My system won't start

[Darklion]

For some reason my system got frozen and I just turn it off and then started it again. But when I did this it won't start anymore. I think somehow the 2 USBs I had for the system got corrupted because is telling me that there is no device for booting. I am attaching screenshots so you can see that even though I try on UEFI (witch is how it was installed) and BIOS mode it just won't boot.

Is there a way to recuperate the system like windows does? I have 3 pools with like 15 terabytes of information that I don't want to lose.

 

[Dice]

Your pools remain intact even if your system USB drives fails.
At this point, worst case scenario is that your freenas configuration is gone and you would reinstall onto fresh media. From there, take careful steps to gain access to the pool again.

 

[Heracles]

Hey Darklion,

If indeed the entire problem is that both or your USB failed, your pool and data are safe. The entire pool structure is saved on the data drive, not the boot drive. All you have to do is to create yourself a new FreeNAS boot drive and boot from that one.

Once your system is up, you can go to storage and ask FreeNAS to import your pool. FreeNAS will scan the drives, find your pool and mount it.

What is lost in this case is your FreeNAS config. Things like user accounts, shares, UPS config, ... To restore that, you need to restore your config backup. You have one right ? If you don't, you may have to re-create all your configs by hand...

If you put your system dataset in your pool, you may be able to recover your config backup from there. FreeNAS creates a new one everyday and put it in that dataset.

Good luck but this recovery should not be too hard. Now, to be safe and calm is the most important

 

[Darklion]

Well you guys have give me some good news but I have try something like that before.

I use to have a Dell r510 on witch I had 2 60gb ssd's connected on sata ports as that motherboard came with 5, but I then change to a Dell r910 that only came with 1 sata port for the optic drive. I try to use a H200 with those 2 ssd's connected on it but couldn't boot from them, then I feed a fresh install on 2 USBs thinking that I could recover my pools on the same way @herajust told me but I was never able to do it or find any information on how to do it, you guys like to say that many things can be done but never say how and hope for us (the unwise) to find up for our self's, but when you don't even have an idea of what you are doing turns to be pretty impossible. Well that time my solution was to put everything back on the r510 and resilver my ssd's in to 2 USBs and then just change everything to the r910 and it works perfectly.

Can you guys be so kind and give me more specific information or at least links on where can I find those methods as I have try to recover the pools on a new install and haven't being able to.

I have another issue of the same sort of well, I have 2 enclosures of 15 drives each on where I have another 2 pools, but if I turn on the server and forgot to turn on the enclosures to be detected on boot and do it afterwards, I have the same issue, I can see that I have the 15 disks from each enclosure but I don't see any why to make to pool to pop up or something, even though it says that the disks are there, the pool keep saying that is disconnected and if I go to pools and try to import, it just doesn't detected anything, so I guess there is another step that I am missing that I can't find anywhere. Neither on you tube or here, I have being having a lot of this issues and the most of the times is because I don't even know the names you guys give to the things and if you don't now how to look, you won't never find something.

 

[Heracles]

you guys like to say that many things can be done but never say how and hope for us (the unwise) to find up for our self's

If we do all the work for you, you will not learn much...

Lets try to figure out from what is in here...

Once your system is up, you can go to storage

So you log in your FreeNAS ; In the left column, you go to Storage...

and ask FreeNAS to import your pool.

So in this Storage menu, there is one line named Pool... Is it really hard to figure out that this is the one to use ?

Next in that page, there is button marked ADD and is the only action when you do not have a pool.

Once you clicked on it, it offers you to import a pool...

but when you don't even have an idea of what you are doing turns to be pretty impossible.

If really that one was too hard to find, you may be better not using FreeNAS for anything sensitive until you learn more about IT, Unix, ZFS and FreeNAS. FreeNAS is very strong and very powerful, but it will let you shoot yourself in the foot should you wish to do it.

 

[Darklion]

Thank you for all the insults but it looks like you didn't even bother to read what I wrote.

On my last message I said that I went to that process to import the pool and even did it when I forgot to turn the enclosures on, but even though the disks appear on the storage and all of them are there, when I go to the pools-add-import there is like a pop up bottom but no pools appear on it and that's why I was asking if I am missing an step. Even though you might think is simple and fool probe, I have find many things on FreeNAS that even is you follow the steps being given on a YouTube tutorial, they don't work even though it did work for the guy making the tutorial. One example is trying to setup Plex, I have some messages over here asking for help and every one agree that there are some problems and finally they gave me a solution on adding some permissions cuz even though I did everything on the manuals and tutorials, it wasn't working.

So please stop thinking that everything is so simple, stop being so arrogant and thinking that everyone has your same level of knowledge and learn to be a little humble.

I have seen many trends as well of people trying to setup a cloud storage like dropbox and many failing even though they are using a customized script provided by other user and still won't work, for me still doesn't work cuz there many other knowledge that is being hide it and you guys want us to find when we don't even know how to call the things. When I came to learn on here I was pretty much at 0, never even hear about a pool, just only on the car pool lane, pretty much all your terminology doesn't has to do whit any other operating system and you want the ones that are at 0 to just know you wording when is absolutely different.

Please be humble and try to be a better teacher, the fact that some people treat you that bad doesn't mean that you have to take on us to avenge your self.

 

[ThreeDee]

..alternatively .. you could just get 2 USB to SATA adapters and run your 60gb SSD's off of that (no external power needed as there is enough juice off of USB ports to run your SSD). I ran out of SATA ports on my mobo and although it's not "recommended" .. I tried a ten or so dollar adapter from Newegg (plugged into my internal USB port) and ran 1 128GB SSD for my boot drive .. set that up ..going on about a year now I think .. and not one issue.

 

[Darklion]

That advice sounds great, thank you.

But here is another question.

I resilver those ssd's to the USBs, so I imagine that all the information on the ssd's are gone, right? I am asking cuz if the information is still on the ssd's that will be my total solution as I should just plug and play but I don't think the information will still be on the ssd's.

I try to connect a pci 1x sata card on the server, to just connect those ssd's and be done whit it but I just couldn't boot like that, looks like the BIOS doesn't support to boot on and extra or external sata card.

If you now how to import the pool I would appreciate a tutorial or manual as even though it looks simple to just go to storage - pools - add - import, nothing shows on the pop up menu, even though all the disks appear on the disks section. As @Heracles said are ready, I am pretty dumb so I need especial care and attention for my incompetence.

 

[blueether]

point 1: 99% of the time it IS that simple - edge cases are exceptions.
point 2: no-one is trying to hide things from other forum users - the people that know their stuff are willing to share if you are willing to ask and listen

 

[Darklion]

When you said is that simple, are talking about the import of the pool? Or the ssd's still having the information?

It looks like on me, everything is not that simple. Plex was supposed to be that simple and it didn't work, I had to ask like 10 times on different trends to finally someone told me that was permissions issues, even though I had set users and all that I still had to do some general permissions to make the whole pool available to every plugin I want to give access to. I guess there is something as well on the importation of the pools as well as on the pop up menu where an available pool to be imported should be, is on blank. As I said, even if I forgot to turn on an enclosure and the when the system is up and running i turn the enclosure on and all the disks appear fine, the pool is still not accessible and can't even import it cuz that menu is on blank, I have to restart the system with the enclosure on to be able to get my pool back.

Are you guys using the new gui? Cuz almost every YouTube tutorial I find, the person use the legacy one but when I try the legacy I have, the stuff are not on the same place and some doesn't even work. Maybe you guys are giving advice but are still using an old version and still using the legacy gui and that's why the advices sometimes doesn't work. Just a guess.

 

[ThreeDee]

I'm using 11.3 RC2 and my plex install via plugin method was real easy and I'm a big dummie. ..and I don't think you lost any data from your SSD's. You basically just copied the info off of them to your USB drives.

 

[blueether]

Yes i'm talking about importing the pool. and I'm using the new UI (as is @Heracles)

Have you tried to import the pool this time - forget about your issues with not having an external enclosure powered up at boot time for now

 

[Darklion]

I am gonna give it another try and hope is going to be that simple. First I will try the ssd's and if it doesn't work I will try a new installation but I am not home right now. I soon as i get home I'll try it.

 

[Darklion]

I just order the sata to USBs adapters and will arrive tomorrow, I will try the sata first. Can you throw me to the right direction on how to perform a security copy of all the configuration please. I want to avoid all this from happening as much as I can.

 

[ThreeDee]

what version of FreeNAS are you using ... there is a "Save Config" button that you click is all and then it downloads your current configuration to your PC

..and just to reiterate ... USB to SATA cables are NOT part of the recommended hardware here.. It's been working great for me, but its not recommended. ;)

 

[Darklion]

I now is not recommended, I would love to actually use them as straight sata but maybe if it works I can just resilver them again and have them on the USBs, or at least on USB and one ssd.

I am using the last one, I think is 11.2 u7. And believe me, nothing has being that simple for me and next cloud has being a super pain in the ass for me, even though I have try several time to reinstall the OS on ther medias to avoid screwing the one working, thinking that maybe I made a mistake on the installation and trying from 0 sever times, it never works like it does on the video tutorials.

 

[Darklion]

Well, now I think there must be something wrong with the server as I try the other 2 ssd's and then I try to boot the CD to reinstall FreeNAS and I still got the same issue of booting and like no booting image found.

Any thoughts on what could be wrong on my server? I am kinda on big dark age here lol, I have never had a problem trying to boot a CD.

 

[ThreeDee]

well .. do you have your boot device set correctly in the BIOS? .. secondly, if FreeNAS is already installed on your SSD's .. you don't have to reinstall. If you are running your 2 SSD's that you resilvered your USB drives from, and you are using the SATA to USB adapter .. just set your Dell to boot off of USB and it should see FreeNAS on your SSD's.

I initally installed FreeNAS on my 128GB SSD on a spare box I had laying around that had a DVD-ROM drive in it and then put the SATA to USB adapter on it and plugged it into my server and it all booted up just fine ..

 

[Darklion]

I think you still don't get what I am trying to say. Remember how the installation of the FreeNAS works? How it first ask you if you want to installed it on BIOS of UEFI mode?

I think we already establish that we can change that configuration inside the BIOS to boot an operating system through BIOS or UEFI mode. Well when I installed the FreeNAS, I did it on UEFI and not BIOS mode, so the inside the BIOS the boot loader has to be set on UEFI to be able to boot the FreeNAS I have installed either on my USBs or ssd's. But the problem here is that my BIOS won't boot anything on UEFI, just on BIOS mode so it won't boot any of the USBs or ssd's cuz the 4 of them are on UEFI and the BIOS won't boot on UEFI anything, not even the CD or USB to reinstall FreeNAS. The only way I have to boot the installation disks is using BIOS mode.

So I reinstall FreeNAS on another USB using BIOS mode, I connect the disks and make sure all of then shows on storage-disks, then I go to storage-pools-add-imports and on the pop up menu doesn't appear any pool able to be imported. I am using 11.2-u7 by the way.

 

[Darklion]

well .. do you have your boot device set correctly in the BIOS?

And yes, they are correctly chosen and even I have try hitting F11 and go to the boot menu where I can choose where to boot from, if the boot mode is on UEFI, regardless if I choose a CD, usb or anything it won't boot anything, it has to be on BIOS mode to be able to boot something.