So rather than go to bed like I should have done, I went and mounted my SD card as /home on my #Pinephone. I followed the instructions from the #Mobian wiki to the letter.

It works... Except I don't have read/write permissions on any file. I get asked my password for any action, including opening a music file from the Files manager. 🤦‍♀️

Managing permissions from the terminal is my Achilles' heel. Any advice anybody? 😢

Thanks. Will go to bed now...

@normandc

Out of interest tried it and couldn't replicate your problem. Well, didn't follow the wiki to the letter, because my card had already been formated using ext2, but that shouldn't make a difference...

If you look at the screenshot and at your phone, do you find any differences?

@chrichri
Thanks, I have the same permissions on standard folders. Where the problem persists now is in the files I copied from my desktop PC, they're set as root...

@normandc

Do you want to correct that problem ones only or are you looking for a solution to avoid it in the future?

@chrichri
I had only copied two albums as a test. I actually want to copy all my music library, and quite possibly a lot of pictures. So yeah, I would like to avoid this problem in the future. Thanks!

@normandc

How did you copy the files to the sdcard?

Did you remove the card from the phone?

@chrichri
I didn't remove the card because I feared it wouldn't be detected again. Which is what ultimately happened even while leaving it in the phone.

I think my #Pinephone is bricked now. My home partition is on an undetected SD card which seems to prevent #Mobian from booting; I can't boot a different OS from another SD card; I have no way to access the system to revert the change to /etc/fstab...

☹️

@normandc

From what I know now I cannot really grab your problem. Keeping speculating wouldn't help to improve the situation, especially not the overall situation.

I looked at the mobian-wiki troubleshooting page and didn't find anything that would help you. There should be some basic things written down. I registered and I'm willing to write them for you and for anybody else running into problems.

I'm slow (working, father, engaged with some projects). If you don't care, we'll get there.

@normandc

Your part would be to try and test what I write from your perspective to improve it and make it usable for non-developers and non-sysadmins.

I'd try to explain and - if my options are not sufficient - get some help elsewhere.

Protocol could be:

- Matrix: Discussing, which steps might help you.

- Wiki: Writing something to explain how to get it done.

- Matrix or Wiki: Suggestions, improvements, questions.

- If problem persists: start over.

Deal?

@chrichri
Thanks for the offer. I'm willing to test things, but FYI I am now really leaning toward getting the 3GB/32GB mainboard for BH and UBports CE owners. I'll probably pull the trigger over the weekend.

Do you think there's a way to troubleshoot/analyze the SD card slot to confirm it's defective?

Since @PINE64 only have a 30-day warranty and I've had my #Pinephone for 5 months, I know I couldn't ask for a replacement. And I really need a reliable SD card reader in my phone.

@normandc @PINE64

Diagnosing your sdcard slot is tricky I'd say. I wouldn't know a way to exclude the possibility of a software error leading to what you see.

I would try, but I'm not the right person to help someone doing that.

I had problems with my UBPorts mainboard also and exchanged it for the newer version with more ram and with a working usb-c connector.

I'm happy I can play with convergence now and I can share that I didn't regret getting the upgrade offer.