On-device exFAT formatting does not work

[limi]

Knulli build version

knulli-h700-rg35xx-plus-40-20240530

Your architecture

RG35XX H

Issue description

Formatting the default partition for games to exFAT does not work. This is especially problematic since you default to ext4, which isn’t readable on Windows nor on macOS by default.

Detailed reproduction steps

1. Write the latest version to an SD card
2. Boot it up, let it do its thing
3. Try formatting the drive to exFAT
4. Insert the card into a macOS device

Result: the drive does not show up at all.

Here’s the disk geometry according to Disk Utility:

Details of any attempts to fix this yourself

N/A

Details of any modifications you have made to Knulli.

N/A

Logs and data

No response

[limi]

FWIW, I tried reformatting the separate partition to exFAT on the macOS side, and that just broke the SD card setup entirely. No idea if the disk geometry or partition map is incompatible or something like that.

[bert27]

It doesn't work for me either.
Do it from Windows: Click on Manage Devices and format it from there

[wolfscowl]

still does not work.
Windows does not recognize the formatted partition as exfat filesystem

[sbmueller]

I have the same problem
This is particularly critical since:

• On-device format does not work
• Wifi does not work with WPA3, so network sharing also is no option
• Mac format with exfat somehow corrupts the SD card

[djaysan]

same here - it worked the first time (i formatted my sd because of rom folders being messed up) - then now nothing - i try to format sd2 in exfat with device + reboot and now my computer won't even open the drive

[xanderhits]

Can confirm, exact same behaviour. Fresh Anbernic RG40XXH out of the box, fresh flash of Knulli (latest version as of today, just downloaded), no matter what I do, the formatting doesn't work. Have tried restarting, have tried a re-flash, have tried multiple things.... but just no cigar.

My Macbook is still reporting the disk as ext4 with diskutil as well.

[djaysan]

Can confirm, exact same behaviour. Fresh Anbernic RG40XXH out of the box, fresh flash of Knulli (latest version as of today, just downloaded), no matter what I do, the formatting doesn't work. Have tried restarting, have tried a re-flash, have tried multiple things.... but just no cigar.

My Macbook is still reporting the disk as ext4 with diskutil as well.

I found a way around it:
Format the card in exfat from the device. Then hit backup user data to the freshly formatted sd card.

Plug it in your macbook and you will see a bactocera folder. (I renamed the sd card "SHARE" ) Drag and drop the content to the root of the sd (make seure to show hidden files)

Plug the card back in and set the storage device to the sd card.

Restart the device and it will load all Your backup data. Make sure the storage device is set to the second sd card (share)

Sitch off, insert the card in computer and add your roms.

This has worked for me.

[PrzemekBarcik]

I have the same issue. I have fresh Knulli installed on RG40XX V and formatting doesn't work. I tried the steps above and doesn't help. Manual formatting on Mac just breaks structure of the card completely.

[djaysan]

I have the same issue. I have fresh Knulli installed on RG40XX V and formatting doesn't work. I tried the steps above and doesn't help. Manual formatting on Mac just breaks structure of the card completely.

Not sure if the rg40xx has 2 sd slot - on my rg35xx h i left the main sd card1 alone after Knulli instal and did all of the above with sdcard number 2.
if that helps...

[PrzemekBarcik]

I have the same issue. I have fresh Knulli installed on RG40XX V and formatting doesn't work. I tried the steps above and doesn't help. Manual formatting on Mac just breaks structure of the card completely.

Not sure if the rg40xx has 2 sd slot - on my rg35xx h i left the main sd card1 alone after Knulli instal and did all of the above with sdcard number 2. if that helps...

It has 2nd slot but unfortunately, mine is broken and can't read any card. That's why I'm trying to figure out best single card setup other than stock OS. I'm close with Knulli but this formatting thing doesn't work and I can't add any games as I have only Mac :/

[yingw]

Guys, I had same issue, after format disk as exFAT, then windows can't set driver volume to the ROM partition (but it can be seen in System Manager). Finally I found it can be fixed by: using DiskGenius (or Partition Guru) to open the TF card, will found the second ROM partition is a invisible status. Set it to visible , save config. Then it can be set driver volume in windows.

[bremedios]

Device: RG40XXV
Firmware: KNULLI V41-dev-2e5e1aaeb8 2024/11/06 08:29

Scenario 1: System does not format Second SD card as exFAT

• System is booted and using the 2 card setup
• Format is attempted via System Settings->Frontend Developer Options->Format A Disk

Scenario 1 is not a valid use case as the file system is mounted when the format is attempted. Checking batocera-format execution shows that it will not do the format if mounted.

umount: /userdata: target is busy.
unable to free the disk mmcblk1

Scenario 2: System does format the Second SD card as exFAT

• System is booted and using the 2 card setup
• System switched to 1 card setup
• System is rebooted
• Format is attempted via System Settings->Frontend Developer Options->Format A Disk

Scenario 2 is a valid use case and is working. Card is mounted on an Ubuntu system. Results may be different on MacOS or Windows.

Scenario 3: System does the format of the SHARE to exFAT on the 1st SD card (INTERNAL)

• System is booted in 1 SD card setup with only the 1 SD card installed
• Format is attempted via System Settings -> Frontend Developer Options->Format A Disk
• System is restarted after attempt

Some potential variation over reports above

• I used Ubuntu, did not test under Windows 10, Windows 11 or MacOS. Its possible that those could still have issue.
• I did not remove the card while in use / being written to by the device as this could cause a failure.

Some bugs or improvements I've noticed

• When an error shows up it flashes where the non-error status goes so you cannot tell that there was an actual error during the process.

[NorseIvan]

I have the same issue on Mac OS 15.2 running the latest Knulli version as of 12/12/2024. Single SD Card, settings format to expat, back out to main settings menu and restarted. Pop it into my Mac and it literally looks like the screenshots above. Need a fix.

[bremedios]

A quick note on my comment above.

I did not properly follow the documentation when I tested so some of the issues that I saw might not actually be issues but maybe not as intuitive as they could be.

https://knulli.org/play/add-games/formatting/

To format your data storages to the file systems of your choice, open the KNULLI main menu by pressing Start and choose Format a disk in the Frontent developer options section of the System settings. Make sure to choose the correct Device to Format and the File System you want to format the device to. Be aware that you need to reboot your device to apply the formatting after you chose Format now.****

[rosswintle]

I'm in the same situation as @NorseIvan. Installing on a new RG35xx H in single-card setup. When I format on the device to exfat then plug the card into a MacBook, I can't see the SHARE partition, only the BATOCERA partition.

If I format a new partition using Disk Utility on the Mac this seems to work when I put the card back into the RG35XX, but then going back to the Mac, the BATOCERA partition can't be seen either. I get this message:

diskutil list shows this for it:

/dev/disk4 (external, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *61.9 GB    disk4
   1:                       0xEE                         61.9 GB    disk4s1

I've had success with this on other devices using the knulli-h700-rg35xx-h-40-20240721 image, but I've tried on this new device with both the 20240721 image and the new knulli-h700-rg35xx-h-firefly-20241204 one. Same behaviour on both. Is it something to do with different SD cards?

[rosswintle]

Actually, update. I put an SD card from another device that MacOS previously recognised into my laptop and it's now not recognised (giving the error from the screengrab above).

So maybe this is something that happened in MacOS?

[crispybegs]

i'm having this same problem. format card to exfat in mac, out in RG40XXH, remove card and connect to mac again, but only the BATOCERA folders are viewable, no share folder with roms etc.

this is particularly irritating since, for some unknown reason, wifi transfer to the unit is incredibly slow whether using smb or syncthing. I did the same wifi transfers with an RG£%XXSP last week and it was very fast, so something seems to not be playing right with the RG40XXH, Knulli & wifi.. aside from the card issue

[Spec-DY]

I solved this problem by using DiskGenius, somehow that microsd drive is invisible, set it to visible solve the problem.

[crispybegs]

I solved this problem by using DiskGenius, somehow that microsd drive is invisible, set it to visible solve the problem.

not available for mac, unfortunately