Hello,

I ran across an unusual issue if I forget to transfer recovery.dmg into ~/Documents before installing nitoTV .85. I tested two methods of installing:

Method 1:
- start with factory restored OS 2.3; patchstick; ssh in
- mkdir ~/Documents; wget http://nitosoft.com/nitoTVInstaller_tt.zip and then unzip
- sudo ./installme with
MacOSXUpdCombo10.4.9Intel.dmg (but no recovery.dmg) in ~/Documents folder
- install from nitoTV - Settings - Install Software - Smart Installer
- reboot

Method 2:
- start with factory restored OS 2.3; patchstick; ssh in
- mkdir ~/Documents; wget http://nitosoft.com/nitoTVInstaller_tt.zip and then unzip
- sudo ./installme with MacOSXUpdCombo10.4.9Intel.dmg and recovery.dmg (from ATV 1.0) in ~/Documents folder
- install from nitoTV - Settings - Install Software - Smart Installer
- reboot

With Method 2, external USB drives (including NTFS formatted ones) are detected and show up under nitoTV - Files as expected (running "diskutil list", I can see the labels of all the mounted disks). With Method 1, any NTFS formatted USB device does not show up under nitoTV - Files. I can see the drives with a "diskutil list" but they are missing the drive labels so I assume that is why nitoTV does not list them under Files. I copied up the recovery.dmg and ran Smart Installer a second time to try and restore that feature. This does add some more features (i.e. AFP, FTP, etc.) but the ability to detect NTFS formatted drives is still missing. Is there another way to get back this functionality without having to Factory Restore and reinstall?

P.S. I tested both methods and it does this when starting with OS 3.0.1 as well.

Its not an issue, its due to files being needed for ntfs are gotten from the recovery.dmg, just as are many other important files. it doesnt "forget" to copy any files, there are just set file lists that are available from each respective disc image. It's probably the reason behind the widespread complaint of NTFS not working, not enough people aquiring the recovery.dmg as well, that actually is a good reminder for me to default to telling people that.

OK, thanks. I did look here before installing: NitoTV Take 2 - AwkwardTV but didn't see any reference to recovery.dmg as a prerequisite.

I guess there is no easy way to correct it after the fact?

Originally Posted by atvnoob

OK, thanks. I did look here before installing: NitoTV Take 2 - AwkwardTV but didn't see any reference to recovery.dmg as a prerequisite.

I guess there is no easy way to correct it after the fact?

just run the smart installer with the file in there again. there are so many files that are grabbed from both that it would take way too long to break down what functionality is needed from each respective disc image. Plus NTFS works very poorly on the mac and we try to influence people to stay as far away as possible from using it with the appletv, or macs in general. HFS+ is preferred and if windows format MUST be used we generally recommend towards FAT32 (yes i know FAT32 is awful but its implementation is much better on the mac the NTFS)

Yeah, I did re-run Smart Installer with the files in there (several times). I was hoping it would add it in like AFP and FTP but I guess NTFS support isn't as simple. I guess I'll stick with a factory restore and re-installing with the files there just to be safe - I can at least get NTFS to work consistently. Thanks again.

Originally Posted by atvnoob

Yeah, I did re-run Smart Installer with the files in there (several times). I was hoping it would add it in like AFP and FTP but I guess NTFS support isn't as simple. I guess I'll stick with a factory restore and re-installing with the files there just to be safe - I can at least get NTFS to work consistently. Thanks again.

there is really no reason to factory restore, check the smart installer log to make certain that it says "valid recovery dmg found" or whatever at the top, if it does not then there is something wrong with your recovery.dmg, i've run it several times back to back and if it finds something missing regardless of which dmg it is on it should reinstall. afp is actually significantly more complicated than NTFS to get working if that is working there is no reason NTFS shouldn't. And ill advise again, like i have for every other windows users. DONT USE NTFS.

Originally Posted by nitosoft

just run the smart installer with the file in there again. there are so many files that are grabbed from both that it would take way too long to break down what functionality is needed from each respective disc image. Plus NTFS works very poorly on the mac and we try to influence people to stay as far away as possible from using it with the appletv, or macs in general. HFS+ is preferred and if windows format MUST be used we generally recommend towards FAT32 (yes i know FAT32 is awful but its implementation is much better on the mac the NTFS)

I've lost a lot of time before finding this thread... it seems to be the only resource to fix the problem

my personal experience
I was using an ATV with firmware 2.4 and nito. I was able to read NTFS volumes
this week I've decided to upgrade to 3.0.2
first I've made a clean installation with atvusb-creator patchstick and I've installed nito 0.9.2

I've forgotten to put my backed-up MacOSXUpdCombo10.4.9Intel.dmg, so Nito begun to download it
I've stopped it and I've restored my image using cyberduck
so I've done a smart install again and all seemed to be right but I've noticed that NTFS volumes were not readable

after reading this thread I've placed the recovery.dmg and done a smartupdate again. NTFS was still not working

so I've decided to reset ATV and begin again
this time I've placed both MacOSXUpdCombo10.4.9Intel.dmg and recovery.dmg before first running smartupdate and this time everything is right

I don't know if nito not finding dmgs try to download both of them, but surely if it finds the 10.4.9.dmg will skip to check for the recovery.dmg

Originally Posted by bradipo

I've lost a lot of time before finding this thread... it seems to be the only resource to fix the problem

my personal experience
I was using an ATV with firmware 2.4 and nito. I was able to read NTFS volumes
this week I've decided to upgrade to 3.0.2
first I've made a clean installation with atvusb-creator patchstick and I've installed nito 0.9.2

I've forgotten to put my backed-up MacOSXUpdCombo10.4.9Intel.dmg, so Nito begun to download it
I've stopped it and I've restored my image using cyberduck
so I've done a smart install again and all seemed to be right but I've noticed that NTFS volumes were not readable

after reading this thread I've placed the recovery.dmg and done a smartupdate again. NTFS was still not working

so I've decided to reset ATV and begin again
this time I've placed both MacOSXUpdCombo10.4.9Intel.dmg and recovery.dmg before first running smartupdate and this time everything is right

I don't know if nito not finding dmgs try to download both of them, but surely if it finds the 10.4.9.dmg will skip to check for the recovery.dmg

it doesnt download the recovery dmg and it never skips looking for it. the plugin itself doesnt look for the recovery.dmg the nitoHelper cli tool does and it always looks at it regardless of the circumstances under which it started. we cant download the recovery.dmg because it isnt hosted by apple and it would be illegal to distribute it.

im glad you got it working, however, again, long story short NTFS + any apple product = horrible idea

Originally Posted by nitosoft

im glad you got it working, however, again, long story short NTFS + any apple product = horrible idea

NTFS + any non-MS product = horrible idea, PERIOD! NTFS isn't documented and every non-MS product can only use it through the efforts of reverse engineering, which isn't entirely reliable.

Originally Posted by nitosoft

it doesnt download the recovery dmg and it never skips looking for it. the plugin itself doesnt look for the recovery.dmg the nitoHelper cli tool does and it always looks at it regardless of the circumstances under which it started.

I didn't know. I was just explaying what it's happened to me and how I've settled my problem
I've read different guides before upgrading my atv, and nowhere I've found a clear hint about osx and recovery dmg. as a result my atv wan't able to read ntfs volumes and I've seen that a lot of people have the same problem
my only add to this thread is that you must have both dmg when running smart update for the first time or NTFS volumes will not run

I love NitoTV, is the best player for atv and I'm happy that now it's able to work with all my disks
you have done a great work and I really appreciate what you have put in nitotv and the support you are offering here

Originally Posted by nitosoft

im glad you got it working, however, again, long story short NTFS + any apple product = horrible idea

I agree with you, I prefer to work with hfs+ volumes, but there is a lot of people out there STILL using windows (I will never understend why) and sometimes I have ntfs disks in my hands...