Debian on Seagate Personal Cloud and Seagate NAS
Debian supports the Seagate Personal Cloud (1-Bay and 2-Bay) and Seagate NAS (2-Bay and 4-Bay). These NAS devices are based on a Marvell Armada 370 processor and can run Debian's armhf port.
These devices are supported as of Debian stretch. It's not possible to install Debian jessie (the current stable release).
Supported devices
The following devices are supported by Debian:
Product name |
Personal Cloud |
Personal Cloud 2-Bay |
Seagate NAS 2-Bay |
Seagate NAS 4-Bay |
Code name (board/PCB) |
Cumulus |
Cumulus Max |
Dart 2-Bay |
Dart 4-Bay |
Model name (case sticker) |
SRN21C |
SRN22C |
SRPD20 |
SRPD40 |
Material desc (product spec) |
STCRxxxxxxx |
STCSxxxxxxx |
STCTxxxxxxx |
STCUxxxxxxx |
Please note that the Seagate Central (STCG) is not supported.
U-Boot access
The Seagate Personal Cloud and Seagate NAS devices allow you to connect to U-Boot, the boot loader, via the network with the use of U-Boot's network console feature. We will use this to load Debian installer and to configure the boot loader to boot Debian from disk.
There's a tool called clunc which can be used to connect to U-Boot's network console. Since clunc is currently not packaged for Debian (see the Request for Package), you have to obtain it from the Git repository and compile it yourself:
git clone http://git.lacie-nas.org/clunc.git make
You can now use clunc to connect to U-Boot's network console. When the Seagate device boots, it will wait a few seconds to see if clunc is requesting a network console. If clunc is not running, your Seagate device will continue the boot process.
You have to pass an IP address to clunc in order to open a network console. We'll use 192.168.1.102 as the example IP address:
./clunc -i 192.168.1.102
When a connection is obtained, you should be able to see the U-Boot prompt:
Marvell>>
The Seagate NAS (4-Bay) has two Ethernet ports. Make sure to connect the cable to port 1.
Installing Debian
We'll use clunc to connect to the network console to load Debian installer. Debian is installed to disk. We'll also configure the Seagate device to boot Debian from disk.
Loading Debian installer
Please download the following 2 files:
You also have to load one of the following DTB (a hardware description of the device). Choose the DTB for your device:
armada-370-seagate-personal-cloud.dtb for Seagate Personal Cloud (1-Bay)
armada-370-seagate-personal-cloud-2bay.dtb for Seagate Personal Cloud (2-Bay)
armada-370-seagate-nas-2bay.dtb for Seagate NAS (2-Bay)
armada-370-seagate-nas-4bay.dtb for Seagate NAS (4-Bay)
Make sure to download and load the correct DTB for your device. If you use a wrong DTB, your device may not function correctly.
Store the files on a TFTP server.
Open clunc, start your Seagate device and wait for clunc to open U-Boot's network console. Now you can load the installer with the following commands:
setenv bootargs console=ttyS0,115200n8 setenv serverip 192.168.1.2 setenv ipaddr 192.168.1.102 tftpboot 0x2000000 uImage tftpboot 0x5100000 uInitrd tftpboot 0x5000000 armada-370-seagate-`YOURDEVICE`.dtb setenv fdt_high 0xffffffff setenv initrd_high 0xffffffff bootm 0x2000000 0x5100000 0x5000000
Ensure you use the same IP for clunc and for the ipaddr variable.
Running Debian installer
Since the Seagate devices don't have any IO device, SSH will be used for the installation. The installer will bring up the network, start the OpenSSH server and you can then connect to the device using SSH. You have to wait a few minutes after starting the system before you can connect. When the installer is ready, the power LED will change.
You can follow the power LED for progress.
On the Seagate Personal Cloud, the LED sequence is:
- By default, it will blink white.
- When the kernel starts, the power LED goes to solid white.
- When the installer is beginning to start, the power LED will change to a mix of solid red and white.
- When the installer is ready for SSH connections, the power LED will change to solid white.
On the Seagate NAS, the LED sequence is:
- The power LED will go off when you start the installer
- When the installer is beginning to start, the power LED will change to solid red
- When the installer is ready for SSH connections, the power LED will go blank
You can connect to the installer with SSH:
ssh installer@192.168.1.102
The password is "install". If you're unsure about the IP address of your device, consult your router or run a command like nast -m.
The installation itself should be pretty standard and you can follow the installation guide.
Unfortunately, there's currently a bug in the installer. After you configure passwords for your users, the installer will try to set up the clock. This step hangs at 0%. I haven't found the cause of this issue yet, but you can use a workaround. Open a second SSH connection to the installer and choose "Start shell". Then type:
ps | grep rdate
You'll see output similar to:
~ # ps | grep rdate 4376 root 1936 S rdate -o 123 -nvv 0.debian.pool.ntp.org
Now kill this process (kill 4376 in my example). You can now proceed with the installation.
Configuring U-Boot to boot Debian
After the installation is done, start clunc again and restart the device. Now you have to configure U-Boot to boot Debian from disk.
Starting kernel ...
After a few minutes, you should be able to connect to Debian using SSH.