HACK: P2 Store

Barry_Green said:
There is a limit on the number of partitions, it's 15 maximum. Even so, with 8gb cards, that would be 120GB.

The drive is formatted at the lowest level by the P2 Store itself, and no partitions are created at all. Then, every time you tell it to offload a card, it creates a new partition at that time, for that card.
Click to expand...

thanx, barry. i post 3 screenshots here to show you, what i mean.

in full condition, there are two partitions already on the p2store hdd, one linux
and one fat16. the other partitions are generated while the offload, thats true.

1eb9c4.jpg


2d77ad.jpg


i had a look at the p2store full erased.
there is one linux partition, the rest are fat16.

3394de.jpg


i worry about the linux partition. is it fixed on the hdd?
is it generated new in the format process of the p2store?

when it is generated new, then it should be possible to expand
the hdd size, right?

dont want to trash my p2store...
any ideas are welcome.
 
put a removable hard disc caddy in the p2 store.

put a removable hard disc caddy in the p2 store.

If i was hacking the p2 store i would put a removable hard disc caddy in the p2 store. Or if there was no room inside for that i would bolt one on the side !!

That way no complected firmware hack just slot a new drive in when you need it...
:bath:
 
haha, i'm starting to think of strapping a battery, a laptop, and a external drive to the cameraman would work just as well!
 
snpx: been the wrong way? I am welcome for any suggestions, but it seems that this project could potentailly be pointless since the P2Genie is coming out as well as a hacked Firestore. Eventually with products like those from CalDigit, I think we'll be doing full 4K captures straight to hard drive. Cut out the P2 ya know? But for now, I feel the manhours it would take to manifest a hack could be spend earning money for a P2G or other hardware. It seems that the way panasonic has designed the P2Store would be more complex than a firmware hack. It seems it would be a full on device hack which may be more difficult to achieve and would certainly void warranty.
 
Hi Joseph,

Sorry I haven't gotten back to you.

Here are my thoughts. As far as the project being pointless, I disagree. Anyone that has already invested in the P2 Store will be a potential customer, and with P2 cards growing in size, the 60 gig drive will be very limiting. All those with that unit will most likely be interested in upgrading it if possible and if reasonably priced.

The problem is that the P2 store is quickly becoming an obsolete solution for people. With the ability to buy a laptop at a cheap price, it almost doesn't make sense to get this unit any more. Yes, its more of a dedicated dump which will avoid human errors as opposed to using a laptop, but if it can only do a few cards then its almost better to get the laptop.

As for the manhours, you are right, these projects will take much longer than you think, and will cost more also. Its just a fact of life. If you were in LA, I would be more than happy to help out. But unfortunately, I don't own a P2 Store, and I don't believe you are in LA so I can't even make more recommendations as to how to tackle the project.

All I can say is, if you do attempt to go forward, godspeed!!!
 
please, could anyone tell me, if exchanging the internal 60gb hdd of the p2store
with a bigger one could be sucessfull??
it would be very helpful.
is there really a need for firmware hack or could it run without it.
please excuse my bad english, thanks.

best regards,
thomas
 
snpx said:
please, could anyone tell me, if exchanging the internal 60gb hdd of the p2store
with a bigger one could be sucessfull??
it would be very helpful.
is there really a need for firmware hack or could it run without it.
please excuse my bad english, thanks.

best regards,
thomas
Click to expand...

That seems to be the $64,000 question.

I've always wondered two things:

1. Is there something about the manufacture of the P2STORE drives (like embedding the hard drive serial number in the firmware) that would prevent a simple replacement?

2. (this may have been answered before by Spec-Comm and I missed it . . .), but: Where is Spec-Comm on this? I have read where others have intimated that it would be some sort of a violation of dealer agreements but as many of these units are now out of warranty (as is mine) does that change the picture any?

I would think that if anyone had the knowledge to answer this question it would be the good folks at Spec-Comm . . . David, Andrew, anyone?
 
Why not just 'tweak out' a laptop? You can buy a midrange laptop and give it 2x9 cell batteries, crank up power management and run it for 8-10 hours straight. In two years, you'll be able to afford a 128GB solid state drive and run it more than 12 hours. Plus you can actually preview your footage.
 
snpx, I don't have one so I can't really check. but some devices limit the size of the HD. their bios just can't handle more storage. Some people were talking about hacking the code to allow for more storage, but that is way out of my league.
if anyone in LA has a p2 store and is interested, I'd be willing to help them out and see what we can come up with.
 
Snpx, it seems that if you need a bigger hard drive, the solution isn't as easy as plug and play. You also only get so many saves per card. However, I guess if you imaged your hard drives or something you could swap the 60GB hard drive as needed by cracking the P2Store case open. Or you could just use siniarch's new firestore mod
 
Joseph,
wish you were in LA. I'm sure we could figure this out. Again. anyone with a P2 store in LA. I'd be willing to help mod it.
 
Siniarch,
I'm still interested in your firestore solution. I have a great Zacuto rails rig setup and the Firestore would easily fit onto it. I like it because there's no pop in pop out action so I could technically film continuously solo for an extended amount of time. When do you see units being ready for modding? What's your maximum drive size right now? Any firmware issues to be wary of it FireStore updates it?
 
Hey Joseph,
I know what you mean. I like the firestore for the same reason. One less guy needed. (and no laptop and no power needed as laptops usually only last for 3hrs unplugged and they become unreliable when battery is low. so you might think you transfered all the files but there are errors due to battery being low)

I'm not sure if you took a look at my other thread. But the moding will begin very soon. setting up the web site now and waiting for some HD enclosures. Seems like the ones I had chosen got discontinued or my distributor stopped carrying them. (they cancelled my order 1 day after it was supposed to be here. when I called them. agggrrrr)

As for Hard drive, I can get a 250mb max. I just did a test and was able to get over 11hrs on it. Check out this thread.
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=110597
 
i agree totally. lets go back on track. the firestore hack is interesting, but
completly another thing. so lets go p2store only in this thread.

to refresh :-) ...

snpx said:
in full condition, there are two partitions already on the p2store hdd, one linux
and one fat16. the other partitions are generated while the offload, thats true.

1eb9c4.jpg


2d77ad.jpg


i had a look at the p2store full erased.
there is one linux partition, the rest are fat16.

3394de.jpg


i worry about the linux partition. is it fixed on the hdd?
is it generated new in the format process of the p2store?

when it is generated new, then it should be possible to expand
the hdd size, right?

dont want to trash my p2store...
any ideas are welcome.
Click to expand...



maybe someone could look at the partitioninformations at his/her p2store,
wich wasnt already updated to support 16gb p2 cards?
maybe we could win further informations.

to exchange the hdd there is no need to crack the enclosure, there are
screews. so maybe i will try!?
still the question, is the linux boot partition fixed on the hdd or is it generated by formatting???

best regards
thomas
 
Barry_Green said:
There is a limit on the number of partitions, it's 15 maximum. Even so, with 8gb cards, that would be 120GB.

The drive is formatted at the lowest level by the P2 Store itself, and no partitions are created at all. Then, every time you tell it to offload a card, it creates a new partition at that time, for that card.
Click to expand...

So it's obvious that the P2 Store has something working integrated into the device that does all the drive formatting etc. etc. I don't think it's on the drive. So... has anyone seen the firmware online? I think the best idea is to find someone who repairs P2Stores and see what they know about the inside of the device. (That way no one voids their warranty for nothing.

  • Has anyone ever opened their P2Store as a individual or a repair person?
  • Has anyone seen the integrated firmware anywhere or know how to obtain it?
 
jstunzi said:
So it's obvious that the P2 Store has something working integrated into the device that does all the drive formatting etc. etc. I don't think it's on the drive. So... has anyone seen the firmware online? I think the best idea is to find someone who repairs P2Stores and see what they know about the inside of the device. (That way no one voids their warranty for nothing.

  • Has anyone ever opened their P2Store as a individual or a repair person?
  • Has anyone seen the integrated firmware anywhere or know how to obtain it?
Click to expand...

good questions.
for the answer of barry, i have tried to make clear, that the p2store has 16 partitions
in full erased status. the fat 16 change to fat 32 when a card is offloaded.
please have a look at my screenshots, thanks.

best regards
thomas
 
Hm... well Thomas I don't think it is as easy as inserting a new drive do you? The 16 partitions are created internally right ? Do you think Panny creates the partition and all the P2Store does is do the fat 16 36 switch do you?
 
jstunzi said:
Hm... well Thomas I don't think it is as easy as inserting a new drive do you? The 16 partitions are created internally right ? Do you think Panny creates the partition and all the P2Store does is do the fat 16 36 switch do you?
Click to expand...

i do not know. because of this i trie to find something out and ask here.
when i would know, i would tell it to the people.
my hope is/was, that maybe someone here is a programmer...
 
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