So my SheevaPlug is getting pretty old at this point. Or, at least, it's install is. It started out with Lenny. Stayed there till I couldn't download updates anymore, and moved to Squeeze. Now Wheezy is out so I imagine Squeeze is on it's way out, much like Lenny was. Either way, my install must be about 3 years old now, I'm rather amazed at how well it's held up. The 8gb SD card I put it on is nearly full, I'd like to step up to a 32gb this time, they've certainly come WAY down in price. I'd like to do a fresh install of Wheezy, what's the ideal way to do that, nowadays?
I've already got the unit set to boot off the SD card, and the kernel is still in the onboard flash (I've kept that up to date, updating it every couple months or so), so it should just be a matter of putting a fresh Wheezy image on the new SD Card.. I don't think we ever had a system as simple as the Raspberry Pi where I just download a .img file and DD it onto the card, which is a shame, that technique is quite nice.
So how do I do this?

It's a shame they don't seem to get the part of Moore's law where it both becomes more powerful AND CHEAPER.. It's been what, 3, or 4 years since the SheevaPlug came onto the scene. It was a huge success at it's price point and what it was capable of. Since then, they seem to keep coming out with ever more expensive devices. Notice the Raspberry Pi's success right now? It's ALL about the price. $35 is about where the SheevaPlug should be after 4 years of technological evolution.But really, at least hold the line on the $100 price point with new products. $200+extra for the JTAG is a real shame. And where's the eSATA port? Needs to have either eSATA or USB3, or both, to keep up with the times. USB2 is way too slow for modern hard drives, especially if I want to actually feed that gigabit ethernet.

I've got your 3.7.1 kernel running on my Sheeva. Seems to be working just fine. Should note, I couldn't find a README-xxxxx.sh anywhere on your server, it seems to be called UPDATE-SHEEVA-KERNEL.sh

If anyone here is going to the Seattle Mini Maker Faire next week (June 2nd and 3rd) I'll be manning the Tacoma Robotics booth, stop in and say hey. There are several of us that are into these plug computers there. (I spread the bug)..

I posted a YouTube video with the benchmarking. I think you'll be surprised with the results.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3l4roQPGINw

Yeah, it doesn't seem like the through-hole version of the ESATA connector exists anymore. I spent a week or two digging all around the net and failed to find it. It's a real shame. Aside from that, I'd have completed this mod already. If anyone can find me that connector in stock, in single quantities anywhere, please let me know.

Good to see you got your problem worked out. Just for curiosity's sake, I tried the same test on my 2TB USB connected external HDD, here's what I got:
Not too bad for USB, I imagine. Mine is set to async.

For the record, I ran the script, it updated without a single hickup. Thanks.

I have an original SheevaPlug with Debian Lenny on it, at one point I updated it to one of cbx's kernels, 2.6.32.2, can I just update to 3.1 now without any drama - ie, just run the script and reboot?

Still going, it's up to 257 days now. Aiming for 365, then I'll probably go ahead and reboot for a kernel update.

This is a good old thread. I still want to do this mod to my Sheeva.

Very cool unit. As for a CPU to use, look into the "Teensy++", it's an Atmega that has native USB, mounted on a DIP40 sized PCB for easy connecting. Has oodles of IO. And it's really cheap.
I haven't read through your blog to see the fine details yet, but definitely will later. Are there enough details there to create one of these myself? I've got my Sheeva/External HDD/Cable Modem/Router all hooked to a small UPS with a large battery (well, 18ah), and I've always wanted to take the DC-AC part out of the loop, and just do a DC-DC like you've done. Do you have battery voltage feedback into the Sheeva so that you can do a controlled powerdown when the battery finally runs down?

I just hit 6 months of uptime on my Sheeva. Could have done it a dozen times by now, but I had trouble getting my UPS to be reliable. All better now. It functions as my media server, file server, firewall/router, and web server. Runs off an 8gb class 4 Sandisk SD card. Aside from a power supply failure about a year ago, it's been impeccably reliable.

Mac: 00 50 43 01 40 7D
SN: 0951-0000063
Purchased on November 27th, 2009, but wasn't delivered till December 31st, 2009
Purchased from GlobalScale directly
Failed on November 8th, 2010

If the thing only draws 5 watts of power, how is it even possible to overheat? I'm definitely interested in these things. I was interested in the Guruplug as well, and I'm VERY glad I waited on that one. After the first batch goes out, and the all clear is sounded (ie, it actually works as advertised, like the Sheeva does), I'll be all over getting one.