mtd_check - an application to give information and scan mtd partitions

[JGrana]

After reading about another member that experienced jffs issues, there was a pointer to some links about mtd devices. One of them had a small application that would print out information about a flash/nand partition - nand_check.

I downloaded the code and did various updates/addons that hopefully could be useful to see the state of your various mtd (aka flash) partitions like /jffs, nvram, etc.
This version is called mtd_check

This isn't a typical addon - it's a single installer script that, based on your kernel version, will install the mtd_check application to the /opt/bin directory. Needless to say, this requires that Entware be installed.

The installer script will check for Entware and either armvl7 or aarch64 kernels and then download the correct binary.

To install, in the command line, paste this:

/usr/sbin/curl --retry 3 "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/JGrana01/mtd_check/master/mtd_check_install" -o "/jffs/scripts/mtd_check_install" && chmod 0755 /jffs/scripts/mtd_check_install && /jffs/scripts/mtd_check_install

The installer is pretty small and will stay around in /jffs/scripts. At some point I would like to make it smarter and check for updates, uninstall etc. For now, it's small and simple.

Be sure to read the Readme below! A few caveats:

1) It only works with the mtd character devices in /dev. They support the proper commands to extract information.
So, it will not work with the block devices.

2) The mtd partition (device) is opened read-only. It should be safe - the kernel should not allow writes.

3) One of the command line arguments is "-b". This will simply output a single number of the count of bad blocks on that partition.
i.e

$ mtd_check -b /dev/mtd9
3

I am thinking of writting a shell script that will (daily) check the partitions for any new bad blocks. TBD.
The other option, "-i" prints out information about the mtd partition but doesn't scan through showing a graphical representation of the various blocks.

4) The binaries were compiled locally on my routers - the aarch64 on an AX88U and the armvl7 on an AX58U.
It has been tested on an AC68U, AX58U, AX86U and AX88U. It should work with routers based on these class kernels. If it doesn't, PM me.

Here is the Readme from github:

About​

mtd_check is a small utility to display information on the flash mtd devices on armv7l and aarch64 based Asuswrt routers. If you are not sure what your version is, you can use this command:

$ uname -m

Installation​

Using your preferred SSH client/terminal, copy and paste the following command, then press Enter:

/usr/sbin/curl --retry 3 "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/JGrana01/mtd_check/master/mtd_check_install" -o "/jffs/scripts/mtd_check_install" && chmod 0755 /jffs/scripts/mtd_check_install && /jffs/scripts/mtd_check_install

mtd_check_install will make sure you have Entware installed and that your kernel is an armv7l or aarch64 version. If not, it will not install the appropriate binary (in /opt/bin) and exit. The mtd_check_install scripts will stay in /jffs/scripts (it's small) and can be used to re-install/update the mtd_check binary. At some point I will likely update the script to check for updates. For now, it's very simple.

Usage​

Mtd_check runs from the command line.

$ mtd_check /dev/mtd[0-X] [-i] [-b]

The -i option just displays the Flash type, Block size, page size and OOB size along with the total number of bytes and blocks on the mtd partition.
The -b option only reports the number of bad blocks on the partition. This can be useful for sh/bash scripts to monitor mtd partitions for potential growing bad blocks.

Note: mtd_check only works with the mtd character devices (i.e. /dev/mtd0, /dev/mtd9, etc.) not the block devices (/dev/mtdblock0, /dev/mtdblock9, etc.). It also will not report any information for ubi formatted mtd partitions.

One way to see the available mtd partitions is to cat /proc/mtd:

$ cat /proc/mtd
dev: size erasesize name
mtd0: 051c0000 00020000 "rootfs"
mtd1: 051c0000 00020000 "rootfs_update"
mtd2: 00800000 00020000 "data"
mtd3: 00100000 00020000 "nvram"
mtd4: 05700000 00020000 "image_update"
mtd5: 05700000 00020000 "image"
mtd6: 00520000 00020000 "bootfs"
mtd7: 00520000 00020000 "bootfs_update"
mtd8: 00100000 00020000 "misc3"
mtd9: 03f00000 00020000 "misc2"
mtd10: 00800000 00020000 "misc1"
mtd11: 04d23000 0001f000 "rootfs_ubifs"

Note that mtd11 (on an AX88U) is a ubi formatted partition and is not supported

Without the -i or -b options, mtd_check will walk all the blocks showing their state:

• B Bad block
• . Empty
• - Partially filled
• = Full
• s partial with summry node
• S has a JFFS2 summary node

Something like this:

$ mtd_check /dev/mtd0
Flash type of /dev/mtd0 is 4 (MTD_NANDFLASH)
Flash flags are 400
Block size 131072, page size 2048, OOB size 64
99614720 bytes, 760 blocks
B Bad block; . Empty; - Partially filled; = Full; S has a JFFS2 summary node
-----------===========================------------==============================
=======B========================================================================
================================================================================
================================================================================
=========================================================================B======
================================================================================
================================================================================
=============================================================B==================
=========================================-===========---------------------------
----------------------------------------
Summary blocks: 0
Summary /dev/mtd0:
Total Blocks: 760 Total Size: 1520.0 KB
Empty Blocks: 0, Full Blocks: 666, Partially Full: 91, Bad Blocks: 3

Uninstall​

To remove mtd_check, remove the installer and binary:

$ rm /jffs/scripts/mtd_check_install
$ rm /opt/bin/mtd_check