Version 1.3 wont use HD for BTC node

Support and Troubleshooting
1

Hi all,
Before posting, I looked everywhere that I could think of for someone with the same issue, even YouTube and no one else seems to have posted this?!

Via fresh install, multiple times, Bitcoin Node only uses the mSD for storage of the blockchain instead of using my HD.

I can find the hdd in terminal without issue but everyone seems to have their OS default to it for storage, but mine wont

Any ideas?

I have tried some work-arounds but they dont seem to work for some reason and I cant seem to get the node to stop running so i can copy the .bitcoin folder

oh yeah and im a total n00b. Been using PIs and stuff for years but in a copy/paste style

2

From what you mention that you are using an SD, I assume that you are using an RPI. This behavior you mention is totally unusual since umbrelos is configured to ignore the SD as storage.
It would help to know more about your context.

  • Type of RPI you use.
  • Disk connected to the RPI.
  • Attach the umbrelos logs.

This will give us a better idea of ​​what is happening to you.

3

Hi Jofraprez,
Thanks for the reply.

I am using a Pi2, 2Tb drive and which logs should I attach, and how much?

4

Just to be clear…
Is your RPI one like this: https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-2-model-b/ ?

And is your disk a HD (Mechanical)?

You can download the logs (umbrel and Bitcoin-core) in your umbrel.local/settings/troublesoot

Then, you can add them here

While you answer me, I’ll tell you…

If your RPI is that, we’re already off to a bad start… Initially, the minimum requirements to use umbrelos on an RPI was an RPI4. Currently, they are an RPI5 and up.

An example. One of my nodes runs on an RPI4 with 8Gb of RAM and only makes a backup of the blockchain. With that alone it’s already using more than 1 Gb of RAM. If you add more apps to this, it continues to consume resources.

Umbrel (11.02.2025 09_56)
Umbrel (11.02.2025 09_56)1920×940 303 KB

Now, imagine your RPI2 with only 1 Gb of RAM. And if you add a (mechanical) HD to this. Bitcoin-core app consumes RAM and processor when indexing the blocks. 1 Gb of RAM and a (mechanical) HD… This could be, from the start, the origin of your problem.

To give you a more “tangible” example. It would be like you want to build your house and you need to transport the material for it (cement, beams, bricks, etc.) but you don’t have a truck or you don’t want to pay for the truck. So you decide to use your little Ford Fiesta to transport the material.

And yes… you will have to make many trips, maybe some arrangements to fit everything into the little Ford Fiesta and the little Ford Fiesta will be struggling but you will get it.

After you have transported everything, if the car doesn’t break down before, the little Ford Fiesta will be a piece of shit with a thousand problems.

5

Hi there… thanks for the quick reply. I am using a Pi 4, so it would be much better than the dreaded Ford Festiva hahaha

I did a fresh install (again) and downloaded logs from start. It finds my drive and returns its information, so I would expect it to do as it should… but alas…

I will attempt to add both logs

umbrel-1739358305046.log (126.6 KB)

umbrel_bitcoin_2025-02-12_21-45.log (81.0 KB)

6

I find what you’re saying confusing…
Were you really using an rpi2 and the problem was happening on this device?
Is this rpi 4 that you’re now mentioning another device with a new installation?

Well, I’ve superficially reviewed the logs and something caught my attention. I’ll explain it to you with a comparison.

The following is from the log of one of my nodes: RPI 4, 2TB disk… well, like the one you say you have now.

usb 2-1: New USB device found, idVendor=174c, idProduct=55aa, bcdDevice= 1.00
usb 2-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=2, Product=3, SerialNumber=1
usb 2-1: Product: ASM1153E
usb 2-1: Manufacturer: RSH-319
usb 2-1: SerialNumber: 00000000009E
scsi host0: uas
scsi 0:0:0:0: Direct-Access RSH-319 ASM1153E 0 PQ: 0 ANSI: 6
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 3907029168 512-byte logical blocks: (2.00 TB/1.82 TiB)
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 4096-byte physical blocks
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 43 00 00 00
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Preferred minimum I/O size 512 bytes not a multiple of physical block size (4096 bytes)
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Optimal transfer size 33553920 bytes not a multiple of physical block size (4096 bytes)

If you look, it shows me the product name, manufacturer and disk capacity: [sda] 3907029168 512-byte logical blocks: (2.00 TB/1.82 TiB).

Ahora, veamos el tuyo.

New USB device found, idVendor=174e, idProduct=1155, bcdDevice= 1.00
usb 2-2.2: New USB device strings: Mfr=2, Product=3, SerialNumber=1
usb 2-2.2: Product: SATA
usb 2-2.2: Manufacturer: Pinas
usb 2-2.2: SerialNumber: 0000000000EC
usb-storage 2-2.2:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
scsi host0: usb-storage 2-2.2:1.0
usb 2-2.4: new SuperSpeed USB device number 4 using xhci_hcd
usb 2-2.4: New USB device found, idVendor=1741, idProduct=1156, bcdDevice= 1.00
usb 2-2.4: New USB device strings: Mfr=2, Product=3, SerialNumber=1
usb 2-2.4: Product: sata
usb 2-2.4: Manufacturer: Pinas
usb 2-2.4: SerialNumber: 0000000000E1
scsi host1: uas
scsi 1:0:0:0: Direct-Access     Pinas    sata             0    PQ: 0 ANSI: 6
sd 1:0:0:0: [sda] 1953525168 512-byte logical blocks: (1.00 TB/932 GiB)

Your log detects 2 disks. Both with the same manufacturer, different serial numbers and only detects the capacity of one of them: 1953525168 512-byte logical blocks: (1.00 TB/932 GiB).

Since you had told me…

I am using a Pi2, 2Tb drive and which logs should I attach, and how much?

Is your disk partitioned?..

To check this, connect via SSH to your rpi and run the command:

df

Then paste the result here, please.

7

Oh gee… I didnt notice that I had written that I was using a Pi 2… I wondered why you mentioned the Pi 2 until you quoted me - Im so sorry for wasting your time on that but I have never tried to install Umbrel on a pi2, only Pi 4… I may have hit the wrong key and not read back on what I typed prior to hitting send.

I have 2Tb disks, 1Tb (and a smaller one that Ive not tried to use due to the size of the blockchain) but this attempt was using a smaller one that I have used previously for a bitcoin node.

DF returns this information (only the SD CARD) and not SDA:

umbrel@umbrel:~$ df
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
overlay 50219552 47645164 0 100% /
tmp 3998708 1688 3997020 1% /run
/dev/mmcblk0p7 50219552 47645164 0 100% /run/rugpi/mounts/data
/dev/mmcblk0p5 3435936 3006424 234552 93% /run/rugpi/mounts/system
/dev/mmcblk0p1 261864 732 261132 1% /run/rugpi/mounts/config
/dev/mmcblk0p2 130796 90564 40232 70% /boot
devtmpfs 4096 0 4096 0% /dev
tmpfs 3998708 0 3998708 0% /dev/shm
tmpfs 5120 0 5120 0% /run/lock
tmpfs 799740 0 799740 0% /run/user/1000

8

You are complicating things in an incredible way by adding elements that were not present in the original problem. At least that is what I think because, after reading you, I no longer know where we are standing or what the elements of the original problem were.

Among all this confusion, what I can understand leads me to think that it may be a hardware problem. My bets are between the RPI, the disks and the probable adapter you use to connect the disk to the rpi. If you use an adapter. All this due to the use/wear of the parts. That is, how new are the disks you use?.. have they had problems from the beginning, etc?

Well, let’s make one last attempt. Let’s start from a common origin and don’t contaminate the tests, please.

In short, you need your node mounted on the RPI4 with the 2 TB disk working correctly. Let’s start from there if that is what you are looking for. Let me know if that’s the case and how you connect the 2TB disk to the rpi (with an adapter, if the adapter has its own power supply, the disk model and the time you’ve had it working, etc.). All these details can help to find out the origin of the problem.

I’ll detail the steps.

1.- Use the installer of the latest version of umbrelos for RPI4. But not the one you already have, download it again. You can find it here ( Release umbrelOS 1.3 · getumbrel/umbrel · GitHub ) under the name umbrelos-pi4.img.zip

2.- Use Balena etcher ( balenaEtcher - Flash OS images to SD cards & USB drives ) to flash the SD.

3.- Format the 2TB disk to start from scratch and make sure that you don’t have the problem stored on the disk.
If the disk has the blockchain, it doesn’t matter. You can backup the blockchain to another disk and then just copy/paste it into the new installation or download it again. It’s not a big deal to download it again either. If you have other “important” things stored on the disk, backup them before formatting it.

4.- Once all the above is done, proceed to install normally: insert the flashed sd with the most recent version into the RPI, the disk connected and start the RPI.

And we stick to this.

Once installed from scratch, attach the logs, do the same test via SSH with the df command and see what happens.