Use of USB Thumb on MB Pro

[Gyvate]

....
And also where you can buy the sd cards (and/or the USB sticks) in the EU. They are very limited available in the Netherlands.
Outside of that you are stuck with import taxes.

Try www.mouser.de or www.arrows.de and look for the Western Digital/SanDisk SDSDQED-008G-XI, SDSDQED-016G-XI, SDSDQED-032G-XI, SDSDQED-064G-XI (microSD Card, 8-64 GB, SLC Flash)
They deliver from the U.S.
But be prepared for delivery delays due to (not only COVID caused) production shortages.
You will pay the "import tax"/VAT for NL already in their web shop.
And in NL you also have to pay the VAT (BTW) on all goods from inside the EU.
The U.S. merchant sells the items before the local taxes (net price) and what you call "import tax" is nothing else but the VAT of your country.
So, in reality, there is no extra tax.

And, no idea where Boris stands with his tests, but my test (and meanwhile production) installation (8 GB SLC micro SD with a USB adapter inserted into the inside USB port) works perfectly well. The only limiting factor is the USB2 port speed.

[Bart]

And, no idea where Boris stands with his tests, but my test (and meanwhile production) installation (8 GB SLC micro SD with a USB adapter inserted into the inside USB port) works perfectly well. The only limiting factor is the USB2 port speed.

I ordered a micro SD (a SanDisk SDSDQED-008G-XI). Before it arrives, I have a few questions.

- are there any specifications for the adapter? Those things don't cost anything but...there are some that are already falling apart just looking at them. That we don't want... I do have a few, but if the SD card for the MB has other, high requirements, what about the adapter?

- The pro has an internal USB flash drive. Is there a difference in read/write speed with the external USB connection on the front? It is not my preference to use the internal port but if the speed/reliability is much less...

I can export data but I don't see how to import it back to the new SD card. In the import menu I see Meteotemplate, etc but no Meteobridge option.

Thanks in advance,

Bart

[Gyvate]

I'm using this item:
https://www.amazon.nl/-/en/dp/B07DC7HWS ... 170&sr=8-1
It may look as if falling apart but it's pretty solid. To fit into the internal port it needs to be rather flat - this one fits. And technically they don't have to do much. And it's USB2 speed. Running now for 6 months flawlessly.

You could of course use the front USB port. Theoretically it should work. Practically I observed stability issues in the microSD/USB adapter combination with the SLC microSD in the front port. No idea why. They were all gone after using the internal port. Backups were never an issue in the front port, but running the database there was somehow, even when using an external HDD. Maybe it was just my device.

I started working on the internal port only because of these stability issues with the front port.

The other thing is, if you were using the front port for running the database, the internal 1 GB SLC would be bare, unused ...
You could remove it and use it for backups in the backside USB port. If you replace the internal USB stick, you can also use it for backups in the front port.

Why would you want to re-import exported data ? (there could be reasons though).
You can restore a database backup you have made earlier (best just before shutting down the system and replacing the internal USB stick) - once the internal USB is replaced by the microSD card and the system restarted, you can just restore the database. It will automatically end up on the SD card. But don't forget to save your system configuration before (System/Administration) - you will need to restore this too !

You will also have to save the content of the \\METEOBRIDGE\data directory tree (otherwise all non-default data will get lost: templates, scripts, exports, ....) - and copy it back once you have the SD card installed.

[Xanti19]

I have connected a 16GB USB stick (Fat32) to my MB Raspberry. The log shows "no target media found" when backing up the database. Rebooting the MB Raspberry didn't help. Do I have to mount the USB stick somewhere?

[Gyvate]

what Raspberry Pi are you using ? RPi3 or RPi4B.
On a RPi4B by preference use one of the USB3 ports. The USB2 ports are pretty weak regarding power supply.

You can connect to your RPi via SSH with puTTY port 22 (IP of your RPi, user and password as in your WebUI) and check if it is connected and a valid partition found.

Code: Select all

ls /dev/sd* -l 

"-l" is a lower case L
should provide
/dev/sda
/dev/sda1
instead of "a" you may find a "b"
sd stands for "special device" and names external drives connected vi USB
the backup script expects a device named sdx1 where x = a, b, c ....
the script mounts the device for and during the backup, so nothing you need to do

If you find only sda or sdb without a "1", you may need to reformat the USB stick again.
If it remains sda, sdb, you would have to change the backup script (and save it somewhere as it will be overwritten with each update)

[Xanti19]

Thank you for your quick reply.
It's an RPI4. Reconnecting to USB3 and reformatting was unsuccessful. A very old USB stick with 1GB was then displayed with SDA1. The backup is now displayed in the log: backup completed: dbase-202203101322 (1.6M). In the network under Meteobridge > Data I don't see the USB stick or the backup. But I think this is normal.

[Gyvate]

if you want to see the stick, you will have to mount it into the published (exported) file system.
connect to the RPi via SSH

Code: Select all

mkdir /tmp/mnt/data/USB
mount /dev/sda1 /tmp/mnt/data/USB

Then you will find a folder "USB" under \\METEOBRIDGE\data

you will have to repeat the mount after a backup as the backup script dismounts the device again
exception: if you have the folder opened in Windows File Explorer, the script cannot dismount it.
The mkdir command you only need to execute once

[Andyk1]

Where can I find the list of authorized SLC SD Cards or any cards. 2 gig sd is almost full.

[Mattk]

https://www.meteobridge.com/wiki/index. ... ge_NANO_SD

[Andyk1]

https://www.meteobridge.com/wiki/index. ... ge_NANO_SD

Thank you Mattk. Ordered 16 gig SDSDQED-016G-XI. Will a simple Copy over work or a procedure. It's been many years since I've had to do this and don't remember. Not sure why searching here is not coming up with anything. Thank you again.

Andy.

[Gyvate]

you will have to do a few things:
- a backup of your configuration onto an external USB device (System --> Administration)
- a backup of your database onto an external USB device (System --> Administration)
and if you have MB on RPi create a new MB image on the new SD card
- also save your own scripts, exports, templates (.exp, .metachart) from the SMB share (\\METEOBRIDGE\data)
(also, in case of a RPi, copy your license information from the license page - you may need to enter it again with the new SD card)

then shut down the MB Pro or RPi, exchange the SD card, restart it
1. restore your configuration from the external USB device (System --> Administration)
2. make a restore of the database from your external USB device (System --> Administration)
3. copy your personal script, exports, templates etc. back to the SMB share

(you could also do this by connecting the old SD card via a USB/SD adapter to your MB and copy all you need via SSH,
but then you have to know the locations of each file and will have to mount the external USB device into the file system -
the approach via the browser interface is easier)