Hi guys,
I use DietPi on my rpi 3 a few days. It’s amazing!! Today i noticed that my DietPi folder in the root is empty.
The pi still working (Emby is installed on it) and after a reboot everhing seems to be normal. What can I do to recover the DietPi folder?
I noticed it after a reboot (see attachement)
I was on the latest version. I have a boot.bak folder with a full DietPi folder (before an update?).
Thx for tips!
Sounds like RPi bootloader upgrade is messing with the /boot folder
Whats the results of:
ls -lha /boot
ls -lha /boot.bak # Assuming thats the location of the backed up folder
root@VanDerMedMan:~# ls -lha /boot.bak
total 20M
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 4.0K Dec 26 18:28 .
drwxr-xr-x 21 root root 4.0K Dec 26 19:52 …
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 19K Dec 26 18:20 COPYING.linux
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1.5K Dec 26 18:24 LICENCE.broadcom
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 19K Sep 23 15:53 LICENSE.oracle
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 6.5K Nov 1 17:50 README.md
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4.0K Dec 26 18:43 System Volume Information
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 14K Dec 26 18:20 bcm2708-rpi-b-plus.dtb
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 14K Dec 26 18:20 bcm2708-rpi-b.dtb
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 14K Dec 26 18:20 bcm2708-rpi-cm.dtb
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 15K Dec 26 18:20 bcm2709-rpi-2-b.dtb
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 16K Dec 26 18:20 bcm2710-rpi-3-b.dtb
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 15K Dec 26 18:20 bcm2710-rpi-cm3.dtb
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 18K Dec 26 18:24 bootcode.bin
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 136 Dec 26 18:28 cmdline.txt
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2.0K Dec 26 17:57 config.txt
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 4.0K Dec 26 17:57 dietpi
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 8.8K Dec 26 17:57 dietpi.txt
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 6.5K Dec 26 18:24 fixup.dat
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2.5K Dec 26 18:24 fixup_cd.dat
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 9.6K Dec 26 18:24 fixup_db.dat
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 9.6K Dec 26 18:24 fixup_x.dat
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 145 Sep 23 15:53 issue.txt
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 4.0M Dec 26 18:20 kernel.img
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 4.1M Dec 26 18:20 kernel7.img
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4.0K Dec 26 18:24 overlays
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2.7M Dec 26 18:24 start.elf
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 620K Dec 26 18:24 start_cd.elf
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 4.8M Dec 26 18:24 start_db.elf
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 3.8M Dec 26 18:24 start_x.elf
I tried to copy the content of /boot.bak/dietpi to /DietPi but after a reboot everything in DietPi folder is gone again.
If I copy the content and try first the dietp-config command before a reboot I get a permission error.
Hi Bernie,
FSCK0048.REC
This looks like a filesystem repair occurred. Possibility unstable PSU. Which SD card and PSU are you running at the moment?
Any power cuts your aware of?
tried to copy the content of /boot.bak/dietpi to /DietPi but after a reboot everything in DietPi folder is gone again.
If I copy the content and try first the dietp-config command before a reboot I get a permission error.
We should be able to recover it, but as above, I believe PSU/SD may be the fault here, and it may reoccur.
Bernie,
To restore the backed up bootfs:
rm -R /boot/*
rm -R /DietPi/*
cp -R /boot.bak/* /boot/
cp -R /boot.bak/* /DietPi/
reboot
The SD card is new (10 days old) and there was no power failure. I have an official rpi power unit. (2,5A on 5,1V).
Thx for the lines! I will try this tomorrow and let you know how it was.
Regards!
I tried it first with the DietPi folder to test and get this:
cp -R /boot.bak/* /DietPi/
cp: error writing ‘/DietPi/start.elf’: No space left on device
cp: failed to extend ‘/DietPi/start.elf’: No space left on device
cp: error writing ‘/DietPi/start_cd.elf’: No space left on device
cp: failed to extend ‘/DietPi/start_cd.elf’: No space left on device
cp: error writing ‘/DietPi/start_db.elf’: No space left on device
cp: failed to extend ‘/DietPi/start_db.elf’: No space left on device
cp: error writing ‘/DietPi/start_x.elf’: No space left on device
cp: failed to extend ‘/DietPi/start_x.elf’: No space left on device
The sd card is 64 gb size.
df -Bm gives me
Filesystem 1M-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted o n
/dev/root 59887M 6986M 51056M 13% /
Hi Bernie,
Ah yes, we are copying some files we dont need and filling up the 10MB limit on RAMdisk. Please try this:
rm -R /boot/*
rm -R /DietPi/*
cp -R /boot.bak/* /boot/
cp /boot.bak/config.txt /DietPi/
cp /boot.bak/dietpi.txt /DietPi/
cp /boot.bak/cmdline.txt /DietPi/
cp -R /boot.bak/dietpi /DietPi/
reboot
Thanks Bernie,
Which SD card brand and model are you using? (eg: Sandisk ultra 8GB)?
This is my type of sdcard: Transcend 64GB microSD Premium 400x Class 10 UHS-I
Yes!!! DietPi is repaired. Thx a lot. After reboot It needed to be updated to the latest version.
I only have still these warnings at startup:
-bash: warning: setlocale: LC_ALL: cannot change locale (0.UTF-8)
-bash: warning: setlocale: LC_ALL: cannot change locale (0.UTF-8)
/bin/bash: warning: setlocale: LC_ALL: cannot change locale (0.UTF-8)
/bin/bash: warning: setlocale: LC_ALL: cannot change locale (0.UTF-8)
/bin/bash: warning: setlocale: LC_ALL: cannot change locale (0.UTF-8)
Is there something to do on it?
@Fourdee: Thx for the great assistance! Please send me the PayPal adres to support your project, with the link in the sig I can’t use PayPal for some reason.
Hi Bernie,
I’ve experienced consistent IO failures with Transcend’s cards, on various devices during DietPi testing over the years, i personally wouldn’t recommend them for stability.
With the FSCK recovery and official PSU, i believe unstable SD card is to blame.
I’d highly recommend Sandisk, any model, they have proven to me over the years (they take a hammering) that they are fully stable and reliable.
bash: warning: setlocale: LC_ALL: cannot change locale (0.UTF-8)
I’ve seen this before, think we may have a solution on forums, let me find and link it.
PayPal link worked now. Check your PayPal 
Bernie,
Found it: http://dietpi.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=970&start=10&hilit=cannot+change+locale
Try:
rm /etc/environment
Then run:
dpkg-reconfigure locales
Make sure [*] en_GB.UTF-8 UTF-8[/color] is ticked (space bar).
Enter
Select en_GB.UTF-8 as default
Enter
Reboot system and check if issue is resolved
Thanks Bernie, really appreciate it.
I actually need to order some more Sandisk SD cards (6 isnt enough for 20+ devices and testing lol) , so will be put to good use 
Thank you.
I’m from Belgium, so does this matter for the selection? Time zone Belgium = UTC +1
Hi all!
Similar problem to Bernie’s (empty /DietPi), except I don’t have /boot.bak.
root@jpi:/# ls
bin dev etc lost+found opt root sbin sys usr
boot DietPi lib mnt proc run srv tmp var
But /boot/dietpi seems to contain something:
root@jpi:/# ls /boot/dietpi
boot dietpi-config dietpi-logclear dietpi-survey
conf dietpi-cpuinfo dietpi-morsecode dietpi-sync
dietpi-autostart dietpi-cpu_set dietpi-obtain_hw_model dietpi-update
dietpi-backup dietpi-cron dietpi-process_tool finalise
dietpi-banner dietpi-drive_manager dietpi-ramdisk func
dietpi-bugreport dietpi-funtime dietpi-ramlog login
dietpi-cleaner dietpi-launcher dietpi-services misc
dietpi-cloudshell dietpi-letsencrypt dietpi-software
How should I go on to restore my /DietPi folder?
Hi,
We’ll need to check the status of the DietPi-RAMdisk service to see why it failed:
systemctl status dietpi-ramdisk -l
Also, can we see your /etc/fstab to check mount entry for /DietPi:
cat /etc/fstab
And, lets check permissions on /DietPi:
ls -lha /DietPi