My Rpi2 corrupt USB Pendrive during reproduction of video

Help and Support Raspberry Pi
1

It’s append two times… one time about some minutes ago.

Earlier this same afternoon whit two different my PENDRIVE.

The fist pendrive it’s a kingston 32GB… the second pendrive it another Kingstone datatravel G4 whit a different size 8GB.

This afternoon i have copyed a film on this pendrive (the 32GB Kingston) and i have watched from current osmc build. Apparently during the reproduction all it’s ok… no struttering… no issue on audio or sync issue (the video it’s a 720p x264 whit aabout 1000kb bitrate a 25fps… it should not be a file to create compatibility problems).

During playback whitout any advice i have see a notification on top right corner of my tv… somethinks speak about “Safe remove not avaialable” or somethings similar.
I didn’t think so, also because he didn’t create the movie playback.

Immediatelly when the film it’s finished i have obtain a weird situation… kodi it’s not back to the list of file present on pendrive but it’s back to file browser menù.
Apparently the pendrive it’s like was no longer available… like auto-unmonted.

I have tryed to disconnect from my Pi2 and i have attach the same pendrive to my pc and… surprise surprise:
ALL FILE IT’S LIKE LOST… apparently from windows the pendrive appears to contain files ( i see it’s some space occupied) but on Windows explorer all file it’s disappears.
I have lost everythings… (anyway nothing I can’t recover somehow… problably a lot directly from my pc lol).

After this episode i have used a windows tools from try to restore some files… i try to use “DiskDigger” and i have restored correctly about 10 file mp3 from the root of pendrive (some of them I didn’t have on my pc as a backup) and after that i have tryed to format this same pendrive as low level.

For another purpose test about some minutes ago i have tryed same things whit another my pendrive (the second Kingstone datatravel 8GB).
This second pendrive it’s it’s relatively new … I will have used it a couple of times to install some program on some friend’s pc.
Anyway i have free some space and i have copyed in this second pendrive a totally different film… and about some minutes i have tryed to watch from my Pi2 whit osmc.

And… it’s exactly what happened this afternoon happened…

It’s very strange… how it’s possible ?
During reproduction same notification about “Safe Remove not avaialable” or somethings similar.
I was able to watch the whole movie without major problems but immediatelly after the end same exact situation.
It’s not back to file list but it’s back to root of kodi video browser… and the pendrive it’s no more available… also here like it’s auto-unmounted.

Also here… i have tryed to attach to my pc and same exact issue.
Apparently there’s space occupied but there’s no file present from Windows explorer.

How it’s possible ? It’s the current osmc as some feature like auto-unmonted device can create this issue ? Maybe try to disconnect the drive during playback and create this drive corruption ?

has anyone had similar experiences with other kodi devices for example ?

2

Guess power supply issue and that causes then a filesystem corruption which makes the file disappear.

2 Likes
3

You need a better power supply.

4

@sam_nazarko
@fzinken
mmmmmmmmmmmmm… interesting but the current power supply it’s enought recent buy.
For purpose test i can also test whit an official powersupply for my second Rpi4 but i need to found an adaptator usb type → mini usb to use it for this test.

Mainwhile i have to add some addictional information… the pendrive i used for this test it’s the only usb device connected to the Rpi2.
is it possible that this happens with only one device attached?
then if it were I shouldn’t see the lightning bolt symbol or found some info in current kodi.log ?

Where is osmc saving any under voltage logs?

5

About my current trouble today i have made one test…

Today i have buy this from a local store:
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61M-6iL1EIL.AC_SY450.jpg

It’s an adaptory type-c → mini usb.

I have used this to use my current Pi4 PSU (it’s an official PSU… buy about two months ago and use whit my Rpi4 whit retropie whitout any issue) on my current Pi2.

I have turned on my Pi2 and on TV it’s appears the OSMC Logo… about some seconds later it’s appears TEXT of boot information and inside of this i see again some errors report undervoltage and it’s very strange because on Pi4, as I said, this never append.

there must be something wrong somewhere else…

Try to attach my Pi2 to a different wall electric socket ??
It’s very strange…

P.S. Until to use another pendrive… for watch the other film now i have downlaod a SMB sharing from my pc to osmc. Lol… at least so I don’t risk damaging other pendrives :slight_smile:

6

I don’t think these adapter are very good in transporting power.

7

lol… there’s sold as fast charge compatible. I seem to have understood that the PSU issue is always much debated …often in the feedbacks of the various stores you will find positive votes for a specific PSU but to the same who reports the non-functioning of the same model.

also on the osmc store I put one in the cart … but as you can see I already have 5 different PSUs (3 x Rpi2 and 3 and 2 x Rpi4) and I wouldn’t want to buy more without needing them … :wink:

one question it’s…
whitout i can see the lightning on my tv… how i can check this issue when it’s happens?

i found on Google someone says to check the “dmesg” log… it’s correct?

if i use something like this:

dmesg | grep 'voltage'

do you think this is correct?

if i execute normally “dmesg” i can see a log whit only fist 21 second of my Rpi2 boot… it’s normal?

edit
after more research i found “dmesg” it’s ok to log the boot procedure and in theory i can see there’s no under-voltage event during the booting…

it’s the under-voltage issue it’s be logged on kodi.log?
yes?? it’s be logged only if i enable the debug log ?

is it perhaps because at the moment the thing is not so serious or is it too infrequent?

8

After about some other days i’m stay try to know if my Rpi2 suffered by undervoltage trouble…

After some research by Google i problably also know i can check another log using:

sudo journalctl

When i run it by SSH from my PC it’s comes out a very long list :slight_smile:

At this point i have tryed so many ways to filter like:

sudo journalctl | grep 'kernel'
sudo journalctl | grep 'volt'
sudo journalctl | grep 'norm'

‘kernel’ to filter all osmc kernel event… ‘volt’ tryed to found a term like voltage and 'norm" to try lines like “Voltage normalized”.

Apparently after about 48 hours of usage i can’t find anything… but honestly I still do not trust to reconnect a pendrive.
Maybe i can try to connect another different usb device like a keyboard or a mouse to see what’s append…

A question it’s… it’s right ?
It’s the any under-voltage trouble it’s correctly logged on “journalctl” or am I looking in the void?

9

Not necessarily, no.

10

therefore? any suggestions please … lol;)

11

If it happens with two pen drives, I’d change the PSU.

12

but i’m changed it… i have 5 different psu and before i’m totally sure I’m not want buy another.

i need to found a 100% way to found my current psu it’s damaged…

but apparently there is no way to find out… lol:
after this trouble i have re-attach my pi2 whit psu made this trouble… and i have start to found in every place like i have ask here.
i have ask on some kodi blog… some raspberry blog and also on some raspos blog speaking about raspberry if someone know a way to understand if my current psu it’s really damaged.

in some way someone has suggested to attach the psu to a voltage test meter and see what’s append but if PSU it’s not seriously damaged in this respect it would take hours to figure it out…

13

You cannot easily test if a PSU can maintain voltage under load with a simple volt meter.

It is also widely known common knowledge that PSU’s degrade over time.

14

Perhaps you could connect a powered USB hub to the Pi and plug the pen drive in to the powered USB hub, after salvaging what you can, re-formatting, and putting the videos back on it.

Another possibility is the pen drive doesn’t have as much space it should have and becomes corrupted because it’s fake.

15

If I remember correctly those old RPi’s had a auto resetting thermal fuse on the USB power line that had a tendency to degrade over time at which point they would trip at a much lower point than what they were designed for. I think I remember it not being an uncommon thing back in the day for people to just bridge over them to fix their RPi’s with this problem. The Raspberry Pi Foundation eventually switched to a different type of fuse but I don’t remember off hand when this hardware change was made.

On a more general note I have had power supply problems where I never saw a lightning bolt in OSMC even when the exact same hardware showed one booting LibreElec so I wouldn’t really rely on that showing up as an indicator.