Completely Stumped. I need HELP!

[Vee_in_TO]

I am trying to convert my old PC to a NAS storage device. It is a P4 on Intel MB; has two 500GB Maxtor HDD; two DVD-ROMs; and a 3.5" FDD. I am using a Kingston 8GB flash drive to install FreeNAS. The issue is that the system hangs at the re-boot stage, after FreeNAS is built in the flash drive.

Steps I took.
1) Downloaded FreeNAS-8.0.4-RELEASE-p2-x86.iso and used Nero to burn to CD
2) Fired up "bessie" and changed the BIOS to DVD Boot, and proceeded to build FreeNAS on the DA0 (Flash Drive). Took bessie a good 40 minutes or so but she got there.
3) Re-booted and changed the BIOS to boot from USB and let her rip.
4) Nothing. A whole bunch of hashtags. Screens and Screens full of them.

5) Not know if this is normal or not, I re-did step 2 but instead used one of the HDDs.
6) Worked like a charm.

So is the issue the Flash Drive or the BIOS support for USB boot? And what do i do?

Vee_in_TO

 

[Kimba]

I would look for another flash drive and see if the process repeats then it would be something with the motherboard and booting by a flash drive.

Unfortunately FreeNAS 8.x.x takes up the entire hard drive so 500 GB is overkill for what you want to do and not to mention you cannot have to much storage.

What I use is an 4GB CF card like this (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001JTO782/?tag=ozlp-20).

 

[Hyperion77]

Not sure why peeps are recommending flash drives for the OS.
That’s crazy talk.
Get yourself an old 80GB HDD for 10 bucks on ebay or where ever and use that as your system drive.
Boots much quicker and lasts longer. Flash drives aren’t designed for heaps of writes. HDD are.

 

[Kimba]

There are many reasons why people used Flash drives for FreeNAS. Since mainly the OS require only 2GB and so little writing on the drive itself the Thumb Drive makes a good choice. Generally rebooting speed is not that important when the difference is 1 or 2 minutes.

I like the Thumb Drive option because I don't have to use a drive bay and the older drives are not as quite, cool and reliable. Others like their system to use as little power as possible.

In the pre 8.x.x (I really don't know if you can do it in 8.x.x) many liked to have the OS on the CDRom and use the thumb drive to store the config file. That way all you needed to upgrade it was to put in a new CD-Rom.

 

[Brand]

Not sure why peeps are recommending flash drives for the OS.
That’s crazy talk.

People are recomending flash drives because that is what FreeNAS 8 is designed to use. You might want to read up on FreeNAS 8 before deciding that you know better than the developers and giving wrong advice. Yes you can use a hard drive but there is no good reason to.

 

[ProtoSD]

Brand is correct. The way FreeNAS is designed, writes to flash are kept to a minimum. The OS creates 3 RAM drives where nearly all the writes take place other than updates to your config, some log files, and reporting get written to flash. A hard drive is a waste of space as well as extra power, heat, noise, and taking up an extra SATA/IDE/controller port.

 

[Hyperion77]

As freenas in beta, I like it to boot fast, the only reason I have a SSD on my main PC is for the fast boot.

I have tried the flash drive option, its very very slow…..love it when it says 1 second to go and it takes 5 minutes.

I suppose it depends on what u are using the nas for.

Im using mine for all my media, blu ray rips etc, so its not online all the time.

Burn the ISO to CD and install to a HDD, then you can muck around with the OS quickly.

 

[Vee_in_TO]

Still not working ....

Thanks for the responses people.

I tried two other thumb drives and also updated my BIOS but in vain.

I have two IDE slots. One runs the two DVD-ROMs and one runs the two HDDs. The question is - can I take out one of the DVD-ROMs and connect an old 40GD HDD or the CF Adapter?

Vee_in_TO

 

[Kimba]

Yes you can -- that is how I have mine set up.

 

[Vee_in_TO]

Yes you can -- that is how I have mine set up.

Thanks Kimba. I got it to work with an old HDD I had sitting around!

Now to set up all the users etc.. etc...

Thanks to all that responded!

Vee_in_TO