Boot options same SSD

[AL78]

I apologize if this is listed somewhere in the forums, I tried to find this particular topic but could not.

We are trying to setup a SuperMicro box as a test bench for the HDD drives that we purchase and add into our system. It will be used for other things but this is part of its designation. Currently we are checking each drive for errors using SeaTools and it is a slow process to do it for each one at a time. I am trying to see if I can have multiple boot options from the same SSD, for ex. Seatools and TrueNAS? Is this even possible to use the same SSD with multiple boot options on a SuperMicro box?

Any comments, criticism or advise is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[winnielinnie]

Something like Ventoy, where you store ISOs to its FAT32 partition, in which it supports EFI boot from any of the ISOs.

The problem is, this will only work for the TrueNAS installer (not the permanent OS.)

Otherwise, you'd have to configure multiboot with something like Grub, but then again, I don't know how finicky TrueNAS is. (I forget if the installer insists it needs an entire drive, rather than being okay with partitions?)

The other avenue is to install TrueNAS to an SSD, and Seatools to a USB. Then just choose which device to boot into each time.

 

[Ericloewe]

UEFI makes this sort of thing very easy, but you'll need to trick TrueNAS into installing to a smaller partition.

Otherwise, you'd have to configure multiboot with something like Grub

Do yourself a favor and don't. If you need a UI to select what to boot, go with rEFInd or something to the same effect. If you need a bootloader for FreeBSD, obviously use the FreeBSD bootloader. If you need a bootloader for Linux, use ZFS Boot Menu.

, I don't know how finicky TrueNAS is. (I forget if the installer insists it needs an entire drive, rather than being okay with partitions?)

It's not that it is finicky, it will just steamroll whatever used to be on the chosen disks. Like the proverbial lawnmower, it does not care.
But: It should be possible to create a pool with the same dataset structure and move everything over, ending up with a smaller install footprint.

 

[MrGuvernment]

How many tools do you use to test the drives? Just the one?

Buy a cheap used system (Desktop even..), put the OS on it that supports your tool(s), add in a bunch of USB3 ports with cards, and a couple external docks for hot swap and off you go...

Or a hot plug HBA with hot plug support on the mobo and use that.

I had to do this some time ago, but I was only scanning 3-4 drives at a time.


What are you scanning for? Just doing a full SMART run?