990] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk
Sep 13 16:26:36 retropie systemd[1]: Starting usbmount@dev-sdb.service...
Sep 13 16:26:36 retropie usbmount[766]: executing command: mount -tvfat -onodev,noexec,noatime,uid=1000,gid=1000 dev/sdb /media/usb0
Sep 13 16:26:36 retropie kernel: [  541.285986] FAT-fs (sdb): Volume was not properly unmounted. Some data may be corrupt. Please run fsck.
Sep 13 16:26:36 retropie usbmount[766]: executing command: run-parts /etc/usbmount/mount.d
Sep 13 16:26:36 retropie usbmount-01_retropie_copyroms-[809]: Attempting to create directory structure for ROMS in '/media/usb0/retropie/roms' ...
Sep 13 16:26:36 retropie usbmount-01_retropie_copyroms-[809]: Syncing roms ...

while the USB is in the slot i shoved the SSD in the cartrige slot it now recognizes adding the SSD

^[`Sep 13 16:27:09 retropie usbmount-01_retropie_copyroms-[809]: Syncing BIOS ...
Sep 13 16:27:09 retropie usbmount-01_retropie_copyroms-[809]: Syncing configs ...
Sep 13 16:27:33 retropie systemd[648]: media-usb0.mount: Succeeded.
Sep 13 16:27:33 retropie systemd[1]: media-usb0.mount: Succeeded.
Sep 13 16:27:47 retropie kernel: [  611.813615] usb 2-1: USB disconnect, device number 2
Sep 13 16:27:47 retropie kernel: [  612.344200] usb 2-1: new SuperSpeed Gen 1 USB device number 3 using xhci_hcd
Sep 13 16:27:47 retropie kernel: [  612.375275] usb 2-1: New USB device found, idVendor=152d, idProduct=0562, bcdDevice= 2.14
Sep 13 16:27:47 retropie kernel: [  612.375291] usb 2-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
Sep 13 16:27:47 retropie kernel: [  612.375304] usb 2-1: Product: External
Sep 13 16:27:47 retropie kernel: [  612.375316] usb 2-1: Manufacturer: JMicron
Sep 13 16:27:47 retropie kernel: [  612.375328] usb 2-1: SerialNumber: DD56419883890
Sep 13 16:27:47 retropie kernel: [  612.383085] scsi host0: uas
Sep 13 16:27:47 retropie kernel: [  612.384356] scsi 0:0:0:0: Direct-Access     JMicron  Tech             0214 PQ: 0 ANSI: 6
Sep 13 16:27:47 retropie kernel: [  612.385770] sd 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0
Sep 13 16:27:47 retropie kernel: [  612.393351] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Unit Not Ready
Sep 13 16:27:47 retropie kernel: [  612.393369] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Sense Key : 0x4 [current]
Sep 13 16:27:47 retropie kernel: [  612.393384] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] ASC=0x44 <<vendor>>ASCQ=0x81
Sep 13 16:27:47 retropie kernel: [  612.395394] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Read Capacity(16) failed: Result: hostbyte=0x00 driverbyte=0x08
Sep 13 16:27:47 retropie kernel: [  612.395410] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Sense Key : 0x4 [current]
Sep 13 16:27:47 retropie kernel: [  612.395425] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] ASC=0x44 <<vendor>>ASCQ=0x81
Sep 13 16:27:47 retropie kernel: [  612.398550] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Read Capacity(10) failed: Result: hostbyte=0x00 driverbyte=0x08
Sep 13 16:27:47 retropie kernel: [  612.398568] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Sense Key : 0x4 [current]
Sep 13 16:27:47 retropie kernel: [  612.398589] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] ASC=0x44 <<vendor>>ASCQ=0x81
Sep 13 16:27:47 retropie kernel: [  612.399835] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 0 512-byte logical blocks: (0 B/0 B)
Sep 13 16:27:47 retropie kernel: [  612.399850] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 0-byte physical blocks
Sep 13 16:27:47 retropie kernel: [  612.401669] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Test WP failed, assume Write Enabled
Sep 13 16:27:47 retropie kernel: [  612.402494] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Asking for cache data failed
Sep 13 16:27:47 retropie kernel: [  612.402508] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through
Sep 13 16:27:47 retropie kernel: [  612.404057] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Optimal transfer size 33553920 bytes not a multiple of physical block size (0 bytes)
Sep 13 16:27:47 retropie mtp-probe: checking bus 2, device 3: "/sys/devices/platform/scb/fd500000.pcie/pci0000:00/0000:00:00.0/0000:01:00.0/usb2/2-1"
Sep 13 16:27:47 retropie mtp-probe: bus: 2, device: 3 was not an MTP device
Sep 13 16:27:47 retropie kernel: [  612.448043] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Unit Not Ready
Sep 13 16:27:47 retropie kernel: [  612.448057] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Sense Key : 0x4 [current]
Sep 13 16:27:47 retropie kernel: [  612.448068] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] ASC=0x44 <<vendor>>ASCQ=0x81
Sep 13 16:27:47 retropie mtp-probe: checking bus 2, device 3: "/sys/devices/platform/scb/fd500000.pcie/pci0000:00/0000:00:00.0/0000:01:00.0/usb2/2-1"
Sep 13 16:27:47 retropie kernel: [  612.449959] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Read Capacity(16) failed: Result: hostbyte=0x00 driverbyte=0x08
Sep 13 16:27:47 retropie kernel: [  612.449973] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Sense Key : 0x4 [current]
Sep 13 16:27:47 retropie kernel: [  612.449983] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] ASC=0x44 <<vendor>>ASCQ=0x81
Sep 13 16:27:47 retropie kernel: [  612.451429] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Read Capacity(10) failed: Result: hostbyte=0x00 driverbyte=0x08
Sep 13 16:27:47 retropie kernel: [  612.451450] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Sense Key : 0x4 [current]
Sep 13 16:27:47 retropie kernel: [  612.451461] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] ASC=0x44 <<vendor>>ASCQ=0x81
Sep 13 16:27:47 retropie mtp-probe: bus: 2, device: 3 was not an MTP device
Sep 13 16:27:47 retropie kernel: [  612.455311] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI disk
Sep 13 16:27:48 retropie systemd[1]: Starting usbmount@dev-sda.service...
Sep 13 16:28:18 retropie usbmount[857]: cannot acquire lock /var/run/usbmount/.mount.lock
Sep 13 16:28:18 retropie systemd[1]: usbmount@dev-sda.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Sep 13 16:28:18 retropie systemd[1]: usbmount@dev-sda.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Sep 13 16:28:18 retropie systemd[1]: Failed to start usbmount@dev-sda.service.
Sep 13 16:28:22 retropie systemd[1]: Started usbmount@dev-sdb.service.

4.. Pulled the USB out While SSD is still in slot

Sep 13 16:30:27 retropie kernel: [  772.003964] usb 1-1.2: USB disconnect, device number 4
Sep 13 16:30:27 retropie systemd[1]: usbmount@dev-sdb.service: Succeeded.
Sep 13 16:30:27 retropie systemd[1]: Stopped usbmount@dev-sdb.service.

5.. Pulled the SSD out and then IN again... (No Change to the above Code.. its like you need a USB in for the SSD to be detectable.

I pulled the USB cable for the SSD out and then IN for the enclosure (it detects but really isnt i guess?)

Sep 13 16:33:17 retropie systemd[1]: Starting Cleanup of Temporary Directories...
Sep 13 16:33:17 retropie kernel: [  942.416358] usb 2-1: USB disconnect, device number 3
Sep 13 16:33:17 retropie systemd[1]: systemd-tmpfiles-clean.service: Succeeded.
Sep 13 16:33:17 retropie systemd[1]: Started Cleanup of Temporary Directories.
Sep 13 16:33:27 retropie kernel: [  952.169418] usb 2-1: new SuperSpeed Gen 1 USB device number 4 using xhci_hcd
Sep 13 16:33:27 retropie kernel: [  952.200667] usb 2-1: New USB device found, idVendor=152d, idProduct=0562, bcdDevice= 2.14
Sep 13 16:33:27 retropie kernel: [  952.200682] usb 2-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
Sep 13 16:33:27 retropie kernel: [  952.200694] usb 2-1: Product: External
Sep 13 16:33:27 retropie kernel: [  952.200706] usb 2-1: Manufacturer: JMicron
Sep 13 16:33:27 retropie kernel: [  952.200718] usb 2-1: SerialNumber: DD56419883890
Sep 13 16:33:27 retropie kernel: [  952.209926] scsi host0: uas
Sep 13 16:33:27 retropie kernel: [  952.211313] scsi 0:0:0:0: Direct-Access     JMicron  Tech             0214 PQ: 0 ANSI: 6
Sep 13 16:33:27 retropie kernel: [  952.212418] sd 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0
Sep 13 16:33:27 retropie mtp-probe: checking bus 2, device 4: "/sys/devices/platform/scb/fd500000.pcie/pci0000:00/0000:00:00.0/0000:01:00.0/usb2/2-1"
Sep 13 16:33:27 retropie mtp-probe: bus: 2, device: 4 was not an MTP device
Sep 13 16:33:27 retropie mtp-probe: checking bus 2, device 4: "/sys/devices/platform/scb/fd500000.pcie/pci0000:00/0000:00:00.0/0000:01:00.0/usb2/2-1"
Sep 13 16:33:27 retropie mtp-probe: bus: 2, device: 4 was not an MTP device
Sep 13 16:33:28 retropie kernel: [  952.971720] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 1953525168 512-byte logical blocks: (1.00 TB/932 GiB)
Sep 13 16:33:28 retropie kernel: [  952.971735] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 4096-byte physical blocks
Sep 13 16:33:28 retropie kernel: [  952.972353] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
Sep 13 16:33:28 retropie kernel: [  952.972369] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 53 00 00 08
Sep 13 16:33:28 retropie kernel: [  952.973094] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
Sep 13 16:33:28 retropie kernel: [  952.974095] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Optimal transfer size 33553920 bytes not a multiple of physical block size (4096 bytes)
Sep 13 16:33:28 retropie kernel: [  953.036535]  sda: sda1 sda2
Sep 13 16:33:28 retropie kernel: [  953.040774] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI disk
Sep 13 16:33:29 retropie systemd[1]: Starting usbmount@dev-sda.service...
Sep 13 16:33:29 retropie usbmount[897]: dev/sda does not contain a filesystem or disklabel
Sep 13 16:33:29 retropie systemd[1]: usbmount@dev-sda.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Sep 13 16:33:29 retropie systemd[1]: usbmount@dev-sda.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Sep 13 16:33:29 retropie systemd[1]: Failed to start usbmount@dev-sda.service.
Sep 13 16:33:29 retropie systemd[1]: Starting usbmount@dev-sda1.service...
Sep 13 16:33:29 retropie systemd[1]: Starting usbmount@dev-sda2.service...
Sep 13 16:33:29 retropie usbmount[918]: executing command: mount -text4 -onodev,noexec,noatime dev/sda1 /media/usb0
Sep 13 16:33:29 retropie kernel: [  954.230173] EXT4-fs (sda1): recovery complete
Sep 13 16:33:29 retropie kernel: [  954.230186] EXT4-fs (sda1): mounted filesystem with ordered data mode. Opts: (null)
Sep 13 16:33:29 retropie kernel: [  954.230207] ext4 filesystem being mounted at /media/usb0 supports timestamps until 2038 (0x7fffffff)
Sep 13 16:33:29 retropie usbmount[918]: executing command: run-parts /etc/usbmount/mount.d
Sep 13 16:33:29 retropie systemd[1]: Started usbmount@dev-sda1.service.

7.. i did a reboot with the SSD in and pulled it out of the slot shows no change

pi@retropie:~ $ tail -f /var/log/syslog
Sep 13 16:35:57 retropie systemd[777]: Reached target Basic System.
Sep 13 16:35:57 retropie systemd[777]: Reached target Default.
Sep 13 16:35:57 retropie systemd[777]: Startup finished in 181ms.
Sep 13 16:35:57 retropie systemd[1]: Started User Manager for UID 1000.
Sep 13 16:35:57 retropie systemd[1]: Started Session c1 of user pi.
Sep 13 16:36:01 retropie dhcpcd[676]: eth0: no IPv6 Routers available
Sep 13 16:36:10 retropie systemd[1]: systemd-fsckd.service: Succeeded.
Sep 13 16:36:30 retropie systemd-timesyncd[335]: Synchronized to time server for the first time 199.19.167.36:123 (2.debian.pool.ntp.org).
Sep 13 16:36:35 retropie systemd[1]: systemd-hostnamed.service: Succeeded.
Sep 13 16:37:12 retropie systemd[1]: Started Session c2 of user pi.

shoving back in the cartrige no change.. doesnt notice anything being pulled or pushed in

the enclsoure is also pluged into the TOP USB 3.0 port

comet424

and ti get the games to show up rebooting emulation doesnt always work i have to do the reboot pi

also i noticed if i let it idle a while when i load up the nintendo games it loads shows the config screen then back to the nintendo listing does for all the games i have to choose like atari play a game exit and the nitendo is working again.. is that meaning the ssd unmounted on its own?

comet424

so reading from the log i did the rest of those steps

usb-storage.quirks=152d:0562:u

reboot
then ran

dmesg | grep usb-storage

output was

pi@retropie:~ $ dmesg | grep usb-storage
[    0.000000] Kernel command line: coherent_pool=1M 8250.nr_uarts=1 snd_bcm2835.enable_compat_alsa=0 snd_bcm2835.enable_hdmi=1 snd_bcm2835.enable_headphones=1 video=HDMI-A-1:640x480M@60,margin_left=32,margin_right=32,margin_top=32,margin_bottom=32 smsc95xx.macaddr=DC:A6:32:8A:FA:72 vc_mem.mem_base=0x3ec00000 vc_mem.mem_size=0x40000000  usb-storage.quirks=152d:0562:u console=ttyS0,115200 console=tty1 root=PARTUUID=e22bcd10-02 rootfstype=ext4 elevator=deadline fsck.repair=yes rootwait loglevel=3 consoleblank=0 plymouth.enable=0
[    1.140413] usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage
[    1.865791] usb 2-1: UAS is blacklisted for this device, using usb-storage instead
[    1.865913] usb 2-1: UAS is blacklisted for this device, using usb-storage instead
[    1.865929] usb-storage 2-1:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[    1.866527] usb-storage 2-1:1.0: Quirks match for vid 152d pid 0562: 800000
[    1.866690] scsi host0: usb-storage 2-1:1.0

does this mean my western digital 1TB is no good says its blacklisted

and running that tail program and trying to pull the SSD out and in does nothing it doesnt notice its supposed to be detecting hot swapping it does notice when you pull out the usb cable and in.. is the retroflag enclosure a defective or is there a Hotswap you need to enable like in motherboard bios

YFZdude

@comet424 said in SSD doesnt always mount:

[    1.865791] usb 2-1: UAS is blacklisted for this device, using usb-storage instead
does this mean my western digital 1TB is no good says its blacklisted

Actually this message indicates that it is not using UAS. UAS is the thing that causes some problems with USB 3.0 devices accessing very slowly. So this proves that it is not the issue I originally brought up. Your issue is different entirely.

When you say you are plugging in the USB device, are you referring to the USB-to-SATA adapter you use to read the SSD, or are you also plugging in an entirely different device?

comet424

@Clyde
ah ok so thats good then?

so when i said "pluged a USB" in to get it to work i used a USB thumb drive in front
when i slide i slide the cartridge in and out.. that is the SSD hard drive you put in a cartrige so its just slides in the hot swap
when i said i unpluged the USB hot swap and pluged back in using the TOP USB3.0 port means i unpluged hte USB to SAta cable from the USB 3.0 port TOP and pluged it back in..

so it seems when you pull the hard drive out of the hot swap it doesnt notice.. but when you pull the usb cable out and plug back in then it notices a change if you need pics ill take pics tomoroww

Clyde

@comet424 The last answer wasn't me, it was @YFZdude. 😉

I'll have to go to work now, I'll come back to you when I have more time.

YFZdude

@comet424
I guess after re-reading your posts, I can't tell for sure which method of mounting you are using mostly. Are you using an entry in fstab to point to the SSD to mount it, a manual command, or some other method?

Do you only have this problem when you boot the Pi and then try to plug the SSD in or does it do this even when the SSD is plugged in before you power up the Pi?

comet424

@Clyde my bad it was late lol

@YFZdude
i used the command tail -f /var/log/syslog for constant running no idea what the fstab is

i have this issue when you boot the raspberry it wont always mount the SSD a reboot of emulation doesnt work either... a reboot inside raspberry pi doesnt always work you gott shut off and turn back on then usually 2nd time it mounts... as it boots up and all you get is the raspberry menu option no roms
also mentioned if it idles a long time if you select any NES game it will load the config pop up screen before the game loads then back to the main menu .. what i did was click on atari game load or it was just flipping through games that the NES then worked again.

also sometimes if i do a reboot of the emulation when i copied games over windows explorer... it doesnt always reboot properly it shows then no games back to retropie configartion option...

also i find access roms through windows explorer is very slow takes a while to spin etc.. and im not using WIFI deadicated cable

this is the mounting method i used

@retropie:~ $ tail -f /var/log/syslog
Sep 13 16:17:42 retropie systemd[648]: Reached target Basic System.
Sep 13 16:17:42 retropie systemd[648]: Reached target Default.
Sep 13 16:17:42 retropie systemd[648]: Startup finished in 160ms.
Sep 13 16:17:42 retropie systemd[1]: Started User Manager for UID 1000.
Sep 13 16:17:42 retropie systemd[1]: Started Session c1 of user pi.

and then i added to the cmdline.txt
usb-storage.quirks=152d:0562:u

but if you need pics of the unit ill post them later if your not sure what im doing as pics always help me

YFZdude

@comet424 Ah I see I missed the fact that your SSD share name is the same as the recommended path from the USB ROMs setup page here: https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Running-ROMs-from-a-USB-drive/

So the reason I asked about fstab is because it isn't as easy to setup, but in theory it should be a reliable way to make sure your SSD is always mounted on startup. This is described in the page linked above in the "Manual Mount" section. The only requirement is that you have the SSD plugged in before you power up.

If you want to give the manual method a try, you can follow most of the guide steps, but you will need to change the filesystem info in fstab from vfat to ntfs in the file. Assuming you don't want to reformat the drive as FAT32.

comet424

@YFZdude

ill try later... i not sure if the ssd share name is same as usb rom names i dont know what you 100% mean.. and not sure what file system to use

i only had a 1TB SSD to try i moved my desktop games off my SSD to a spinner plus more reliable
to try to the this,, i also wasnt sure how big a SSD you need to get all the roms from all the machines on the the raspberry pi.. as i dunno if you dont need more then 120gb 250gb 500 gb as i will buy that and re claim my SSD... i new to this retro machine..
i do know some games dont like to work right like the C64 games and some NES

so i formated the 1tb to ntfs as online i read you want EX4 or FAT but i found raspberry pi was able to detect NTFS so i reformated to NTFS
i made a folder on there retropi-mount and when i formated the LABEL was set to the default

...but the same share name is that a conflict? i know on my Unraid file server i had a Share that was the same name as the LABEL of an unnasigned drive and that caused conflict would save to the array share not the unassigned drive.. is that the same thing your mentioning? if thats why i get slow speeds accessing from windows

so your last point you mentioned from vfat to ntfs file assuming i dont wanna format to fat32.. but i already in ntfs
or is the issue that it needs to be in fat32? and i thought fat32 could never go more then 100gb or something wasnt that a limit windows had?

ill try later when i get home.. i learning something new everyday

comet424

@YFZdude
so i tried the manual setup didnt really work

i did the disable usb thing
i moved and erased the Retropie folder on PI and movied the contents to the Root of the SSD not the retropie-mount folder as it said the root

i tried the fstab and edied the file i change teh FAT line to NTFS but didnt m ount the games guess ill have to retry again

and what format should it be NTFS EX4 FAT

and after doing the move etc the \192.168.0.15 to acces the raspberry pi the roms folder doesnt let me inside it now and its slow as molasses

YFZdude

@comet424 It should work in any of those formats but if you are going to start over I would try FAT32 like the guide mentions. Don't forget to re-enable the usbromservice.

comet424

@YFZdude
when do you re turn on the usbmservice i missed tat in the manual section i still have it turned off
so if i turn it back on
then really you dont us e "retropie-mount" only for a usb thumb drive
but for a SSD the main folders will be in the root of the SSD

why is fat32 the best but doesnt it have a limit how big reason we went to ntfs as fat32 couldnt handle things
ill try later today renable maybe thats why its not accessing rom folder...

also imy drives didnt show up like in the manual setup it said and showed i had 2 drives i thinking thats ntfs

and what size of HD should i get that all these retro games wont go past is there a size you guys know .. like if you had every single retro game and it wont be bigger then 250 gb so no need to use a 1TB is there a reference for that.

but ill try again later and try the fat32

YFZdude

@comet424 said in SSD doesnt always mount:

when do you re turn on the usbmservice i missed tat in the manual section i still have it turned off

If you are using the manual method then it doesn't get turned back on. usbromservice is used when you are following the automatic mount method in the guide.

so if i turn it back on
then really you dont us e "retropie-mount" only for a usb thumb drive
but for a SSD the main folders will be in the root of the SSD

The retropie-mount folder is only needed for the automatic mount method. The name is what the service looks for to know that is where your roms are located. For the manual method, it tells you to copy over the folder structure from the microSD card image. So the root of the drive would have a BIOS retropiemenu roms and splashscreen folders.

why is fat32 the best but doesnt it have a limit how big reason we went to ntfs as fat32 couldnt handle things

FAT32 is more compatible across operating systems. It is just easier to get it working if you stick to FAT32. As long as you don't have a ROM file that is over 4GB in size and your SSD is not more than 2TB total then you don't really need NTFS.

also imy drives didnt show up like in the manual setup it said and showed i had 2 drives i thinking thats ntfs

The output of df should show many things, but your SSD should stand out as /dev/sda1 or something similar. If you have more than one of those, it could be that the drive has more than one partition. They will all show up. So if you had 1 NTFS partition and 1 FAT32 partition you would likely see /dev/sda1 and /dev/sda2both appear.

and what size of HD should i get that all these retro games wont go past is there a size you guys know .. like if you had every single retro game and it wont be bigger then 250 gb so no need to use a 1TB is there a reference for that.

That is a tough one. If you want to have a large collection of arcade games, it will take close to 30GB for only those ROMs. Older systems have smaller files. 1TB might be overkill but you likely won't ever have to worry about freeing up space.

If you wanted to store many games on the microSD card and skip the SSD, then I would recommend at least a 32GB or 64GB card.

Clyde

Hi, I just wanted to say that I've not abandoned this thread, but I don't have much free time at the moment, and @YFZdude doesn't leave me much more to say, actually. 😉

I'm still reading along, though. Ready to jump in if necessary.