No Space Left On Device

[spoolinx86]

When I start the Pi it shows my RasPlex version (0.4.0-rc2) then says: 

 

cp: write error: No space left on device

(RasPlex still loads and I can watch media fine)

 

When I SSH into the Pi and do df I get this:

 

devtmpfs                152364         0    152364   0% /dev

/dev/sda1               255724    132024    123700  52% /flash

/dev/sda2               639744    626408         0 100% /storage

/dev/loop0              121984    121984         0 100% /

tmpfs                    61532         0     61532   0% /dev/shm

tmpfs                    10240       444      9796   4% /var

 

So it looks like my USB flash drive is full. Any idea's to fix this? I know almost nothing about Linux so I'm not sure how to even find what in the Storage may be taking all the space. I have a 8GB SD card and the USB Flash Drive is 16GB. 

 

I want to update to RC4 but cant since its full. I cant even save new preference settings, after a reboot they get reverted.

 

Thanks!

[KnightOrc]

I suggest you reflash with RC4 instead of trying to use the update function. And since RC4 is fast enough without having to use the USB method you might want to simplfy the install (yes, you do gain some performance in the UI using the USB method, but the difference has decreased significantly in RC4).

Other than that, wait for dlanor to suggest something, he has a lot of experience using the USB method.

[dlanor]

I really can't add much useful advice beyond what KnightOrc already said. Reflashing to RC4 is definitely what I would do in similar circumstance, though I've never been there...

I have a rather large Plex library (Over 1300 Movies and over 900 Shows (not just episodes, but 900 shows each containing episodes)), and yet I have never been able to fill up even an 8GB USB drive just from RasPlex usage. Not even when adding multiple custom skins for testing, such as "PlexAeonPHT" etc.

To me the only possible explanations for exhausting the storage space of a 16GB USB drive used with RasPlex are three:

1: Filesystem corruption, making space appear consumed though it never was. (This can be due to incorrect shutdown/turnoff methods.)

2: Resource leakage, causing temporary file storage to grow infinitely.  (This would be due to bugs in RC2 and/or earlier versions you updated from)

3: Failure to expand the original tiny Ext4 partition placed on the USB drive when flashed with RasPlex image.

The third one is the easiest to check, as you should be aware of having expanded the partition if you did so as part of your original USB drive preparation for RasPlex.

That is also the only one of those problems which can be fixed, simply by using a suitable partition tool to expand the Ext4 storage partition on the USB drive.

I always use the freeware edition of "Paragon Partition Manager" for this purpose, extending the second partition (the Ext4 one) to the end of available storage.

When done properly this should not affect existing content of the partition.

However, even if you do manage to fix the problem that way, I still recommend flashing RC4 'from scratch' instead of upgrading from RC2.

I'm not at all certain that an upgrade from RC2 would work correctly. RC3 yes, that would work fine, but RC2 is more doubtful.

Personally I'd choose the small extra hassle of reconfiguring from scratch, rather than endless future worry about the integrity of the RC4 install upgraded from RC2.

If you decide to go with a USB drive for the new install again, make sure to extend the Ext4 partition as mentioned above. But also consider what KnightOrc said in his post. The new poster caching methods used in the GUI of RC4 are so much more efficient than the old methods that the gains from using a USB3 drive are less significant than before. You need a really good USB3 drive, with fast writing speed, in order to get useful improvements compared to a top quality SD card. The 'Extreme' SDHC card versions that fill UHS-1 specs are really hard to beat. But if you only have normal Class10 cards below UHS-1 grade, then a fast USB3 drive can make a difference, especially for the 'Precaching' work.

Btw: I'd advice against trying any of the new SDXC cards, since those are most likely NOT compatible with older equipment like the RPi.

Best regards: dlanor

[spoolinx86]

Thank you both for the feedback, its greatly appreciated. I think I'll wipe the SD card and install RC4 from scratch as suggested, I do prefer having a clean system anyways. I'll also remove the USB drive since its only a USB2 drive and by the sounds of it there won't be any performance gains from it now. 

[marctwo]

I've been having the same error. I reflashed RC4 with the expandstorage option but it still has the same issue. I am also running off a USB stick, although it's a fast USB3 one.

Will the 'expandstorage' option work on USB installs? If not, is there a way I can expand the partition using OSX?

[dlanor]

I've been having the same error. I reflashed RC4 with the expandstorage option but it still has the same issue. I am also running off a USB stick, although it's a fast USB3 one.

Will the 'expandstorage' option work on USB installs? If not, is there a way I can expand the partition using OSX?

I assume you meant 'growstorage', since that is the option used in the original release image.

As you seem to have guessed already, the 'growstorage' option only works for an SD card.

So when that SD card is used for booting a USB stick, the 'growstorage' option is useless.

You need to use some partitioning tool with Linux Ext4 compatibility to expand the Ext4 partition on the USB stick after flashing the image to it.

For Windows I use the free edition of the "Paragon Partition Manager" to do it, but I've no idea what software to use under OSX.

Best regards: dlanor

[system]

I assume you meant 'growstorage', since that is the option used in the original release image.

As you seem to have guessed already, the 'growstorage' option only works for an SD card.
So when that SD card is used for booting a USB stick, the 'growstorage' option is useless.

You need to use some partitioning tool with Linux Ext4 compatibility to expand the Ext4 partition on the USB stick after flashing the image to it.
For Windows I use the free edition of the "Paragon Partition Manager" to do it, but I've no idea what software to use under OSX.

Best regards: dlanor

Not strictly true, you can add 'growstorage' to the cmdline.txt on the USB stick before booting from this setup for the first time and it will perform the same as it does on the SD card only on the USB.

Regards

[dlanor]

Not strictly true, you can add 'growstorage' to the cmdline.txt on the USB stick before booting from this setup for the first time and it will perform the same as it does on the SD card only on the USB.

Are you sure of this ? And if so, when was this growstorage function recoded to support USB ?

I have tried it myself on several occasions some time back, and it never worked on USB...

I suppose I'll have to check it myself again, but I would still like to know when this important modification was made.

Edit:
I've just tried it again, with the current rc4 release image, and 'growstorage' still doesn't work for USB drives.
I placed the same "cmdline.txt" file in the FAT32 partitions of both the SD card and the USB drive.
The only content of that file was the single text line:
boot=/dev/sda1 disk=/dev/sda2 growstorage quiet oprofile.timer=1

During bootup I got the usual 'countdown' displays for the growstorage operation, after which there was an error message aborting the operation. The boot then proceeded as usual until I reached the RasPlex main menu. I skipped through the wizard and used the Restart command to see if initial behaviour would repeat which it didn't (and shouldn't). On reaching the main menu again I restarted once more just to be absolutely certain all initial behaviour was over. On reaching main menu in this third bootup I used the Shutdown command after whose completion I turned off the RPi and removed the USB3 drive and moved it to my main PC for checking in "Paragon Partition Manager". This showed that the Ext4 storage partition was still at its original size of 651 MB, with 13.5 GB unallocated space on the drive.

Conclusion: The "growstorage" command does not work for USB drives.
(Unless I've missed some crucial part about its usage...)

Best regards: dlanor

[marctwo]

I'll see if I can use a GParted Live CD.

[marctwo]

I can confirm that I was able to resize the ext4 partition to fill my 16GB usb stick using the GParted Live CD and it all works fine now. Thanks for the help.