Kuro trouble and kuro fixes
Last week as I tried to back up my data, I came across a hitch: Kurobox doesn't support long filenames. That meant that I'd have to rename a lot of my files, and that wasn't acceptable by any means. I don't see much logic in renaming all of my files because a back up method doesn't support the names -- expecially when there are ways to make the back up device support them.
So there I went, off to figure out how to get netatalk, the technology that supports Mac OS Xs' longer file names, working properly on the kurobox. I came across a disk image made by alanc at Kurobox's support forums. It claims to have netatalk working on it, so I went to install it.
That's about the time I hit the second bump in the road.
I made an error while reformatting the hard drive so I could not use the kurobox. I couldn't use it all, it wouldn't respond to any commands I gave it. That's not such a great thing. So after messing with this and that and trying to find a solution, I resolved to removing the hard disk and reformatting it with my Mac. I put the drive into a Firewire enclosure, and reformatted the disk as UFS. It seemed like the closest to Linux of my choices, and once I finished that, I replaced kuro's hard drive.
That didn't work. Kuro didn't like that format any better than my last format and I couldn't get it into emergency mode. Hrmm.
I swapped the hard disk out again today. This time, I converted the UFS partition to just free space throught Mac OS X DiskUtility's Partition tab and since the disk no longer mounted on my Mac, it looked like a winner.
I replaced the hard disk again, and huzzah! Kuro responds! I carefully formatted the drive so as not to repeat last week's disaster and to avoid having to remove and replace the hard disk again, and now it's working like a charm. It supports long filenames, and it promises to function as an iTunes music server.
I'm currently zipping many files over the network to their new home on kuro, and I'll be moving my music collection there soon as well. It's exciting to finally get it working the way I had envisioned, although I've still to try to get php running on it. That'll be a real test. It won't be the end of the world I can't, but it would be nice to have a mini-server running out of the office. Or perhaps using it as a printserver, or a web camera server... oh the possibilities!
- under:
- Kurobox
- Posted on
- 2005-04-02
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