Convert from EXT4

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swag01

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Hi all;

I am in the process of evaluating freenas and OMV for my new NAS server. Right now, I am using Ubuntu and it has been discontinued.

The only issue I see with going to freenas is that my storage drives are in ext4. Since this isn't supported in freenas that might be a problem.

Is there a way to convert ext4 to zfs? I hate to have to remotely copy my files over to freenas through Samba.

Has to be an easier way, or should I just use OMV?
 

pirateghost

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If you don't want to copy the data over the network, just go with OMV.
 

NightHawk.ATL

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I started with FreeNAS and had some issues, mostly from lack of understanding, and went to OMV for a few days. Luckily I never made it far enough to have files on the drives but I am still having to transfer everything over SMB to get my data onto the server. I know the dread that you are contemplating but I can tell you that the speed and reliability difference will be worth it in the end. OMV ran like a 486 on my machine compared to FreeNAS.

I have tried to find other ways to get the data on there and SMB seems to be the only way. I mean, at least the WHS would allow you to connect drives, copy data local then claim them in the pool. The only other way I could think of doing it would be to free up one disk to format as a friendly partition and then put data on it and mount it through the console and see if you can copy it to the storage. If you find a solution or if what I suggest helps, let me know.


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swag01

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I gave up once @pirateghost said that I shouldn't even bother with freenas. :)

I am running OMV 3.x. It has a lot of nice features especially moving from ubuntu. If I were running a business or a critical system I would look closer at freenas. I got a new hard drive and copying from one drive to the other directly is really slow. I can only imagine going through Samba would take forever.

Seems like it would benefit freenas users if there was a way to convert the files to zfs. Or at least allow the extx to be mounted so it could be copied directly.

I know that I would seriously look at freenas at that point.
 

pirateghost

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Seems like it would benefit freenas users if there was a way to convert the files to zfs.
the FILES aren't ZFS, the entire filesystem and raid array is. What you are asking is impossible. That's like saying you want to convert a single NTFS disk to MDADM RAID6+LVM+EXT4 and not lose any files on it.

Or at least allow the extx to be mounted so it could be copied directly.
You should read the documentation. ;)

http://doc.freenas.org/9.10/storage.html#import-disk
 

NightHawk.ATL

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You gave up too easily, about like I did with OMV..lol

I learned a little from working with OMV that has helped me setup FreeNAS better.

I am trying to transfer 5TB of data to 6TB of storage and I keep getting errors that cause the transfers to stop, so I have to find where it left of them restart. I have been told that I just need to get an Intel NIC and it will work better but I am broke at the moment and sitting around the house bored and trying to learn something in the process.

The thing I like most about FreeNAS is that their ownCloud plugin is fairly up to date. OMV's was like 3 major versions behind and I had issues with it. First reason I want the server is for the NAS but having my own cloud that I am in control of was a strong contender as well.


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swag01

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the FILES aren't ZFS, the entire filesystem and raid array is. What you are asking is impossible. That's like saying you want to convert an NTFS disk to HFS+ and not lose any files on it.


You should read the documentation. ;)

http://doc.freenas.org/9.10/storage.html#import-disk

Sure, you pretty much said that there is no easy way to convert the files so I went with OMV. I don't want to spend days in Samba and copying the files over. By the way, I did try freenas a few years back and used Samba then I wasn't getting the same performance as ubuntu so I switched back (samba again). I'm sure it was because my machine wasn't a high powered system but I was looking to use an old system with 8 gig that I had.

Again, if this was an enterprise environment I was running, I would seriously look at it. Also, I would have the budget to get a supercharged machine to handle freenas requirements.
 

swag01

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I forgot about that feature because it didn't apply to my disk file system. But it's worth a try for others with windows or EXT systems.


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ok, thanks. Wish I had this info earlier. I have already got OMV setup. Maybe if I decide to change in the future.
 

swag01

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You gave up too easily, about like I did with OMV..lol

I learned a little from working with OMV that has helped me setup FreeNAS better.

I am trying to transfer 5TB of data to 6TB of storage and I keep getting errors that cause the transfers to stop, so I have to find where it left of them restart. I have been told that I just need to get an Intel NIC and it will work better but I am broke at the moment and sitting around the house bored and trying to learn something in the process.

The thing I like most about FreeNAS is that their ownCloud plugin is fairly up to date. OMV's was like 3 major versions behind and I had issues with it. First reason I want the server is for the NAS but having my own cloud that I am in control of was a strong contender as well.


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yes, I think Samba is kind of tricky. Is there some type of check digit or crc when you copy the files? I would be worried that something got copied wrong. Also, I have found Samba crashed when I was trying to copy files to freenas. I think that is Samba and not freenas or ?? But! I would worry about what was valid or not so I would delete the files already copied and start over. Looks like pirateghost has a good option to convert and it isn't through samba. Might check that out.

I haven't needed any cloud storage but that is good to know. It seems that OMV is doing updates so maybe they have updated. Probably already 3 versions back again. :)
 

NightHawk.ATL

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Since my data is on mac formatted drives, the disk import won't work for me. I could try to convert and then do the import but I would be more worried about it crashing that way and losing the drive and the data together. Basically, once a transfer completes, I am checking the folder size on the server against the original size and checking all subfolders. I think that either samba is crashing on my mac or I am getting dropped packets, but the errors that are thrown up on my console lead me to believe that I may have an issue with my SI Labs SATA controller because the errors have SIIS in them but I'm still a n00b, what do I know..?


I can deal with a file here and there missing but 90% of my data is video that I have shot and am in the process of working on or may work on in the future. Nothing critical but would be nice to have kinda stuff. I am a bit of a data pack rat.


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pirateghost

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There are more options out there other than SAMBA, guys.

FTP (over LAN is fine)
SFTP
RSYNC
SCP
SSHFS
NFS

Using a method like rsync, does a checksum on the files it is copying over. You could also use robocopy in Windows if you feel you need to stick with SAMBA...there are a lot of options available to do what you want, but you have to put forth the effort in reading about which method would work best in your environment/situation. We have documentation, and the forums that explain, in great detail, all of these options...with proper scenarios.
 

swag01

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There are more options out there other than SAMBA, guys.

FTP (over LAN is fine)
SFTP
RSYNC
SCP
SSHFS
NFS

Using a method like rsync, does a checksum on the files it is copying over. You could also use robocopy in Windows if you feel you need to stick with SAMBA...there are a lot of options available to do what you want, but you have to put forth the effort in reading about which method would work best in your environment/situation. We have documentation, and the forums that explain, in great detail, all of these options...with proper scenarios.


What I said from my first post was that I am using ubuntu and need to convert it to zfs and was looking for options other than samba.

The only option you gave me was to use OMV. So I took that as there is no support other than what I suggested.

If you were really interested in helping me, you would have given me those options from the beginning and you basically said that there was no other option and I should just use OMV or suggested a solution.

I am wondering what was the point of me asking the question? Basically, you are saying to go figure it out on your own.

It's like saying go get in a car and figure out how to drive on your own. There's a lot of ways to drive but you should read six different manuals on what is right. :)

Honestly, this gave me a bad feeling about freenas. I know it is free, but getting responses like this aren't helpful. After your suggestion, I had OMV up and running within an hour. Now I am copying files to the new hard drive. Yes, probably am missing some advantages to freenas but this works for me now.
 

pirateghost

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I said if you don't want to TRANSFER OVER THE NETWORK, then use OMV.

It's literally right there in my first post in this very thread.

Your question wasn't asking to use something other than samba, your question was if there is any way to convert ext to zfs. And there isn't.

We have an entire documentation site, that lists all the services offered in FreeNAS, and you said you were evaluating so my assumption is that you are doing homework on this. It's not my fault or responsibility to make sure you are reading the materials that we already have available. There is zero reason for me to rewrite all of that....

Basically when coming to a technical forum and asking a technical question, you better know how to ask the right questions....
 

NightHawk.ATL

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Pirateghost, you and a few others have been around for a "long" time with FreeNAS. I understand that you probably had to figure out a lot of this stuff on your own and you feel as though everyone else has to as well.

While we are using analogies, talking to the guys on this forum is like asking a genie for a wish. You have to know every detail to get it just right or you'll end up with a bag of dog shit on fire on your doorstep.

We are new. We probably don't want to read every page there is in the docs. Most of the time, the docs say "this is an apple, this is what an apple looks like". The docs usually don't say " this is an apple, you can make a lot of things from an apple. Here are some great examples".


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NightHawk.ATL

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Forums are here to help people not tell people to search or just read books. I have never found a forum around to date that will match more than one word in a multi word search string. If I search for help with FreeNAS and ownCloud, I'll get 6000 results for ownCloud and 10,000,000 results for FreeNAS but none that will state my issues without hours and hours of reading and diving into each thread.

I am a visual learner. I learn by doing. I can't figure things out by reading a book and putting it into practice. I almost failed high school that way. I have worked my ass off to learn computers since 1992 (I was 12) and have had some great jobs because I teach myself how to do things, sometimes asking for help from people who say they know their shit. And you know what, forums are the only place where I get handed the dictionary and told to read every page to figure it out.

I'm sure that you probably had some hand in building the docs for FreeNAS and that's why you are so proud of them and want everyone to read them. I understand! I make a lot of videos and share them with my friends and family but when I don't get a lot of views, I understand that some people just don't want to see what I create. But some people would just like someone they feel they can trust because they say they have knowledge to help them and don't want to be let down by someone hiding behind an online handle!


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pirateghost

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Forums are here to help people
Agreed. There are so many threads dealing with exactly the topic of this one...is there some reason we have to rehash everything every time someone decides they don't want to search?

I don't ask many questions regarding my servers, because I know how to search. I know how to find the answers I need on my own. I am self-taught in a LOT of things, and I learn by doing. By doing, I take the initiative and read about what I need to know while I am doing it.

I am a visual learner. I learn by doing. I can't figure things out by reading a book and putting it into practice.
Cool. You could fire up a VM or a test server and start poking around...and learn what the different services are. How am I somehow preventing that? Oh, you don't know what Service 'X' is? Let me hit the DOCUMENTATION that people have poured hours/days/weeks/months into creating to read about that service. Not enough info? Surely someone else has asked this same type of question. Let me search for that....
 

NightHawk.ATL

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OK, so back on topic. I found Carbon Copy Cloner that uses RSync to do file transfers and does checks on files and verifies and has a "safety net" option to make sure that everything has been transferred. Not sure if that will help everyone but at least it works on Mac and is a lot quicker than SMB transfer.
 
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