SOLVED Disk is too small to install FreeNAS on dual USB drive (8GB & 16GB)

Keven

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Aug 10, 2016
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114
hi,

i'm trying to do a clean install on 2 thumb drive. they have been clean format with no partition. when i select both usb key and start the installation (either as UEFI or BIOS),

install freenas.jpg


i get this error message
install freenas2.jpg


I know that my usb drive are not the same capacity, but for a clean install it should just pick the smaller size and make both drive THAT size.

what i am doing wrong
 

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Chris Moore

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Keven

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All well and good, but the absolute minimum size is 8 GiB. The Sony one is only 7.3, so you will need a larger module.
https://www.freenas.org/hardware-requirements/
actually the sony drive is the original drive which i used to run freenas from 9.10 to today 11.2-u2.1. FreeNAS was running just fine with that only sony thumb drive. now i just want to do a clean install so i can have mirror boot drive...

why in the first place freenas would let me install on that drive a few years ago... and let me upgrade to 11.2...

as a note freenas 9.10 required the same amount for the thumb drive as 11.2
 

Chris Moore

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actually the sony drive is the original drive which i used to run freenas from 9.10 to today 11.2-u2.1. FreeNAS was running just fine with that only sony thumb drive. now i just want to do a clean install so i can have mirror boot drive...
For some reason, it isn't as big as it once was. Maybe it is going bad. Also the new version of FreeNAS is much harder on boot media.
as a note freenas 9.10 required the same amount for the thumb drive as 11.2
You can try reinstalling 9.10 and see if that works.
 

Stux

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What happens if you only select the 8GB disk?
 

Keven

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it work installing 9.10 on each usb key individually, but i can't get them to install both of it at the same time.
install freenas both fail.jpg
 

Keven

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Aug 10, 2016
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ok after literally 4 hours + of trying to install both drive at the same time i didn't change anything between the failures and that one time it work... don't know why. now i have to upgrade them to 11.2-u2.1.

install freenas both work.jpg


update: that work...
install freenas disk 11.2 mirror.png
 

Mastakilla

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Jul 18, 2019
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I just had the same "Disk is too small too small to install FreeNAS" error, when using an 8GB USB stick (as all 8GB USB sticks, it actually only has about 7.5GB really available).

For me, I actually only had the issue when choosing "UEFI" as boot method. After choosing "Legacy BIOS", the installer had no trouble installing FreeNAS on my 8GB USB stick.

However, after installing, the USB stick hangs during boot. I'm now getting the "BTX Halted" error when booting FreeNAS. I read that the solution for this, should be to set SATA to AHCI in the BIOS, but it already is set to AHCI :( Suggestions are welcome...

Installing FreeNAS on my SSD works fine btw (using UEFI as boot method), but I now shortly need my SSD to install Windows on it for some more stability testing.
 

Mastakilla

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I was able to steal my wifes 32GB USB stick and with that USB stick I can install FreeNAS using "UEFI" as boot method. And that also solved the issue I was having with the "BTX Halted" error.

So in short (my experience at least): an "8GB" USB stick is not sufficient for FreeNAS
 

f00b4r00

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Jan 5, 2020
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So I've just been bitten by exactly the same thing. The 8GB minimum requirement is misleading: 8GB is _always_ 7.something GiB.
I've bought pair of ATP Nanodura 8GB and I can't get 11.3-U2 to install on it. I'm trying to figure out if I can disable the size check and move forward: these aren't cheap USB sticks.
 

Patrick M. Hausen

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11.1 still installs on 7.something GB and provides a rather quick and smooth upgrade to 11.3.
BTDT
 

f00b4r00

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Jan 5, 2020
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11.1 still installs on 7.something GB and provides a rather quick and smooth upgrade to 11.3.
BTDT
Indeed, thanks for the tip, although I wanted to start from the latest version just to avoid the extra hassle (and usb wear, although these particular sticks have humongous wear resistance).
I eventually edited /etc/install.sh on the live install media and that did the trick; however now I find that U2 seems to take much longer to boot than U1 did (arguably on a different - consumer grade - stick): it's been stuck at "importing pools" for the past few minutes.
I might eventually downgrade to something that works since I don't really need any of the new bells and whistles of the new versions.
 
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