My four hdd are in UFS filesystem. Can i import them into FreeNAS?

[Thewiruz]

Hello
I have been running Nas4free for a year or so and suddenly i got the error message that the config file was corrupted when i rebooted the server! Now if this was windows i would just connect them to my pc but now i am in deep shit as they are in UFS!
I have not used any type of raid,Its stand alone volumes on all discs.
Now to the question, I was going to give Freenas a try but it seems like the only option is ZFS right? But i can import existing volumes that have UFS?

The thing is that i need to extract the data to my windows machine and after that i can format the disc to ZFS but how do i do it without loosing data ? Can i create a pool and import an UFS disc?
Sorry for the questions but Nas4free doesn't exist anymore it seams :(

 

[kdragon75]

the good news is that yes, FreeNAS is a built in GUI option to import data from a UFS disk. The bad news it that you need to import that data to an existing pool.
You may look into importing directly into windows with something like http://ufs2tools.sourceforge.net/ This would only be for importing. Once you pull the data off, verify its intact. If you have enough room to clear all of the disks you could then use then to build a ZFS pool in FreeNAS. BEFORE you go building a FreeNAS box with old parts, please take the time to do some research on the required hardware.

http://doc.freenas.org/11/intro.html#hardware-recommendations
https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?resources/categories/hardware.1/

Also read up on ZFS

http://doc.freenas.org/11/zfsprimer.html

 

[kdragon75]

NAS4Free is now called XigmaNAS
https://www.xigmanas.com/

 

[joeschmuck]

I was going to give Freenas a try but it seems like the only option is ZFS right? But i can import existing volumes that have UFS?

You can easily use FreeNAS 9.2.1.9 which was the last FreeNAS version which supported UFS file system as a storage.

The thing is that i need to extract the data to my windows machine and after that i can format the disc to ZFS but how do i do it without loosing data ?

So I take it that you cannot recreate your NAS4Free boot disk and import the UFS disks ? This may be your safest bet since you are familiar with NAS4Free. But FreeNAS is easy enough to follow the user manual and import your UFS drives so grab a USB Flash drive and install FreeNAS 9.2.1.9 and follow the user guide, if the drives are not corrupt then it should work fine.

One other work arround is if you have a single large hard drive you could create a single drive ZFS vdev and then import your UFS drives as @kdragon75 mentioned above. I would use FreeNAS 11.1-U4 to start with since there may be SMB issues with U6 (the reason I have not upgraded to U6 yet). But if I were you my preference would be to run FreeNAS 9.2.1.9 and just import your UFS drives, you only need a very basic setup to get access to your data. Once you get your data off the hard drives then I'd run badblocks on the drives to verify they are still good, or at a minimum a SMART Long Test. Once you know you have good hard drives then you can create a pool and start putting data back on your NAS. If all you need is basic NAS service then you can be done and leave 9.2.1.9 running, however if you desire the latest version, just do a new install of 11.1-U6 and if SMB and everything works well, you are good to go.

One question we haven't asked yet are what are your system specs? You should realize that todays FreeNAS needs 8GB RAM and depending on what you plan to do with FreeNAS we may recommend 16GB or more. FreeNAS 9.2.x and earlier require 4GB RAM but if you start adding jails then you need more.

 

[Thewiruz]

Thank you very much everybody! I will try Joe,s suggestion and install FreeNAS 9.2.1.9! Thank you !

 

[Thewiruz]

Well this sux! I have tried both the .iso and the .img and no one work
I tried to burn the .iso with rufus and i got the message that the iso wasn't supported and wont be bootable so i gave up that one!
I downloaded the .xz file and extracted with 7-zip and burned the .img with win32diskimager but there wasnt any install screen and it hooked up with an error message.

https://download.freenas.org/archived/9.2.1.9/RELEASE/x64/

I want to install from a usb to a usb but i dont know what im doing wrong

Tried these

FreeNAS-9.2.1.9-RELEASE-x64.iso
and
FreeNAS-9.2.1.9-RELEASE-x64.img.xz

Ohh are these full or embedded ? I guess i need the full as i want to install VPN service and other plugins that i don't want to loose when I reboot the machine . Guess the .XZ is embedded right?

 

[joeschmuck]

Yea, I understand but I've always had much better luck just burning a CD from the iso and installing it from that. You don't need to use the FreeNAS system to do this, you can use any computer to install to the USB drive, just be careful and install to the correct drive.

 

[Thewiruz]

Thank you for your reply. The issue is that i only have 2 usb sticks and no CD/DVD burner. Also i don't have any DVD reader on my Nas server so it doesn't matter if i burn a DVD unfortunately :/

 

[Redcoat]

Why not download and use the usb image directly one one of your sticks? See the instructions for 9.2.1.9 at http://doc.freenas.org/archive.html and especially the note in the referenced 9.2.1.8 Errata.

 

[Thewiruz]

*Edit* I used Win32DiskImager to burn the.usb to the USB stick and it works! Thank you all for the help!

Well im not sure if Freenas is for geeks only but i find the instructions very bad!
I have downloaded the .usb file and i just add it to the stick without decompress or any use of other software like Rufus or image burners?

Note
you can also write the .usb file to a USB thumbdrive. Since this file is not compressed, it does not need to be uncompressed first using xzcat or 7-Zip.
When using dd, the command shown in the examples will change to: <--- Huh??

dd if=FreeNAS-9.2.1.8-RELEASE-x64.usb of=/dev/da0 bs=64k <--- Huh??

What the f... is dd command? I just want it to boot from my USB stick,Not hacking a network or something with the command prompt :)

Anyway thanks for helping me out! I will try to move the .usb image to my thumbdrive and see if it works and hope for the best

Why not download and use the usb image directly one one of your sticks? See the instructions for 9.2.1.9 at http://doc.freenas.org/archive.html and especially the note in the referenced 9.2.1.8 Errata.

 

[wblock]

Well im not sure if Freenas is for geeks only but i find the instructions very bad!

I can't find the strings mentioned, even in that four-year-old documentation. The ones I do find have a title that says "Using xzcat and dd on a FreeBSD or Linux System".

Rufus works, but must be used in "dd mode". The methods are documented here for the current version: http://doc.freenas.org/11/install.html#on-windows

 

[Redcoat]

I can't find the strings mentioned, even in that four-year-old documentation. The ones I do find have a title that says "Using xzcat and dd on a FreeBSD or Linux System".

Rufus works, but must be used in "dd mode". The methods are documented here for the current version: http://doc.freenas.org/11/install.html#on-windows

@wblock - that string the OP references is in the 9.2.1.8 Errata that the documentation page cites: "FreeNAS 9.2.1.9-RELEASE was released on November 18, 2014. This is a bug fix release. Use the 9.2.1 Users Guide and the 9.2.1.8 ERRATA for documentation."

 

[joeschmuck]

So were you able to attach your UFS drives?

 

[Thewiruz]

*Edit* After a while i thought maybe i could use another device to logon with as it has another IP number. That worked! I gave the transmission jail another IP and now im back!

Yes no problem with that, I have another issue which is a bit worse! Can access my Nas anymore after installing Transmission. Have duplicate logons in my router with the same IP and username but different Mac adresses :( Cant access my Nas via webgui or any other way i can think of
https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...attempts-to-modify-permanent-entry-for.54124/

 

[Chris Moore]

I have been running Nas4free for a year

Then you need to go here, they changed the name of their organization. You are on the wrong forum:
https://www.xigmanas.com/wiki/doku.php
XigmaNAS is the new name for NAS4Free. They still support all the things you are asking for, like UFS, that FreeNAS does not.