USB drive strangely no longer working after move?

[jkelley]

I've been using FreeNAS for over a year and a half now with little issues (if any) and have loved it. Well my wife and I recently moved and when I hooked everything back up, FreeNAS won't boot :(

I'm running (3) 3TB drives in raid5. The raid5 is ZFS.

Basically, when I start the system it's not booting from the USB. I went back into BIOS and checked and the boot sequence was set to the SATA pool for some reason? I set the usb device back to priority but it just skipped over it on reboot and displayed the same error: "This is a FreeNAS data disk and can not boot system. System halted." I tried removing the 3 drives and left the USB stick in and it had the error: "Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key_"

Nothing has changed, I just moved the system to a different location. Maybe the other USB devices are a little different (keyboard, mouse), and maybe in different USB slots. I tried the USB drive in each of the USB slots at least once and none of them worked.

The motherboard recognizes the USB stick, I can see it in BIOS. I also plugged it into my windows PC and while it didn't pop up anything (since it's not a windows file format I guess?) I could still find the device in the device manager.

What should I do? I was stupid enough to not back it up...
Should I re-install a fresh copy of FreeNAS on the drive and re-configure everything? My ZFS raid5 should still be in tact right? Would I just have to re-upload them to the new install? I'm not terribly concerned about my previous settings at this point, I just need to get my files back.

Thanks!

 

[gpsguy]

If you're seeing this error, then FreeNAS isn't trying to boot off your flash drive.

"This is a FreeNAS data disk and can not boot system. System halted."

Have you tried booting the flash drive in another machine, as a test? Perhaps you are using the wrong one.

When you changed the BIOS, did you remember to save the new settings? If you have USB 3.0 slots, avoid them and just use a USB 2.0 one.

If you want to reinstall FreeNAS, I'd install the same version you were running before on a new flash drive. Look here for older versions: http://download.freenas.org/

If you saved the configuration file, you can restore it using the webGUI after you do the fresh install. If not, just do an autoimport of your pool and reconfigure the server.

 

[cyberjock]

The data disk error message is what you get if the USB either isn't selected or the BIOS can't boot from the device. So it sounds like your USB stick is bad.

Since FreeNAS boots up and runs from RAM after that your USB stick could have failed some time in the past and the system kept running because everything was in RAM.

 

[jkelley]

If you're seeing this error, then FreeNAS isn't trying to boot off your flash drive.



Have you tried booting the flash drive in another machine, as a test? Perhaps you are using the wrong one.

When you changed the BIOS, did you remember to save the new settings? If you have USB 3.0 slots, avoid them and just use a USB 2.0 one.

If you want to reinstall FreeNAS, I'd install the same version you were running before on a new flash drive. Look here for older versions: http://download.freenas.org/

If you saved the configuration file, you can restore it using the webGUI after you do the fresh install. If not, just do an autoimport of your pool and reconfigure the server.

I put the USB into another (windows) machine and it found it at the device manager, but otherwise didn't recognize it. I assumed it was because it wasn't in a windows file format?

Yes, I saved the BIOS settings and it's the correct USB stick, it looks completely different than all of my others. I also put the drive in 2.0 vs 3.0 slots and all the same result.

I would like to just stick to my old version, but I have no idea which one it was >_< I installed it about a year and a half ago. Was there a pretty specific version number during that time period? I went to the DL site but I can only find 'last modified' dates, not release dates on each one.

Otherwise, if I just do a fresh install on a new flash drive I should be able to access my zfs raid 5 with little issue right? If I just import it? Anything I could encounter along that way that would completely trash this?

 

[Ericloewe]

I put the USB into another (windows) machine and it found it at the device manager, but otherwise didn't recognize it. I assumed it was because it wasn't in a windows file format?

Yes, I saved the BIOS settings and it's the correct USB stick, it looks completely different than all of my others. I also put the drive in 2.0 vs 3.0 slots and all the same result.

I would like to just stick to my old version, but I have no idea which one it was >_< I installed it about a year and a half ago. Was there a pretty specific version number during that time period? I went to the DL site but I can only find 'last modified' dates, not release dates on each one.

Otherwise, if I just do a fresh install on a new flash drive I should be able to access my zfs raid 5 with little issue right? If I just import it? Anything I could encounter along that way that would completely trash this?

You can grab a new drive, install 9.2.1.6 and play around with it.

 

[gpsguy]

I suggested trying to boot the flash drive in another computer - to validate whether the flash drive was bootable.

If you drill down to the file level in the link I gave you, those dates should be good. You might want to cross reference them with "FreeNAS what's new". Do a google search for the latter.

Assuming you have at least 8Gb of RAM, you could try the latest release - 9.2.1.6.

As I said before you should be able to auto import your volume.


Sent from my phone

 

[jkelley]

I tried booting from the flash drive on my laptop. Oddly, I can't even find it in BIOS. I also can't see it in My Computer (windows) but I CAN see it in device manager as a USB drive.

Does it sound like it's toast? But why would I be able to see the usb drive in my NAS machine in the BIOS?

 

[Ericloewe]

I tried booting from the flash drive on my laptop. Oddly, I can't even find it in BIOS. I also can't see it in My Computer (windows) but I CAN see it in device manager as a USB drive.

Does it sound like it's toast? But why would I be able to see the usb drive in my NAS machine in the BIOS?

There are varying degrees of "toast" and USB booting (in some, particularly older, systems) can be a pain.

 

[dlavigne]

I would like to just stick to my old version, but I have no idea which one it was >_< I installed it about a year and a half ago. Was there a pretty specific version number during that time period? I went to the DL site but I can only find 'last modified' dates, not release dates on each one.

Regarding this point, release dates are listed at http://doc.freenas.org/index.php/Past_Releases.

 

[jkelley]

My NAS machine and my laptop are relatively recent machines. The NAS is running off an ASUS C60M1-I.

I bought a few new flash drives and put 9.2.1.6 on one of them. When I put it into the NAS machine it booted to it it looked like it was working great. I went to auto-import the ZFS raid from the GUI from my laptop I found the raid volume in the drop down list (which it was the only volume I had on the 3 disks) and basically clicked go and the NAS machine went all 'matrix on crack' on me for about 20 seconds and then immediately rebooted. At the GUI it had a leading bar that was stuck at "Step 2 of 2" until the NAS rebooted and then it immediately prompted me for my password (on the GUI). But when I put it in I couldn't see the ZFS volume :( I tried it again but it did the exact same thing. So it looks like it's crashing or something?

Drives are saying they are healthy.

 

[gpsguy]

I would try an older version. If you look at the dates in the link dlavigne gave you, do the match up with perhaps an 8.x version. If so, Try installing 8.3.2 instead.


Sent from my phone

 

[jkelley]

Thanks for the help. I did go back to using 8.3.2 and I was able to find the ZFS pool and auto-import it this time. Originally it didn't show up after the upload but when I manually restarted the machine it showed up :) now all I have to do is reconfigure.

What do I need to do to upgrade from my current working 8.3.2 version to the most recent release?

 

[gpsguy]

I'd start by reconfiguring what you currently have, before thinking about upgrading. And, this time, backup your configuring as you go. If something goes awry, you don't have to start over from scratch, yet again! Search the forum for a cron job to automate the task.

Rather than trying to upgrade directly to the latest version (9.2.1.6), I'd suggest an intermediate upgrade, like 9.2.0 and once you are comfortable with it, upgrade to the latest. In any case, read the manual regarding the upgrade process.

One thing I'd suggest - resist the temptation of upgrading your pool. At some point, you'll encounter messages that suggest that you should upgrade your pool (you're probably on version 28 now). If you upgrade, there's no going back to an earlier version, without destroying your pool and starting over. Don't upgrade, until you are completely satisfied with the newer version.

 

[jkelley]

Thank you everyone for your help. I was able to re-install 8.3.2 and re-configure the system no problem and was able to auto-upload the existing pool.

This kinda freaked me out this time so I'm definitely going to have another USB stick with the configuration copied so this doesn't happen again. But also I didn't realize how important my files have become in the past 2 years. I have a 3 drive software raid that I thought kept me pretty protected from a drive failure. It looks like I may be fooled on this one? Is there a smart way to add a 4th disk to the system for some additional mirroring? I only have 1 slot left in the case. Does anyone have any recommendations? The 3 current drives are exactly the same drive and I could pick up a 4th identical drive if that would be beneficial, or another size/type? Anyone have any recommendations? Thanks.

 

[gpsguy]

I presume you're saying that you have RAIDz1 and now wish that you'd gone with RAIDz2.

Unfortunately, you can't just add an extra drive and change it to the latter. You'd need to backup all your data, destroy your current pool, create a new one, and restore your data.

Since RAID <> backup, it's always a good idea to have a backup and better yet, multiple backups, of your critical data.

 

[jkelley]

I presume you're saying that you have RAIDz1 and now wish that you'd gone with RAIDz2.

Unfortunately, you can't just add an extra drive and change it to the latter. You'd need to backup all your data, destroy your current pool, create a new one, and restore your data.

Since RAID <> backup, it's always a good idea to have a backup and better yet, multiple backups, of your critical data.

Okay thanks. I may be able to copy all of my files to another location outside of the system. If I'm able to do that is there a preferred (I know this may be a really stupid... and subjective question) raid array structure for 4 drives that could handle a good amount of failure without full data loss. The drives are 3TB ea. and lets say I picked up an identical 3TB. The array is current 3x3TB but with 6TB of capacity from being in software 'raid5' I guess? I have much more storage than I need. I would even be okay with just 3TB of total capacity if it meant I was better protected. Reading around, I think this might be a RAID1+0? Keep in mind my CPU isn't too great on this machine.

 

[gpsguy]

If you only needed ~3Tb of capacity and wanted additional protection, you could create a 3 way mirror. For most users, that's a lot of overhead. But, you could suffer 2 drive failures and not lose your data.

The more common solution, would be to pick up an additional drive and create a RAIDz2 pool. You'd have the same amount of storage that you have right now, but like the first example, you'd need to lose more than 2 drives (could be any drive), before you lost your pool.

RAID1+0 is a stripe of mirrors. If you need ultimate peformance, creating multiple sets of ZFS mirror and striping them would be an option. With 4 disks (2 sets of mirrors), data loss would occur if you lost 2 drives in one mirror.

Take a look at cyberjock's guide. He posted a message in this thread and a link to his guide is in his signature. His presentation covers this material in depth.