# Mounting USB-Stick for powerpc install for edit from PC



## axm (Aug 25, 2018)

I am trying to mount an USB-Stick with https://download.freebsd.org/ftp/re...reeBSD-11.2-RELEASE-powerpc-mini-memstick.img using an i386 https://download.freebsd.org/ftp/re...MAGES/11.2/FreeBSD-11.2-RELEASE-i386-dvd1.iso but am failing.
When I insert the stick, /dev/da0 is added in the file system, but the expected entries for the partions /dev/da0sX are not.

Background: https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/...-via-ssh-how-to-autostart-live-os-sshd.67115/

fdisk /dev/da0 reports 4 partitons, first (boot?) of type Free/Net/...BSD, the three partitions 2-4 just "<UNUSED>"

gpart reports "no such geom /dev/da0".

With Ubuntu, gparted reports 4 partitions, first "unknown", second "hfs" - labeled "FreeBSD Bootstrap", third "ufs" (260 MB), forth "unallocated".
I can mount that partition with "sudo mount -t ufs -o ufstype=ufs2 /dev/sdb3 tmp/" - sadly debian derivates seemingly have write support for ufs disabled in their default kernels (and using a small *BSD is even advertised as a workaround somewhere ...).

I reobtained the image and recreated the stick without changes one time.

As far as I understand, ufs is a well established file system for *BSD and should work out of the box. Am I missing something? Should there be a problem mounting a powerpc installation stick (did not occur with i386 version) in a i386 live system?


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## ShelLuser (Aug 25, 2018)

axm said:


> When I insert the stick, /dev/da0 is added in the file system, but the expected entries for the partions /dev/da0sX are not.


Why do you assume that you need those?

What does `gpart list /dev/da0` tell you?


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## ShelLuser (Aug 25, 2018)

So I got curious and decided to download the images for both i386 and powerpc to see what this would get me. I think I discovered the problem:


```
peter@zefiris:/home/peter $ gpart show /dev/md?
=>     1  610192  md0  MBR  (298M)
       1  610192    1  freebsd  [active]  (298M)

gpart: No such geom: /dev/md1.

root@zefiris:/home/peter # file -s /dev/md1
/dev/md1: Apple Driver Map, blocksize 512, blockcount 534532, devtype 0, devid 0, driver count 0, contains[@0x200]: Apple Partition Map, map block count 3, start block 1, block count 3, name Apple, type Apple_partition_map, contains[@0x400]: Apple Partition Map, map block count 3, start block 4, block count 1600, type Apple_Bootstrap, contains[@0x600]: Apple Partition Map, map block count 3, start block 1604, block count 532928, name FreeBSD_Install, type FreeBSD-UFS
```
As it turns out the image uses a completely different partitioning scheme, one which isn't easily accessed by the PC version. So I think that's most likely also your problem.


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## axm (Aug 25, 2018)

Thanks, did not think about the partition table at all. What do you mean by "not easy"? Since this feels like it might be the last in a series of blocks and I do not have the option of using a powerpc instead I am willing to invest some work. Any pointers?


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## ShelLuser (Aug 25, 2018)

If you don't have the option to use a powerpc (Apple) then why bother with that memorystick image in the first place?


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## axm (Aug 26, 2018)

Sorry, this is only mentioned in the linked thread as background: I am trying to build a Live system for a headless device to test if FreeBSD will actually run on it (it is _not_ an apple device) - that one is my only powerpc.


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