How to format USB?

[d31n1]

I bought a new laptop today and wanted to see if I could install OpenBSD on it. It worked, but to my dismay I noticed that the laptop has no ethernet port, only wifi card, so my usual way of doing things won't work, which is to connect to the internet with cable and do fw_update to get the necessary firmware.

I do have another laptop and the usb I used to install OpenBSD. I have downloaded the firmwares I need, and now I only need to put it on the usb so that I can install it to my new laptop.

How do I format the usb so that it works as a storage device again? I have tried to google this, but I can't seem to find out what to do, so if anyone here could help I would be very appreciative.

[jggimi]

Is the other laptop running OpenBSD? If so, here is a step-by-step "howto" ...

1. Insert the USB storage device into a running OpenBSD system. The kernel will assign the storage device as a pseudo SCSI device, attaching a new sd(4) device number upon insertion. You can find out the device number by watching on the console (or on an xconsole window) as the device is inserted. Device numbers start with 0, and for this howto I will assume the device is sd1, but you must use the device number assigned by the kernel.
2. Create a new Master Boot Record (MBR) on the storage device. It won't be used for booting, but for reserving an MBR partition which is sized for the entire storage device. # fdisk -i sd1 will do this. You'll be promted to confirm the new MBR and partition table.
3. Create an OpenBSD disklabel partition "a" that consumes this entire space as well. The disklabel(8) program has an interactive editor that makes this easy. In this example, I've entered the editor using the -E option of the program. I want to (a)dd partition a, so I use "a a", then I respond with the defaults for offset and size, and partition type. The offset will be the start of the defined MBR partition, and the size will be the partition's size. I then use the commands to (w)rite the disklabel and (q)uit the program:

   # disklabel -E sd1
   Label editor (enter '?' for help at any prompt)
   vnd0> a a
   offset: [xxx] 
   size: [yyyyyyyy] 
   FS type: [4.2BSD] 
   vnd0*> w
   vnd0> q
   No label changes.

4. Now I format the newly defined sd1a partition with: # newfs sd1a
5. Finally, I mount(8) the partition with something like: # mount /dev/sd1a /mnt. In this example I used the /mnt directory, but the choice is yours.
6. I can copy or move the appropriate firmware tarball to the mounted filesystem in /mnt.
7. When I'm done with it, I can unmount it with # umount /mnt

When I stick the USB stick into the new laptop, I look for a similar sd number, which for this example will be sd8. As before, use the number the kernel provides.

1. Mount the partition with something like: # mount /dev/sd8a /mnt.
2. Run fw_update pointing to the mounted USB device, with something like: # fw_update -p /mnt

[shep]

I went through this with an HP Stream 14. I used the install67.fs (install67.img) for the initial install and was able to bypass building a ufs2/mbr thumb drive.
Download the wireless firmware from
http://firmware.openbsd.org/firmware/ and save to a vfat/msdos formated usb thumb drive.
While you're downloading, you can also get any needed video/vmm firmware.
Mount the firmware drive

#mount -t msdos /dev/sd1i /mnt

and then execute the fw_update command with the -p flag as described by @jggimi.

[d31n1]

Yes, my old laptop is also running OpenBSD. Can't believe I forgot to mention that....
Your solution jggimi worked! Thank you!
My touchpad is not recognized by OpenBSD, so this was all for nothing I guess, but at least I have learned something new.
Not really sure what you meant by "all devices start with 0" though. I used xconsole and none of my deice started with 0, but as long as I understood the next parts its's all good ;P

Could I also use this method to transfer images and videos to my new laptop?

[jggimi]

Originally Posted by d31n1

My touchpad is not recognized by OpenBSD..

Post your dmesg(8), which may help.

Not really sure what you meant by "all devices start with 0" though.

Your first SATA/SCSI drive is sd0, the second is sd1, ... same with all other numbered devices: cpus, acpi controllers, timers, buses, ...

Could I also use this method to transfer images and videos to my new laptop?

Sure. You could also put the two laptops on the same network and transfer with innumerable file transfer tools. Since OpenSSH is in-base, you could transfer files with sftp(1), for example.

[victorvas]

From what I understand, OpenBSD's FFS2 has journaling of sorts. How do I format my 16GB USB Key using FFS2 without journaling?
In linux with ext4 it would be:

# mke2fs -t ext4 -O ^has_journal /dev/{your_device_here}

How can I do that in OpenBSD with FFS2?

[jggimi]

Originally Posted by victorvas

From what I understand, OpenBSD's FFS2 has journaling of sorts.

That's not my understanding, but I could always be wrong. An FFS1->FFS2 FAQ was posted both to misc@ and to the OpenBSD Journal, which may help clarify the differences.

https://undeadly.org/cgi?action=arti...20200528091634

How do I format my 16GB USB Key using FFS2 without journaling...

As I noted above, there is no journaling, so there is no journaling knob in newfs(8). If you want FFS2 at OpenBSD 6.7, you must use the -O2 option with newfs(8). In -current, -O2 is the default. Either way, # newfs -O2 sd<number><letter> will work.