yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Shield Android TV General] kanariad:
Hi everybody

help

I am turning to you to ask for your help, I have a shield 2017 and by mistake I formatted my hard drive, with software I was able to restore some files but I don't know which ones are useful, now I would like to install a 1TB samsung 860 evo ssd on my shiel, someone could explain to me how to do it step by step, I have never worked on Linux so if it is possible to do the manipulation under Windows with third party software I I'm interested if not, I beg you to explain to me like a tutorial how to do it step by step, I was able to install Kali Linux but after that I don't know how to use the functions like DD...

thanks in advance

Kind regards
[Shield Android TV General] hallydamaster:
[MENTION=7386697]Tilator[/MENTION]

Look, if you care to share your steps I'll help you find a way to clone it to a smaller SSD? It must be possible to somehow shrink the data partition mounted as sdcard.

If it can be shrunk to ~250 GB it could possibly be cloned to a smaller drive as well.
[Shield Android TV General] Tilator:
It's not that simple. I did try different things to make it smaller for a 320GB drive I have here, but it did not work. Result with a bigger 1TB drive was the same.

The reason why I don't tell you how it's done is not that I would not like to tell. It's because it was quite complicated.

You all should do something else now and that's where I can give you some advice. Take a look at the Shield original HD with something like Photorec (needs Linux and knowledge what to do). The disk has GPT partitionin system and more than dozen EXT4 partitions. The very beginning of the file system has been messed up some way. That's why Linux or any other OS does not find file system. With Photorec you can restore partition information as it should be and then you have access to the contents.

But - after fixing partition system so that Linux can recognice it makes the disk unbootable to Shield. Shield can only use the "messed up" version of the disk.

Next big question is how is the partiton system messed up and is it possible to first fix it, then secondly change kernel and root system and what ever needed and in the end make this again bootable to Shield. If this can be done, we are free to make new things beeing independent abou what Nvidia allows us to do. This is the ultimate goal.

The SSD swap or "HD cloning" I made possible with the files shared with the torrent are just a tool. It gives all of you possibility to do and try anything you want without fear of losing the device totally by bricking it. It gives you means to restore the drive and make it bootable again.

It's not important how I did it. Important is that more and more people try to find out how to go to the next level which is freedom to let this fine HW do what it's capable to.

If I had time enough next thing to do was to first take bit to bit copy of working Shield HD. Then fixing partition table to make it readable for standard Linux and third thing would be finding differencies between original copy and fixed one. If we are lucky, there will be only a few first sectors to differ from each other and making fixed copy bootable to shield will be only replacing those few sectors.

B.T.W How many of you have already given it a try? Have you found new HD/SSD types that will work with Shield? I suppose next important thing was making a list of drives that will do. That's the way I can help us now to reach the "ultimate" goal.
[Shield Android TV General] hallydamaster:
Well, I still think that sharing your insight with others can only help the cause.

On a different note it's great that you figured that recovery software like Photorec can rectify the seemingly messed up disk layout.

Possibly the Shield is only reading from the secondary GPT header located at the end of the drive, and using the first area of the disk where the primary GPT header usually resides for some proprietary means.

That means Photorec can read the disk, and restores the primary header with the secondary reader, overwriting Nvidias bootcode?

My HDD is almost full, so atm I can't find the time to backup everything to test this, but maybe others can?

What if we start with a newly factory reset Shield with an empty drive and make a DD backup of the first part of the drive where protective MBR and primary GPT header usually would be, see schematics:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/GUID_Partition_Table_Scheme.svg

Then it might be possible to resize the data partition to the desired size (up or down), and then the CRC in the GPT headers get recalculated.

After that it might be possible to use DD to restore the Nvidia bootcode on first part of the drive, again making it recognizable in the Shield?
[Shield Android TV General] Tilator:
That's about what I have had on my mind to try too, though it might be usefull to try first only fixing partition table and after that DD "bootcode" (or what ever Nvidia desided to use standard GPT area for) back to test if it still boots.

If this can be done without altering partition sizes, next step would be trying to make different size drive.

What I already did try was using this 500GB drive restoring process on 1 TB drive. It did not lead to booting HDD.
[Shield Android TV General] Luxferro:
I just ordered a samsung evo 850 500GB, and plan on doing the swap.

In the past I had ordered the exact seagate drive that is already in there, and did a 1:1 copy of the existing drive using a standalone disk cloner, but I assumed it didn't work, as it didn't seem to boot.. but maybe I needed to do a 2nd cold boot like w/ the OP's method.
[Shield Android TV General] Tilator:
Just try my method on your new Seagate too and report here how it went.
[Shield Android TV General] hallydamaster:
Actually why not try the the 1:1 clone and try booting it twice? That would be much more interesting! :)
[Shield Android TV General] Luxferro:
I'm not sure if I wrote over that drive or not, I did it a while ago. But I'll try other things once I get the SSD and attempt w/ the OP's method, this way I have a working alternative before I start messing with my only working drive. My prior tests were on a previous system, that had to get RMA'd, due to the bad batch of hybrid drives. So my new system is working good, and hasn't been opened, ect, yet.
[Shield Android TV General] hallydamaster:
Well, please let us know what you have got working and such. I am in the process of freeing up a 750 GB spare drive, next step is backing up the data on the SATV.

Then I'll attempt to resize the data partition to make it fit on a bigger drive.
[Shield Android TV General] ahmed68:
anybody can tell me howto open shield pro to replace hdd please.

thanks a lot
[Shield Android TV General] hallydamaster:
Apparently you just pry the bottom open with a smallish screwdriver. No screws. Of course you would have to be careful not to crack the plastic.
[Shield Android TV General] ahmed68:
thank you very much
[Shield Android TV General] NiHaoMike:
You shouldn't need a screwdriver to remove the bottom cover. Fingernails are enough.
[Shield Android TV General] ahmed68:
Thanks everybody for help.

---------- Post added at 08:47 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:43 AM ----------

anybody can tell me how to use 2 TB hdd. i can clone the original one or not .
[Shield Android TV General] hallydamaster:
My approach would be to start with a fresh factory reset SATV and with an empty data partition.

Then you take out the HDD and dump the first 16 GB of the disk. Then dump the secondary GPT header in the end of the disk.

I think that should be enough to restore your original HDD in case nothing works.

According to Tilator you can then use a recovery software such as Photorec to rebuild the primary GPT header. Now the disk is readable and could be cloned to a bigger drive.

If the cloning is successful you should have a disk with both primary and secondary GPT headers with the correct CRC.

Then simply overwrite the first 34 sectors from your original HDD to the new HDD. This again makes the disk unreadable, but maybe bootable in the shield again.

If it doesn't boot at first, then try wait 15 minutes and pull the plug and start again.
[Shield Android TV General] ahmed68:
thank you very much , i will try to do it soon
[Shield Android TV General] Luxferro:
My SSD came, but it didn't come in the retail box like it should have. Came in a anti-static sealed bag only... so I'm waiting to hear back from the place I bought it, because it shouldn't come like that. So it might be a while before I get to try anything.
[Shield Android TV General] wikkid76:
Just wanted to say thank you.

I finally got a chance to do this over the weekend and it works great. Noticed the difference in speed immediately.

I also used a Samsung 850 EVO, because it was easy for me to get my hands on, so I can't add anything to the compatibility information.

I can say that I was able to use an Ubuntu VM, in VMware Workstation 12 Player to write to the drive while it was connected to usb. So you don't have to have linux up and running to do this, a vm will work fine. :)

Thanks again.
[Shield Android TV General] visitor29:
thanks for your work and share with us, thanks for torrent file. Will try soon swap Samsung ssd evo 500gb, will write back how goes - finally :good::good::good:
[Shield Android TV General] visitor29:
spinning android boot screen and nothing's going on. Also when plug in power cord tv screen stay is black, only when holding finger "on and off" on power touch button only than screen starts getting signal and after nvidia logo get stuck on android boot process. P.s. tried twice copy dd command Ubuntu vmware bin files and several times 15-20 mins for wait on android spinning screen. samsung ssd 850 evo 500gb, nstv pro. Any advice guys?
[Shield Android TV General] ahmed68:
hi everybody

I try to use 2TB (Seagate ST2000LM003) but it 9,5 mm the cover not close. now I use Samsung EVO 850 500GB in shield everything works fine but I don't now how to test the speed of ssd on android thanks all for help

---------- Post added at 12:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:31 AM ----------

Samsung EVO 850 500GB DC 5V 1.4A and seagte ST500ML00 DC 5V .7A its doesnt matter for power supply and power regulator IC in motherboard
[Shield Android TV General] Tilator:
Take a look at:

https://forums.geforce.com/default/...ndroid-tv/share-your-adopted-storage-speeds-/

At the end of page 5 you can find my test result.
[Shield Android TV General] visitor29:
I'm giving up ---- tried everything, don't know how you getting up and running ( even install ubuntu on pc and tried completely 1:1 follow instruction )
[Shield Android TV General] Tilator:
Your disk is 500GB model? Not 512GB pro version?

It does not need anything but one bad sector on the disk and it might not work. Have you tested the disk?
[Shield Android TV General] visitor29:
500gb evo

no didnt checked .... will do now, will see how goes. thanks
[Shield Android TV General] visitor29:
done and dusted

i'm back with good new, finally and after many hours i swap successfully ssd samsung evo 850 500gb.

early starting this morning i done plenty transfers those bins files through ubuntu system and ubuntu vmware player and always get stock on spinning android loading screen, following 1 : 1 by instruction (one moment i just start tell my self - i don't need ssd :D )

thanks to ahmed68 he share info HOW, looks he had same trouble and and he figure out how later - by simply formatting ssd (i guess any tool = i use integrated tool on window machine - control panel, administrative tool etc) and after back to the Linux using command

sudo fdisk -l

sudo fdisk /dev/sdc # input n, p ,1, enter, enter, w

and following after dd commands...

and all OK, its works fine

p.s. i use ssd through usb controller from some old hhd case / enclosure and ubuntu vmware player

thanks tilator for your work and ahmed68 for opening my eyes :D
[Shield Android TV General] Magissia:
I'm putting 25$ on the table for a working solution to use drives with sizes different than 500GB (smaller and bigger) with the possibility to use the whole available space while running Android, preferably with nVidia's builds.

I only own the emmc version, but I'm curious enough to see methods used to get this done to put money on this.

Of course, it means I will want all the crunchy technical details, steps that leaded to this.

If this happens, feel free to send a private message with a link to the message to wake me up and redeem.

With some chance, other will add to the bounty, making it more worth the time to study this.

If open source tools are used to get this done, I will donate to the projects or individuals working on the used tools in addition. I think this is more fair this way.
[Shield Android TV General] Sub-Negro:
This looks to complicated for me. And has anyone actually tried this out with you know some actual games. I know Half-Life has some terrible load times among other things. The current SSHD is slower than UFS 2.0 I am getting 50 megs on it whereas on my GS6E I get 90 megs.
[Shield Android TV General] ahmed68:
hi everybody in the first when I try to boot in 2tb hdd all work good

1.sudo fdisk -l

sudo fdisk /dev/sdx # input n, p ,1, enter, enter, w

sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdx

2.restore the partition with file from form(dd if=end_976574630.bin of=/dev/sdb seek=976574630) 976574630 for 500gb if you have other change it take it from sudo fdisk -l.

when I boot I see NVidia then android animation but not boot.

3.turn off the shield and connect otg-usb to the pc try to boot in fastboot mod (the shield must be connected to pcwindows or linux ) in the fastboot goto recovery its TWRP (need a mouse) goto wipe and chouse formate data that's all. for me 2tb hdd work but its 9.5mm the cover not close.

sorrey for bad English.
[Shield Android TV General] Tilator:
This sounds really promising. Can you tell what exactly did you do in section 2 and did you dd the first binary on the disk at all?
[Shield Android TV General] ahmed68:
I only change 976574630 (dd if=end_976574630.bin of=/dev/sdb seek=976574630) for 2tb hdd I take it form (sudo fdisk -l)

the first binary (dd if=start.bin of=/dev/sdb bs=4M) I use it without change.
[Shield Android TV General] Tilator:
OK.

Can you tell exactly what seek value did you use if it was not 976574630 and can you tell also what fdisk -l did show you with this 2TB drive?
[Shield Android TV General] ahmed68:
ok but now I cant I'm not home now
[Shield Android TV General] Tilator:
I'll wait.
[Shield Android TV General] oldshanshi:
I also had to rewrite this value on the 1TB hard drive, but did not see the LOGO NVidia（can't boot）,And now TV shield completely can not boot including the original SSHD
[Shield Android TV General] Tilator:
Weird? Some trouble with the tiny "SATA cable"?
[Shield Android TV General] ahmed68:
this case like ( visitor29 ) try to format sshd by windows 10 install disk or usb then boot to Ubuntu 14.04 by gparteds delete all part from sshd after open terminal

1.sudo fdisk -l

sudo fdisk /dev/sdx # input n, p ,1, enter, enter, w

sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdx

sdx change it for you sshd you must see it in gparteds then restore the partition with file from the form it well work now good luck
[Shield Android TV General] oldshanshi:
Now we can not determine where the problem occurred. Plug in the hard disk will be hot for a long time, but the fan does not turn, did not have any on display
[Shield Android TV General] Tilator:
SATA cable has a white line on it. Is it almost inside the SATA connector?
[Shield Android TV General] oldshanshi:
When inserted white lines exposed on the outside. You mean you want to plug into the invisible white line?
[Shield Android TV General] visitor29:
on mine shield i can't plug deep, its stays out maybe 1mm. i recon on yours same, don't forget other side of connector unclip fixing clip TO up position to get properly pull in sata cable :good:

---------- Post added at 05:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:41 PM ----------

i noticed my shield with ssd in it boots in apx mode when doing cold restart, getting out from apx just restart with touch power button and works like supposed to be. Anyone have also this or just me somewhere messed up preparing ssd?
[Shield Android TV General] oldshanshi:
My shield tv pro also becomes APX mode, I think it becomes a brick
[Shield Android TV General] ahmed68:
dont worry it will work but today im to bussy , we must understand

1. shield not work when case open (fan not work and not boting)I try many time.

2. when connect sshd to pc the bios make one drive active only(after first boot in the pc the sshd come un active and cants boot)

3.restore sshd by dd it work 100% thanks alots for Tilator for greet job.

im not recommend to use ssd because it need dc 5v 1.4a vs sshd dc 5v 0.7a mebay dameg mother bord or power supply but it work.
[Shield Android TV General] ahmed68:
i dont remember was one i use (3907029168 or 3906504880 or 3907026943) by dd if=end_976574630.bin of=/dev/sdd seek=3906504880 today I try but I cant boot , if you can help to calculate the end seek that well work

for ST2000LM003 THE END SECTOR IS 3907029168 and how to sync hdd in Ubuntu.
[Shield Android TV General] thanhman18:
please post video guide,it will help me a lot xD
[Shield Android TV General] ahmed68:
video guide for 500gb or 2tb u need
[Shield Android TV General] kalinskym:
any improvement in speed
[Shield Android TV General] visitor29:
Using two days and my opinion can't see kind of revolution in speed improvement ssd vs sshd (only transferring movies from pc to shield...this I guess only) but generally all is same + no spinning sound and shield stays cooler.
[Shield Android TV General] wikkid76:
Strange.

I find mine boots faster, apps load quicker. Everything about it feels quicker.

That being said, I also always found my Shield felt very slow.

Maybe I had a bum drive from day 1.
[Shield Android TV General] Tilator:
While transfering files from PC to Shield it's network what's the weakest point. Changing internal storage does not affect that.
[Shield Android TV General] ahmed68:
I think we can use any hdd in the shield use (JetPack-L4T-2.2.1-linux-x64.run) it install Ubuntu 14.04 64bit over lan , then boot to fastboot and install android from NVidia.

it work if hdd without os under android it well not work.

http://docs.nvidia.com/jetpack-l4t/...ile/jetpack/l4t/2.2.1/jetpack_l4t_install.htm

and her

http://xdaforums.com/shield-tv/general/build-kernel-source-boot-to-ubuntu-t3274632

if we do By yahoo2016 we need to synec a boot.img and recovery.img ( dd if=boot.img of=/dev/sdh bs=xxxxxx oflag=sync).

if any body can help to find wich bs=xxxxxx I think it will work.

if you don't now what to do u can see this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyhRMjaUknQ
[Shield Android TV General] Luxferro:
Just adding myself to the list of successful SSD swaps. I got the replacement samsung 850 EVO 500GB ssd today, and the swap worked flawlessly (I used my synology NAS to dd the files onto the drive) :)

Thanks [MENTION=7386697]Tilator[/MENTION]
[Shield Android TV General] mr.fixit1:
Hello, I just was reading this thread for the last few days and decided to try the SSD swap and it worked perfectly, thank you Tilator for your work on this. I do have a question though, since the bin files were made from the EU version will this cause any problems for me as I am in the US? I did notice the setup was slightly different, however it is downloading the 3.2 update right now so it will be a little while till I can play around with it as I have slow internet.

Ben
[Shield Android TV General] Luxferro:
Is anyone else having issues with netflix?

It seems to be refusing playback for every title, but only on this device. I've tried everything I can think of, and am even in chat with netflix support right now, but they aren't of help yet.

edit: looks like the netflix issues are ESN related.. so using these image may be an issue for people from the US. They didn't tell me that, but that is my hunch.
[Shield Android TV General] mr.fixit1:
Yep, looks like I am having the same Netflix issue.
[Shield Android TV General] Luxferro:
Looks like we need someone to create images for the US.

Or if we knew where on the hard drive the ESN data, and other unique info about the hardware is stored, we could dump it off our original drives, then write it to the SSD.
[Shield Android TV General] mr.fixit1:
I just put the original drive back in and Netflix works fine. I did take some pics of the serial info and netflix esn between the two drives, it looks like the netflix esn is different everything else seems to be unchanged. I know this may be a dumb question but I wonder if anyone has just tried to put in a blank drive in and then try to load the stock recovery image from Nvidia? I wonder if we could get Tilator to create US images ?
[Shield Android TV General] Luxferro:
You can't put in a blank hard drive, as the bootloader, fastboot, ect, are all stored on the hard drive. So without that, it boots into Nvidia APX mode, which is their proprietary utility: http://xdaforums.com/wiki/APX_mode. There's threads about this elsewhere, but it's a dead end so far to date, as you need keys only nvidia has access to.
[Shield Android TV General] mr.fixit1:
Oh yeah that makes sense, that is how the recalled tablets acted after they were remote wiped they would only show up in that AFX mode. Man this stinks I thought everything was good to go then I saw your post about Netflix :( and when I tried mine I got the same result. I wonder if we left our ssd's with the EU image in and then ran the recovery image would that reload it with the US image?
[Shield Android TV General] Luxferro:
I thought of trying it, but I think there are only one set of factory images (on their site), and they aren't region specific. So I'm guessing there is data on the hard drives that they don't touch, and it's region specific, and unique to your device. You can give it a try if you want though.
[Shield Android TV General] Tilator:
I can try to make US version of it, but I need a properly working US Shield or at least HD to make it. Is there someone to provide me this?

B.T.W Has anybody asked Nvidia is it possible to change region afterwords? I suppose it might be possible because people move from continent to an other and take the devices with them.
[Shield Android TV General] hallydamaster:
Well, I got around yesterday yo try and swap for a 750 GB drive.

I ripped off the first 17 GB of data from the drive, and then the last 134 MB to make sure I have the secondary GPT header + anything proprietary.

I was about to prepare the drive, but then I realized that the bigger drive is really "bigger", so it could not fit. So I never did carry on with this, and unfortunately I do not have a small form factor disk or SSD to play around with.

I am certain that if the end bytes are placed correctly at the end of the drive this will work. Even with a smaller let's say 250 GB SSD.

Anyone up for the task?

As per [MENTION=7449004]ahmed68[/MENTION] 's instructions you have to calculate the value to write to.

In linux fdisk -l gives you the drive size in bytes plus the block count.

E.G.:

A 250 GB HDD/SSD would have a block count of 488397168.

The end_976574630.bin [MENTION=7386697]Tilator[/MENTION] gives has a file size of 101651456 bytes which is then divided by 512 (block size) and gives you the number 198538.

This is the block count you will have to substract from the block count of the 250 GB disk.

This gives you the number 488198630 which is the value you would have to use when writing the end part of end_976574630.bin e.g.:

dd if=end_976574630.bin of=/dev/sdX seek=488198630

So again, anyone with smaller SSD's to try this?

Those of you with the problems regarding Netflix ESN, why not try to migrate your own disk instead of asking for a US version of this? The ESN is a unique identifier isn't it?
[Shield Android TV General] Tilator:
I did try this with 320GB HDD without luck some weeks ago. I suppose I mentioned it in some message then.
[Shield Android TV General] hallydamaster:
Well, according to [MENTION=7449004]ahmed68[/MENTION] he got the 2 TB to boot. Maybe something else went wrong?