blinkenjim
New Member
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2024
- Messages
- 13
- Reaction score
- 9
- Location
- Texas
- Country
- United States
- Dash Cam
- A329, A229 Pro, A139
I posted this to Reddit, and thought I'd share it here too:
Here's some help for you Linux users wanting to format an SSD for use with your new Viofo A329 dash camera.
The first step is to partition the disk. I will be using the entire SSD for video storage so I am going show how to partition the SSD that way. We will use fdisk for the partitioning.
Plug in your SSD. If any partitions from it get auto-mounted you will have to unmount them. Now figure out the device for the SSD; here I'll assume it's /dev/sda. Open it in fdisk:
First we want to ensure that the SSD is using GPT partition tables. The 'g' command will accomplish this if your SSD uses the older MBR tables.
Now use the 'd' command to delete all existing partitions, then the 'n' command to create a new one. By accepting all the defaults you will get a partition that uses the entire SSD.
Finally, use the 'w' command to write the new table to the SSD; this will also exit from fdisk and leave you back in your shell.
At this point you can plug the SSD into your A329 and the camera will ask if you want to format the disk. You can do so and the SSD will work with your camera, but by formatting in linux, you have a bit more control. I like to set a custom volume label.
Formatting the SSD requires mkfs.exfat. On my system, Ubuntu 24.04, this program is not installed by default, so you may have to install the exfatprogs package:
Once you have mxfs.exfat, formatting is easy:
You can replace "dash-cam-1" with whatever volume label you choose. When you attach the SSD to your Ubuntu system, the volume label will be used to set the mount point:
Here's some help for you Linux users wanting to format an SSD for use with your new Viofo A329 dash camera.
The first step is to partition the disk. I will be using the entire SSD for video storage so I am going show how to partition the SSD that way. We will use fdisk for the partitioning.
Plug in your SSD. If any partitions from it get auto-mounted you will have to unmount them. Now figure out the device for the SSD; here I'll assume it's /dev/sda. Open it in fdisk:
First we want to ensure that the SSD is using GPT partition tables. The 'g' command will accomplish this if your SSD uses the older MBR tables.
Now use the 'd' command to delete all existing partitions, then the 'n' command to create a new one. By accepting all the defaults you will get a partition that uses the entire SSD.
Finally, use the 'w' command to write the new table to the SSD; this will also exit from fdisk and leave you back in your shell.
At this point you can plug the SSD into your A329 and the camera will ask if you want to format the disk. You can do so and the SSD will work with your camera, but by formatting in linux, you have a bit more control. I like to set a custom volume label.
Formatting the SSD requires mkfs.exfat. On my system, Ubuntu 24.04, this program is not installed by default, so you may have to install the exfatprogs package:
Once you have mxfs.exfat, formatting is easy:
You can replace "dash-cam-1" with whatever volume label you choose. When you attach the SSD to your Ubuntu system, the volume label will be used to set the mount point: