TL-MR3420 Ver1.2 [ USB & Swap support with ExtRoot ]
Reference, thanks & credits go to the following :
- http://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/howto/extroot
- https://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?pid=123070#p123070
[Optional] Setup as Standalone Device
I setup the device as standalone unit as follows, with main gateway pointing to my TL-WR1043ND [192.168.1.1], which is also running OpenWRT
Disconnect PC from the device, connect and attach the device to existing LAN switch, open browser and type the device's new IP
I disabled some of the following services
Also named the device
Reboot the device after the above setup
Prepare USB2 External 2.5" HDD
I use Minitool Home Free to create 2 partition as follows on an USB2 external 2.5" SATA HDD
- Partition 1 : about 1GB for Linux Swap
- Partition 2 : all remaining size for data on ext3 filesystem
(Note: Refer HERE for more information on HDD partitioning)
Setup USB, Swap and ExtRoot
To install package, go to " System --> Software tab "
Click Update lists
Once the list updated, type " kmod-usb-storage ", click Find package
Click on Available tab, click Install the following package
Continue to finish install the following packages
Plug-in the USB2 HDD now
Go to " System --> Reboot tab "
Click Perform reboot
After reboot, launch PuTTY, type the following command lines, then reboot the device again
After reboot, launch WinSCP, go to " /etc/config " folder
Locate & edit the file fstab
Change to the following, take note the partition numbering:
- /dev/sda1 = Partition 1 (LinuxSwap)
- /dev/sda2 = Partition 2 (ext3 for data)
Back to LuCI, reboot the device
After re-boot, go to the following section, notice the free space now, YEAH !
Go to check the Mount Points, the ext3 is mounted correctly to /overlay, however in my case, the swap seem not working, not sure why ....
So I click Edit it
Enable the swap as follows
Go to Startup, ensure the fstab is Enabled
Reboot the device, again ....
Wah-la, all mounted nicely !
Launch PuTTY to re-confirm again
To spin down the HDD after some time of idling
Install the luci-app-hd-idle
Noticed there is a new tab under Services, setup the HDD idling accordingly.
Finally, USB HDD + SWAP + ExtRoot all done