[Virtualacorn-list] 32GB USB stick - VA_RPC_SA cannot see it

[Roger Darlington]

On 6 Jan 2014, Alan Adams  wrote:
> In message <e01becc553.rogerarm at rogerarm.freeuk.com>
>           Roger Darlington <rogerarm at freeuk.com> wrote:

>> On 6 Jan 2014, Roger Darlington  wrote:
>>> On 6 Jan 2014, John McCartney  wrote:
>>>> In article <8076d4c553.rogerarm at rogerarm.freeuk.com>, Roger
>>>> Darlington <rogerarm at freeuk.com> wrote:

>>>>> I have just bought a 32GB USB3 stick for my VA_RPC-SA
>>>>> ARM7500 RO.4.39.

>>>>> I can write files to it in Windows, on the very same
>>>>> computer which VA-RPC-SA is running on (yes, it has both
>>>>> USB2 and USB3 ports), but when I insert the USB3 stick
>>>>> using RO, it cannot find it.

>>>>> "" Error when reading HostFS::USB.$ - Not Found""

>>>>> Very strange, especially as it CAN see 16GB USB2 sticks.

>>>>> Anyone any ideas?

>>>> Have you updated the Drive Scan list in DrivePop Options...?
>>>> John

>>> The 16GB USB2 stick doesn't need that doing before it will read it in
>>> RO...

>>> Anyway, I tried it: doing that to the 32GB USB3 stick makes no
>>> difference, Drive N (which is what Windows says the USB3 pen drive is)
>>> is still not one of the drive windows that opens up in RO.

>>> I know that sometimes a drive wont open up in RO when there is nothing
>>> on it, so I put something on this USB3 stick in Windows, but it still
>>> doesn't open up in RO. Very strange.

>>> I even tried reformatting it from FAT32 to NTFS, but that made no
>>> difference either. Windows is still able to write to it as an NTFS
>>> drive now, but RO still cant see it at all.

>>> BTW - I assume is NTFS allowed on pen drives, I suppose it is, it
>>> works on Windows (and all my hard drives that RO sees are formatted
>>> NTFS).

>> AHA !

>> I have found some kind of anomaly on the WIndows side !!:
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> --------

>> When I plug the 16GB USB2 drive in, windows allocates it drive O.

>> But when I unplug that and instead plug in the 32GB USB3 drive, it
>> allocates that Drive N.

>> No other drives have been added or disconnected during this test.

>> Now then, on the RO side, I have allocated drive N to a 16TB RAID
>> drive (it doesn't actually hold that much - that's just the virtual
>> capacity), but that is switched off. (I have allocated the USB port
>> for the USB stick to Drive O on RO).

>> So that's why the 16GB USB2 stick works (drive O).

>> But it still doesn't explain why Windows is bizarely allocating drive
>> N to the 32GB USB3 stick when I stick that in instead, [neither USB
>> stick are in the computer at the same time (I have reached my maximum
>> of 8 drives in RO)].

>> I can't think of a way around this bizare shifting of drive allocation
>> on Windows. Nor do I know why it depends whether it sees a 16GB USB2
>> stick or a 32GB USB3 stick.  (I am plugging them both in the same USB3
>> port by the way, [but only one at a time].)

> If you allocate a drive letter to a removable device it uses that
> drive letter each time it is plugged in. If you don't it uses the
> first currently unused letter. If you use disk manager to allocate
> letter O to your 32GB stick, it should be remembered. However if you
> plug them both in, only the first will be seen, because of the clash
> of letters.

> You could try allocating P to one of them. You may need to tell VRPC
> to use both O and P. I can't remember how you would do that.

I looked it up on Google before you replied, and now see that you have 
also told of the correct solution Alan.

However: a slight change is necessar for anyone following my 
footsteps. Because my 16TB virtual RAID is not always on, and that was 
taking the next available drive letter if switched on (N), I have now 
re-allocated that to Drive O, leaving drive N as the next free one up  
that any old tom dick or USB stick will pick up.

[I erroneously tried allocating drive O to the USB stick, but then, 
each and every USB stick I ever stick in would then need individually 
allocating to that letter, so rather than do that, the USB stick can 
grab the next available drive letter (N) --- leaving the 16TB RAID to 
always take drive O if ever its switched on. (This also necessitated 
swapping the drive numbers O/N around in the Models file on Windows - 
just so anyone following behind me needs reminding)

[The 16TB virtual RAID drive is my fail-safe backup, BTW, so I always 
keep it switched off unless backing up - so should any virus come 
along and incapacitate everything, it hopefully wont have been able to 
find the RAID array.]

Problem Solved. Many thanks to all respondents.


-- 

Cheers
Roger
What a scandal: The vandals stole the handles off all the candles