[Swlug] Mysterious errors

[Jonathan Marsden]

Rhys,

The autoremove info is just from old packages that your system no longer needs, possibly old kernels.  Not directly related to your drive issues.  However, it *is* a good idea to do 

  sudo apt autoremove 

when you see that message.  It will list the packages apt wants to remove, so you can check that the list looks sane, and then type Y and press Enter to actually remove them. 3GB is quite a bit to free up on a 64GB drive, so that seems worth doing :)

EMMC definition: see https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-emmc-memory-4691386
Also (Windows-based but seems correct to me) see https://www.windowscentral.com/emmc-vs-ssd

> Using mmc extcsd read /dev/mmcblk1 ...

Try doing

  sudo mmc extcsd read /dev/mmcblk1

All this low level stuff needs direct device level access, so on most Linux machines you will need to run these kinds of utilities with sudo priviledges (or from a root shell).

BTW, if you are regularly working 12 hours a day, hopefully you are generating enough disposable income to save up for a replacement laptop :)  Don't burn yourself out!

Jonathan
-- 
  Jonathan Marsden
  Pastor, Deer Park Baptist Church, Tenby
  jmarsden at fastmail.fm

On Tue, 9 Jan 2024, at 01:35, Rhys Sage wrote:
> Good Heavens, I had no idea EMMC was a separate thing from an SSD. 
> Well, I installed MMC-Utils. Doing that, it suggested I used sudo apt 
> autoremove to remove unused installation files. That is reportedly 
> freeing 3GB of space
>
> Using mmc extcsd read /dev/mmcblk1 I go an error that said:
> open: No such file or directory
>
> Curious and I would follow further but it's 8:35pm and a little past my 
> bedtime give my 4AM starts and 12 hour working day.
>
> Rhys Sage
>
> On Monday, 8 January 2024 at 15:35:52 GMT-5, Jonathan Marsden 
> <jmarsden at fastmail.fm> wrote: 
>
> Rhys,
>
> The Sandisk DF4064 is a 64GB EMMC drive.  So not exactly SSD, not 
> exactly SDcard.  I suspect that to run useful hardware diagnostics on 
> it, you will have to use software that is specifically designed to test 
> EMMC drives.
>
> Jonathan
> -- 
>   Jonathan Marsden
>   Pastor, Deer Park Baptist Church, Tenby
>   jmarsden at fastmail.fm
>
> On Mon, 8 Jan 2024, at 17:36, Rhys Sage via Swlug wrote:
>
>> My built-in SSD comes up as a DF4064 and is listed somewhat curiously 
>> under SD Card reader in the Disks utility. 
>>
>> I understood SSDs would automatically bar bad blocks from being used. 
>>
>> I just looked at a video of some guy replacing the SSD on his e203M. It 
>> seems a simple process. The trouble is that the battery is also not 
>> much good any more and the letters are rubbing off the keyboard. All of 
>> those are replaceable but at $40 for a SSD, goodness knows how much for 
>> the battery and for the keyboard, I'd be well on the way toward the 
>> price of a brand new Asus with up to date equipment (CPU etc).
>>
>> Maybe I just need to get a pretty big memory stick, assign it to backup 
>> for my E203MA (I have another Asus that is used solely for writing 
>> books, video processing and programming. Then when the E203MA finally 
>> falls on its face, just get a new laptop to replace it.
>>
>> Rhys Sage