Accessing ext2
From wikiPodLinux
This page is about accessing this Linux (ext2) partition on your iPod from your PC/Mac.
ext2 or ext3 is the file system format for the Linux partition used by iPodLinux on WinPods (but not on MacPods).
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Access from Linux
If you are using Linux on your PC, you should probably know how to access that ext2 file system on your iPod. Feel free to add more information here, though, if you feel the need for it.
Note: For writing on the ext2 file system you have to be logged on as root.
Linux Live CD
A LiveCD is an operating system (in this case a Linux disribution) stored on a bootable CD-ROM that can be executed from it, without installation on a hard drive. The system returns to its previous OS when the LiveCD is ejected and the computer is rebooted. It does this by placing the files which typically would be stored on a hard drive, onto a ram disk. This however does cut down on the RAM available to applications which reduces performance somewhat. Live CDs do not allow editing of content, as you are not logged on as root (you are considered a user named after the version of Linux being run).
- More informations about LiveDistributions (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LiveDistro)
This works on any computer which is able to boot from a CD. It doesn't depend on the operating system you are using.
Downloads:
- Slax (http://www.slax.org/) (alvailable in different languages)
- Ubuntu (http://www.ubuntu.com)
- Knoppix (http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html)
Access from Mac OS X
There is one known ext2 file system driver available for Mac OS X. It's called ExtFSManager and can be found here (http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=64713).
- Update Sep 2006: Version 1.4d3 of the driver now supposedly supports writing on Tiger (OS 10.4).
However, I (Tempel) could not manage to mount any iPod's ext2 partition with the old driver using the System Preferences Panel provided with it - it keeps telling me that the file system is corrupt even when checks under Linux show that it is perfectly fine (this is with OS 10.4.6 and version 1.4d1 of the ext2 driver). I found a solution, though - you need to mount it manually using the "-x" option as follows:
- Plug in your iPod. Your music partition should get mounted on the desktop.
- In Terminal, do this:
- mount
- In the list, find the iPod. Note its disk number - it would be like /dev/diskNs2 where N is the disk number.
- Create a directory inside /Volumes under which the ext2 fs should appear. E.g. enter:
- mkdir /Volumes/ipod-ext2
- Run a filesystem consistency check and interactive repair on partition:
- fsck_ext2 /dev/diskNs3 (replace the N with your disk number)
- Then mount the partition there:
- sudo mount_ext2 -x /dev/diskNs3 /Volumes/ipod-ext2 (replace the N with your disk number)
- Finally execute this command (don't ask me why, but every documentation I find suggests that I should):
- disktool -r
- Then open the volume in the Finder:
- open /Volumes/ipod-ext2
If you want to eject your iPod, you will have to manually unmount this volume again:
- sudo umount /Volumes/ipod-ext2 (note: it is umount, not unmount)
Other possibilities on Mac OS X
Another option is to get a Live CD.
Access from Windows
- LTools (http://www.it.fht-esslingen.de/~zimmerma/software/ltools.html) - Get the .net application because its GUI is easier to use. It can access and copy the files from the iPod but has problems with directories.
- Note 1: LTools doesn't work with 5.5G iPods.
- Note 2: If you get an error about write-protection when trying to add or delete files on the Linux file system, use the "Read Only" menu command or button, which should be somewhere in the toolbar of the program.
- For getting it running well in the .NET mode you need to have installed the Microsoft .NET Framework on your PC (available under the usual Windows Update link, as an optional update).
- Note that numerous people have problems using LTools.
- Total Commander (http://ghisler.com/) has ext2 support (you have to install the Ext2+Reiser plugin (http://ghisler.com/plugins.htm#filesys) separately), Linux partitions can then be accessed from the Network Neighborhood. But it is read-only (due to security reasons), i.e. it does not let you modify files on the ext2 partition (and the tool does not even tell you when you try).
- VMware workstation also works - You have to install a Linux distribution, then access the iPod from Linux.
- Note: This doesn't work with VMware 4.5, but it works with VMware 5.5.
- Virtual PC might or might not work - Virtual PC 2004 doesn't work with Ubuntu Linux.
- I (10kelvin) have been able to access my ipod from within VMware on XP SP2 with iPodService and iTunes not running on Windows. The guest operating systems I have used were NetBSD and Ubuntu Linux. One thing to note is that XP only hands over access for USB devices to VMware when VMware is already running while the USB device is inserted. For whatever reason VMware seems to ignore the device if it is already connected to Windows at start.
These are known to be NOT working
Explore2fs (http://uranus.it.swin.edu.au/~jn/linux/explore2fs.htm) - It won't work with iPods, because it can only access SCSI and IDE drives, not external devices such as iPods.
However, the page lists a few alternatives like ext2ifs (http://uranus.it.swin.edu.au/~jn/linux/ext2ifs.htm), ext2fsd (http://ext2fsd.sourceforge.net/) and fs-driver (http://www.fs-driver.org/). But they also don't work with iPods, or any removable media.
Another alternative is Paragon Partition Manager 7, which fails while mounting the ext2 partition. So this program also isn't able to access your ext2 ipod partition.
Other possibilities on Windows
Another option is to get a Live CD.
