Go from 1 hdd boot to 2 new ssd's

[dankoh]

Hi guys.

I have TrueNAS-SCALE-22.12.0 boot from old 320GB hdd and I would like to replace it with 2 new 120GB SSDs in mirror raid.

After weeks of setting it up, it would be terrible to lose it.

What is the easiest method to achieve this?

I am not very familiar with TrueNAS or Linux. Bearly getting by.

Regards.
Danijel

 

[Alecmascot]

It's no great deal to loose the boot drive.
Just make sure you have downloaded and saved the current config then you can do a re-install and upload the config to have everything back to normal.
That is also the best way to change the boot drive(s)

 

[Whattteva]

Hi guys.
I have TrueNAS-SCALE-22.12.0 boot from old 320GB hdd and I would like to replace it with 2 new 120GB SSDs in mirror raid.
After weeks of setting it up, it would be terrible to lose it.

Boot drive can be recovered easily. It's just a simple reinstall of the TrueNAS ISO, which will take you like 10 mins at most.

What is the easiest method to achieve this?

As previously mentioned above, it's just a simple reinstall. Backup your config file and restore it after you perform a fresh reinstall.

So really, the most important step here is to make sure you regularly backup your existing config file. In my opinion, using two boot drives is a waste considering it's so easy to recover unless you're running some mission-critical system that cannot afford even 15-30 minutes of downtime.

 

[dankoh]

It is done. All seems to work as it did and it was pretty easy to install/restore.

Thanks for the advice.

I did go for one ssd because it does look like a waste of disk and port.

Regards.
Danijel

 

[WI_Hedgehog]

Well, there's this member:

SOLVED - Boot Drive died. Uploaded old config. Pool Status: Offline.

Hi, My setup is janky and not at all recommended kind of setup. Have old refurbished Dell Latitude 7480 that came with a ssd (probably as old as laptop) and one 4TB HDD connected through USB. It worked great for a year until today when the ssd that has trueNAS scale died. It is pretty dead I...

www.truenas.com

which isn't the only story I've read about things going sideways when the boot drive borked. Personally, I'm running a triple-mirror on the boot drive because it's really cheap insurance* that in the event my boot drive goes up in smoke there's another--with error correction--to take its place. And if a second issue happens (bad connection/cable/drive dies during rebuild) there's a third drive to pick up the pieces. Yeah, belt-and-suspenders. BUT, over the last century I've been doing this**, I've seen a lot of fit hit the shan and data go in the dumper, much to my dismay.*** With three boot drives I just pull the buggered platter-box and shove in a new one, and -done-.


---
*assuming (3) 32 GB or larger SATA SSDs on the end of a SAS cable. (Some power needed.)
**at best a mild exaggeration.
***because it caused me a lot of sleepless days in succession while recovering someone else's mission-critical "server based on poor decisions." Though they did pay me. Begrudgingly. Read BOFH for a better understanding of why you don't want to not pay the network engineer.

 

[Whattteva]

which isn't the only story I've read about things going sideways when the boot drive borked.

He's running a NAS on USB on a laptop with no redundancy. He even admitted it himself that it's "janky".
It's basically asking for disaster and mirrored boot drive or not, it's just a ticking time bomb. Saying that his issue is the boot drive is uh... I don't know, kinda' missing the bigger picture. He was going to get data loss sooner or later. It was just a question of "when". People losing access to their data is a tale as old as this forum itself and it extends far beyond boot drives. And it typically boils down to people running non-recommended janky setups. You can basically substitute boot drive in your statement with just about anything janky people decide to do (cheap SATA controllers, RDM, USB, HW RAID, daisy-chained power cables). The guy in that thread is actually fairly lucky because it just looks like he hit a middleware bug, but his data is likely still safe. Though if I were him, I would definitely migrate his important data ASAP and abandon that janky setup.

I mean, put it this way. Would you build a similar system like one that OP built (single USB drive on a laptop) and put your precious irreplaceable data on it but with your triple-mirrored boot drive? Something tells me you would answer a resounding no to this question.

Personally, I'm running a triple-mirror on the boot drive because it's really cheap insurance that in the event my boot drive goes up in smoke there's another--with error correction--to take its place.

Maybe really cheap for YOU, but to a lot of people, dedicating THREE SATA ports on a system that may only have 6 or even 4 ports is.... uh.... not exactly cheap. Why do you think people resort to using USB disks in the first place? Presumably because getting a motherboard with more ports or spare PCIe for HBA is more expensive than you might realize.

 

[WI_Hedgehog]

He's running a NAS on USB on a laptop with no redundancy. He even admitted it himself that it's "janky". It's basically asking for disaster and mirrored boot drive or not, it's just a ticking time bomb.

Yup. A perfect example of something destined to raise your heart-rate without you actually being chased down by something trying to kill you.*

He was going to get data loss sooner or later. It was just a question of "when". People losing access to their data is a tale as old as this forum itself and it extends far beyond boot drives.

That's kind of my point.

I mean, put it this way. Would you build a similar system like one that OP built (single USB drive on a laptop) and put your precious irreplaceable data on it but with your triple-mirrored boot drive?

I'd use a triple-mirrored boot-pool and Z3 data-pool on server-grade equipment, because you told me to. Well, not *me* exactly, and not only you exactly, but I mean I read the forum and $%^&ing listen because you guys are way smarter than me. At least cumulatively. And I'd rather spend my days passed out in my vastly** comfortable orange-and-black racing chair than fixing some P.O.S. janky server with mission-critical data on it given they pay me the same for either outcome. Plus laptops are for storing illicit material downloaded from the interwebs that'll eventually get the owner sent to prison. Unless my discretionary budget is increased. That's just the way the world works.

Maybe really cheap for YOU, but to a lot of people, dedicating THREE SATA ports on a system that may only have 6 or even 4 ports is.... uh.... not exactly cheap. Why do you think people resort to using USB disks in the first place? Presumably because getting a motherboard with more ports or spare PCIe for HBA is more expensive than you might realize.

I wouldn't run anything off SATA. Except that laptop hard drive that lost all the stuff that's never going to be seen ever again. Again, I must defer to the forum members who compared SATA with SAS and made it abundantly clear that SAS is far superior to SATA for a multitude of reasons that will be reiterated in great detail should that laptop thing ever wind up in court. Did you know the 2022 Acura NSX Type S can (could) be ordered with a custom Alcon interior? Back-dating my order isn't going to be cheap.

Speaking of what is cheap, I updated my previous post with iX-approved hardware links. You're welcome.


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*Such as any living creature in Australia.
**Yes, I used "vastly" correctly. It can also mean "immensely." I read the dictionary.***
***Once. ****

****Well, not all of it.

 

[Whattteva]

I'd use a triple-mirrored boot-pool and Z3 data-pool on server-grade equipment, because you told me to. Well, not *me* exactly, and not only you exactly, but I mean I read the forum and $%^&ing listen because you guys are way smarter than me. At least cumulatively. And I'd rather spend my days passed out in my vastly** comfortable orange-and-black racing chair than fixing some P.O.S. janky server with mission-critical data on it given they pay me the same for either outcome.

Duly noted. I think I was misunderstanding your intentions. My apologies.

Plus laptops are for storing illicit material downloaded from the interwebs that'll eventually get the owner sent to prison. Unless my discretionary budget is increased. That's just the way the world works.

Ah yeah.... I believe they call that uh.... cough Linux ISO's cough