Using the Logging USB drive for other storage

I added a USB stick to my VERA, to hold logs. I was disappointed to find that VERA re-partitions the drive to 512MB. This is not very useful.
So, i played with it, and have discovered that it is possible to modify the drive so that the entire space is available.
I use it to to store my EVENTWATCHER log files, but there are a number of other things it can be used for. most all of the USB drive can be used.
I’m using a 16gig stick now, with about 14Gig available for use.

It is most easily accomplished by using GPARTED (on a linux box) to modify the partitions and file system AFTER Vera has set it up. (you power off vera, modify the USB stick, re-insert, then power up)

GPARTED has a “liveCD” that can be used to do this if you are a Windows(r) user.
WARNING: BE CAREFUL - GPARTED will also see your computers hard drive… DON’T mess with that !! make sure to select and work only on the USB drive

detailed instructions are attached (PDF)

i ran this by MiOS support, and they don’t seem to have an issue with doing this.

Hi,

Please note that many, including my self, have seen that the Vera can reformat the drive at a startup and you will loose all your data on the USB also used for Vera logging. I would not recommend to use it for anything but temporary files.

Best way I found is if you have a NAS create a CIFS share and use that for the things you do not want to loose.

Cheers Rene

Agreed. This was an easy way to get more space without having to mount stuff…

“any Data worth having… is worth having backed up”

Thanks !

Ted

[quote=“reneboer, post:2, topic:200338”]Hi,

Please note that many, including my self, have seen that the Vera can reformat the drive at a startup and you will loose all your data on the USB also used for Vera logging. I would not recommend to use it for anything but temporary files.

Best way I found is if you have a NAS create a CIFS share and use that for the things you do not want to loose.

Cheers Rene[/quote]

I actually found the script which does this. Unfortunately it is the script which also creates the external backup itself.
Generally speaking, I do not trust USB flash drives due to endurance and quality of the flash itself being generally the lower grade NAND flash. It has limited write cycle and lacks wear leveling and error correction mechanism. I would recommend instead to use some older small SSDs if you have some laying around. I would also recommend, if you are to do down this path to extroot (I posted how to do it here http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php?topic=103140.0) instead which has many other benefits besides getting more drive space.