FreeAgent Theater and GoFlexTV

[playdude]

Got a USB DVD drive lying around and not knowing what to do with it? How about hooking it up to your FAT+ to make it play your DVD contents?

Here's how you do it. I'll assume you have a USB drive mounted at

/tmp/usbmounts/sda1

#ssh or telnet into your FAT+

#Go to your usb drive and create a directory to mount your DVD
cd /tmp/usbmounts/sda1
mkdir fatdvd

#Connect a USB DVD drive to a USB port of your FAT+ and put a DVD in

#Check if the USB DVD comes up
dmesg

#If the USB DVD drive is detected, something like this should appear at
#the end of dmesg

#usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
#Vendor: SONY      Model: DVD RW DRU-700A   Rev: VY05
#Type:   CD-ROM                             ANSI SCSI revision: 00

#Mount the dvd
mount -t vcd -o ro /dev/cdrom0 fatdvd

#If you mount correctly, dvd contents should appear there
ls -al fatdvd

Now you should be able to use your FAT+ to browse through your USB drive to directory fatdvd and view your DVD files in there.

#Once you've finished player dvd file

#you can properly unmount your USB DVD with this command

umount /tmp/usbmounts/sda1/fatdvd

[TheFatty]

Hi Playdude,

Is it possible to automatically mount the DVD drive when it's plugged in, and without a USB drive? 

Thanks!

[tony55]

Playdude,

Thanks for the info on connecting a Usb disk drive to the Fat+ and I'm sure that once you have done it your directions would seem quite straightforward.

But, It baffles me. 

Your quote......Here's how you do it. I'll assume you have a USB drive mounted at

/tmp/usbmounts/sda1.                      I'm lost at that point

So could you expand your process a bit more. I gather that to use the disk drive you also need to have a usb hard drive connected with a directory and instructions in that directory.

Do you also have to have your computer connected? to the fat+?

Tony

[TheFatty]

Hi Tony,

I managed to follow Playdude's instructions as follows.

You'll need Playdude's modded firmware 1.45 or follow my instructions on changing the root password. This will allow telnet access to the FAT+.

So, yes, for telnet access, you'll need a computer connected (via a network cable / WiFi). And, you'll need to use telnet (in WinXP) or download putty.

Login to the FAT+ as root...

Then, plug in a thumb drive or FreeAgent Go hard disk, and the FAT+ will automatically mount it as /tmp/usbmounts/sda1 or sda2 or similar.

Now, the plug in the DVD drive into the other USB, and insert a disc. The problem is the FAT+ does not mount it and does not show it in the menus.

The workaround is to manually mount the DVD drive over an existing directory on the thumb drive or hard disk! Playdude's instructions creates the directory fatdvd on the thumb drive / hard disk for this purpose.

Once mounted, you can disconnect from telnet. On the FAT+, navigate to the thumb drive / hard disk fatdvd directory. And viola, instead of an empty directory, you'll see the contents of the DVD / CD.

It's a lot of bother, but it's the only way I can get access to my many backup DVDs / CDs without having to copy files to hard disk...

[avvaru_theja]

I am having FAT+ with Firmware 1.55*, can I make use of USB DVD drive on this FAT+. I was uable to downgrade the FW version to 1.45. I am really looking for a way to make use of my DVD discs and DVD drive with FAT+ instead of copying each file to hardrive.

[prairiedog]

Nope, you are unable to use this modification with firmware 1.55 and above.

Playdude and others, can you add a disclaimer of sorts to the first entry of mod-related posts to indicate this?  Something like "This modification is only available for pre-1.55 firmware.  You cannot downgrade to an earlier firmware from 1.55 and above."

[IvanTheEvil]

Does that work with a Blu Ray Rom, too?