tomatousb "Failed to mount. Verify the device is plugged in, and try again" and EXT4

So I've attached 2 drives to my ASUS RT-N16 router, and the first, a 320 gb western digital (WD) passport mounted without issue, where as the second 2 TB WD drive throws the error  "Failed to mount. Verify the device is plugged in, and try again" when I try to mount it manually.

My first search made me believe that this might be an issue with GPT support, but after a bit more digging, I found that the current, Nov 2011 version of tomatoUSB has already included Yaniv Hamo's patch.   Thus, I unplugged my drive and installed GParted to see what file system the drive was formatted in (yes, there are quicker ways to do this from the command line, with out the need for a software install, but I figured I'll probably want to re-partition/format anyway).  Turns out I choose to originally format using EXT4, which I was surprised by, but makes sense after I did some digging around to try and figure out which of the naive tomatoUSB supported formats I'd choose.   I hate ntfs, but EXT3 has some issues with larger drives due to a need to increase the block size.

So rather than going though a lot of data transfer and and a reformat, my preferred choice would be to reflash the router with a distro that supports ext4.  From various searches, this seems to mean that none of the open WRT variants seem to support this.  I'm currently considering debwrt, but the documentation is limited.

Project Background

I've never felt the need to document my problems with open wrt firmwares, because, for the most part, once they are set up, they just work and really don't need to ever be touched again.  However, I have a feeling I might be doing a lot more hacking, and thus I've decided to start chronicling my experiences.

First, some background: I first installed an open WRT variant (dd-WRT) over 5 years ago when I wanted to crank up the gain on my linksys WRT-54G and use it as a repeater because comcast was a rip off (and everyone else required bundling in  a phone line) and there was a weak, but open network signal from the hotel a few blocks away from my house.

I bricked one router by setting the reset bit to off and then installing a bad firmware, but quickly replaced it with another.   The over all experience was so pleasing, I convinced my previous employer to get a buffalo router for our small office.  The CEO liked it so much he immediately replaced his router at home with one.  Thus, from that point forward, I couldn't ever imagine buying a router that isn't comparable with the latest WRT hacks.  And now that I'm part of an electronic arts collaborative (CEMMI), I imagine I'll be playing with embedded devices a lot more, and thus have decided to initiate this blog.