DO NOT attempt to use Freenas with USB

[skysurf76]

For about 8 years now I have tried to use Freenas with USB hdd docking stations. I remember years ago Cyberjock telling me not to use USB and I decided personally that it should work. It didn't. I have literally spent about 8 years trying to keep a USB Freenas system going. For a long time USB 2.0 worked "ok", but they would still drop alot and I would have to resilver arrays. Just recently I tried upgrading to USB 3.0 with USB 3.0 docking stations and I have already had to resilver disks about 10 times. The disks just constantly get errors. I have tried using different computers and power supplies and everything else I can think of. It just doesn't work. I don't know what it is between USB and ZFS but they just don't work together. I finally broke down tonight and ordered some eSata bays. I am making this post in the hopes that if anyone wants to use USB for Freenas that they won't. Don't do it, it just doesn't work. I have tried, trust me.

 

[enemy85]

I would avoid the e-sata too and use proper hw for your nas...

 

[DrKK]

I would avoid the e-sata too and use proper hw for your nas...

Just so everyone is clear on what the OP said:

The OP is using **USB HARD DRIVES** for his pool, and he is doing so in full knowledge that he is violating the advice of the community in general, and, specifically, violating the advice of Cyberjock. I would also agree with enemy85, that you sound like you are trying to make a dodgy bit of hardware work by nickel and diming it. The "correct" procedure is to make a proper FreeNAS in the first place, not try to jimmy up an external eSata cage.




In general, folks, there's a few things to remember. This is a special operating system, FreeBSD. This is a special filesystem, ZFS. This is special software, FreeNAS. Unless you are professional or semi-professional ***IN THOSE THREE THINGS SPECIFICALLY***, then you basically don't know shit. It doesn't matter if you've been a Linux IT Monkey for 22 years, it doesn't matter what "your buddy who has been in IT for 15 years" says. It doesn't matter what some professional-looking forum/podcast/videocast says about pulling some bullshit out of your closet and making a "budget NAS" with FreeNAS says. And it doesn't matter if some of us in the forum are a bit rough around the edges or difficult to get along with.

In general, if someone with 1000+ posts in the FreeNAS forum gives you a piece of advice, and it doesn't agree with your understanding, or desires, then, 99.18% of the time, then your understanding/desires are WRONG or misinformed.

 

[DrKK]

Sir, I just want to say, your persistence is remarkable. 8 years with humongously subpar hardware that has been resilvering frequently. Very tenacious. I honor tenaciousness, even if the person is a whack job.

 

[skysurf76]

I got two eSata 4 bay HDD docking stations coming. I thought eSata was reliable. Is it reliable? Let me test is for you! I will report back! For the love of God don't use USB though! I have tried for years. It just don't work.

 

[skysurf76]

WTF e-Sata isnt just as good as Sata?

I'm never going to have a stable NAS. I just dropped $150 on e-Sata docking stations and a PCI card. I'm going to be resilvering until I die. =/ FML

 

[skysurf76]

Sir, I just want to say, your persistence is remarkable. 8 years with humongously subpar hardware that has been resilvering frequently. Very tenacious. I honor tenaciousness, even if the person is a whack job.

The awesome part, I went Z2 with the important array and its still alive. 5 disks, 3 parity. Best decision I ever made. lol One disk in that array is actually resilvering as we speak.

 

[Ericloewe]

WTF e-Sata isnt just as good as Sata?

I'm never going to have a stable NAS. I just dropped $150 on e-Sata docking stations and a PCI card. I'm going to be resilvering until I die. =/ FML

eSATA has a few catches:

• Unless everything is properly setup for eSATA's 2m maximum cable length, maximum cable length is going to be 1m. Longer cables almost always result in unreliable disks.
  
• External enclosures that expose several drives via a single eSATA interface are a recipe for disaster. Besides being very badly built, they rely on either a SATA port multiplier (very unreliable, not even supported by fscking Intel PCH SATA ports!) or an ultra-crummy embedded RAID controller (a decent HW RAID controller is bad enough when used with FreeNAS, but a tiny little chip with few resources and no serious users? Ouch.)

 

[danb35]

WTF e-Sata isnt just as good as Sata?

eSATA itself is probably about as good as SATA for a single disk. AFAIK it hasn't been tested much (if at all), because it just isn't consistent with the hardware requirements for a stable, properly-functioning server.

The problem, though, is that you're apparently buying eSATA cages, which put multiple disks on a single eSATA port. These necessarily involve SATA port expanders, which are bad juju.

Edit: @Ericloewe beat me to it.

 

[anodos]

In general, if someone with 1000+ posts in the FreeNAS forum gives you a piece of advice, and it doesn't agree with your understanding, or desires, then, 99.18% of the time, then your understanding/desires are WRONG or misinformed.

I strongly recommend building a zpool using zip-drives connected to a USB hub. It will work better because of the extra "z"s.

 

[Ericloewe]

I strongly recommend building a zpool using zip-drives connected to a USB hub. It will work better because of the extra "z"s.

It takes ZFS to make ZIP drives reliable, that's the original reason for "Z"FS. When Sun management said "Are you fscking stupid? Who would buy a filesystem for ZIP drives?", the ZFS team quickly arrived at "Zettabyte".

 

[anodos]

It takes ZFS to make ZIP drives reliable, that's the original reason for "Z"FS. When Sun management said "Are you fscking stupid? Who would buy a filesystem for ZIP drives?", the ZFS team quickly arrived at "Zettabyte".

Self-healing filesystem meets self-corrupting media. It's like tying a piece of buttered bread to a cat's back and seeing if the tendency for bread to fall butter-down defeats the tendency for cats to fall on their feet.

 

[Bidule0hm]

It's like tying a piece of buttered bread to a cat's back and seeing if the tendency for bread to fall butter-down defeats the tendency for cats to fall on their feet.

The answer is easy: if you do that you'll have a flying saucer ;)

 

[anodos]

The answer is easy: if you do that you'll have a flying saucer ;)

Or a wormhole if it eats the toast

 

[tvsjr]

I strongly recommend building a zpool using zip-drives connected to a USB hub. It will work better because of the extra "z"s.

Ooh, a RAID-Z2 click-of-death. That's pretty sick...

 

[mattbbpl]

I have literally spent about 8 years trying to keep a USB Freenas system going.

That is nothing short of impressive. The fact that you've apparently had no data loss to boot is miraculous.

 

[skysurf76]

Update...

https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...-esata-with-esata-card-port-multiplier.40028/