Understanding mounts/memory/RAM & filesystems/_save file

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RetroTechGuy
Posts: 2947
Joined: Tue 15 Dec 2009, 17:20
Location: USA

Re: Please help...Unable to unmount USB flash drive

#61 Post by RetroTechGuy »

Winescape wrote:I hope this is the correct place to post this request.
Generally it would be better to start a new topic.

If you were reading this thread, at the bottom click "new topic" instead of "post reply".

Welcome to the kennels! ;-)
I am running Wary Puppy from a USB flash drive plugged into my HP 510 laptop (which has a crashed Win XP system installed). Wary Puppy is to be the rescuer, and eventually may be the main OS...I like it a lot.

The first time I used Wary, I was able to mount and dismount all drives shown, and copy some key Win XP files...thanks for this.

However, on the second use, I am unable to dismount the Wary USB drive.

When I try to unmount, the error message I receive is "/dev/sdb1 mounted as /initrd/mnt/dev_save is in use by Puppy. You cannot unmount it."

Yikes. I tried Google, but am not clear about how to proceed. I would appreciate some steps to take so that I can unmount this USB and turn off the laptop without corrupting the Wary Puppy.

All help welcome. Thanks.
You booted from (or loaded a savefile on) the USB drive.

This is normal operation. Your OS and save file can't be removed (kinda like pulling someones brain out...)

If the problem is that you need your flash drive elsewhere (because it's big, for example), you can run pretty comfortably on a 2GB flash drive (or even a 1 GB, assuming you could find such any more) -- so if that's the problem, get a small dedicated flash drive.

If you are short on USB ports, and need to be able to pull flash drives to plug in other stuff, perhaps try an installation on your HDD.

If you have remnants of the XP boot on your hard drive (and if the hard drive works), you may be able to use Lin'N'Win to hook into the existing installed boot tools (I do the changes from Puppy, which eliminates some of the "unhide, modify and hide" steps...

If you want to boot without loading your save file, when offered a prompt at the beginning of the boot sequence, use:

Code: Select all

puppy pfix=ram
And it will load to RAM, without loading your save file.

If you load your save file from the USB, you cannot unplug it.

My newer laptop has a SD card slot, where I boot from -- leaving the Windows system completely untouched -- and my USB ports all open. My older systems are all Lin'N'Win installs (dual booting Puppy and WinXP or Win98).
[url=http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=58615]Add swapfile[/url]
[url=http://wellminded.net63.net/]WellMinded Search[/url]
[url=http://puppylinux.us/psearch.html]PuppyLinux.US Search[/url]

Winescape
Posts: 6
Joined: Sun 08 Dec 2013, 18:20

Starting new thread

#62 Post by Winescape »

Thank you very much for responding, RetroTeck Guy. I appreciate the welcome, and your suggestions. It looks as if I should start a new thread. I'm dealing with a big mess here that I think Puppy can solve if I go about things in the right way with help from people like you.

april

#63 Post by april »

Bruce B wrote:
potchan wrote:Hi Dennis, Bruce B and Team,
Take a look at this:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=37660
Any help for you ? :roll:
Only I noticed amigo referenced the swapon -s switch and
it doesn't exist in Puppy's swapon. I've attached the full
featured swapon if you want it.

Code: Select all

Usage:
 swapon -a [-e] [-v] [-f]             enable all swaps from /etc/fstab
 swapon [-p priority] [-v] [-f] <special>  enable given swap
 swapon -s                            display swap usage summary
 swapon -h                            display help
 swapon -V                            display version

The <special> parameter:
 {-L label | LABEL=label}             LABEL of device to be used
 {-U uuid  | UUID=uuid}               UUID of device to be used
 <device>                             name of device to be used
 <file>                               name of file to be used
~
This is back on page 2
I had a problem with my Precise 5.7.1 in that the Savefile size showed red even though I had cleaned it out drastically . I got this file and ran it and the thing was magically fixed up and back into green . Can some one explain why this would be ? Is Puppys swapon deficient in some way? I don't have a swap file in fstab that I am aware of . "swapon -s" does not show any swap activity.

For the experience I created a swap file on a USB stick with #mkswap /dev/sdc1
(which is dangerous as everything else is wiped on the stick)
Then I activated it with #swapon /devdsc1/
I was then able to get some swap activity going and read it with # cat /proc/swaps.

april

#64 Post by april »

Just in case you notice ,I have included this thread on " Wickum" , an innovation by MIT to summarise long threads . Just want to see what it does with it ?

http://wikum.csail.mit.edu/

EDIT Have had no response from them . Not interested it seems , no email answered

hamoudoudou

good wish : summarize a topic..

#65 Post by hamoudoudou »

good wish : summarize a topic..
backup pupsave
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gychang
Posts: 414
Joined: Sat 29 Nov 2008, 20:30
Location: San Diego, CA

IDE drive spins when launching apps, is it running from RAM?

#66 Post by gychang »

I hear spinning drive start briefly when I launch palemoon, gimp etc on the xenialpup64 (frugal install on SATA IDE spinning HD partition)

I thought once save file is loaded onto RAM on boot, apps don't have to access HD. Since the installed drive partition is mounted, it seems to be accessing it. My HD is older so I can hear the brief spinning noise...

am I wrong in that RAM needs information from IDE partition (save file) when I launch an app? Logically in pups SSD frugal install be faster...

if someone can clarify will appreciate it.
---
trying to learn puppylinux... :D
---

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Burn_IT
Posts: 3650
Joined: Sat 12 Aug 2006, 19:25
Location: Tamworth UK

#67 Post by Burn_IT »

Many programs use disk space for extra memory.It may never actually be used, but it is better to check when the program is launched rather than possibly crash during a critical operation.
"Just think of it as leaving early to avoid the rush" - T Pratchett

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rufwoof
Posts: 3690
Joined: Mon 24 Feb 2014, 17:47

#68 Post by rufwoof »

Having some swap is better than not
Image
[size=75]( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) :wq[/size]
[url=http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?p=1028256#1028256][size=75]Fatdog multi-session usb[/url][/size]
[size=75][url=https://hashbang.sh]echo url|sed -e 's/^/(c/' -e 's/$/ hashbang.sh)/'|sh[/url][/size]

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