Hi,
As far as I got from the topics I read, I see that the bootloader of 8020 does not support GPT ( and it seems to be taking a big risk to play with it to bring support for GPT ).
So many users limit their HDD capacity at most 2 TB. I do not know if I missed something and if the latest versions of the custom firmware brings GPT support or not.
Assuming GPT is still not supported, may we still use disks greater than 2 TB, but with partitions < 2 TB ( actually 2.2 I think ). Normally MBR may access a 4 TB disk
( assuming 512 block size ) when the partitions are <= 2 TB (I know it is a bit risky, and a poor coded disk tool may corrupt it). So, if my understanding of the filesystem
of 8020 is correct. Disk is partitioned to 5 partitions (2 primary, 1 swap and 2 more on extended ). The first 2 contain the firmware of the device I think, as it is
linux the swap is just right there and 2 more on extended ( one for OS configuration, scripts etc, and the other for the generic media storage I believe ).
So, is it possible to create another partition of ~2 TB of (assuming the first 2 TB contains the regular partitions sdb1 to stb6 ) like
/dev/sdb1/ Primary Linux (e.g. 150 MB)
/dev/sdb2/ Primary Linux (e.g. 150 MB)
/dev/sdb6/ Primary Linux (e.g. ~ 1.7 TB )
/dev/sdb4/ Extended ( ~2 TB )
/dev/sdb3/ Linux SWAP (e.g. 200 MB)
/dev/sdb5/ Linux (e.g. 300 MB )
/dev/sdb7/ Linux (e.g. ~1.5 TB )
It is quite possible that the sdb1 must be at the start by the means of bootloader accessing it (I do not know how it accesses it actually), but if sdb2 ( which is the copy of sdb1 I think )
is not needed at boot time it may be transferred to extended partition ( on this case swap partition may be allocated as primary if needed ). So, can we use the whole capacity like this?
If theoretically correct, normally the sdb7 will not be used by any applications by default. But, can we modify some applications' configs to use this partition ( e.g. alter the path of the
torrent client to use only this partition ), or much more simply we may create shortcuts/links on actual sdb6 referencing to sdb7 (e.g. the application_1 uses /MEDIA/app_1/ folder - assuming
sbd4 is mounted as /MEDIA (or /MEDIA is mounted on /dev/sdb4 truly) , we may change the app_1 folder to a link referring to /MEDIA2/app_1 folder of course assuming /MEDIA2 is mounted as sdb7.
If that is OK, we may need some modifications on the scripts, but if you want a few applications to get benefit of the new space, I believe it'll be worth it.
By the way, the forum achieved a long way from the last time I checked it. I see some extensions are open to donators for now, which I find quite fair. However, as far as I see PayPal is the only way for
the donations. For the countries like one I am living in, it is impossible to donate since we banned PayPal :) because of the taxing issues ( it was announced by PayPal they will be back locally shortly before
several years ago but still nothing heard). So, if there is an alternative I'd be glad to hear it. And finally, I recommend a final donation type if you find plausible: Workforce of any kind; it may be a computer
part that you are in need of as well as a coding job. You may give the forum users tasks (simple or more challenging based on the background and/or previous work ) to complete some portions of the code
to be cleaned from bugs or extra functionalities to be added, or some designer for the fascinating UI, anything you need to outsource. You may build the roots of a company, who knows.