USB Install Trouble

[gdspeed]

Let me start out by saying I am an extreme novice. In fact, this is my first attempt with setting up a NAS system. I realize a lot of people seeming post in a forum without reading/searching for other posts or following the user guide. I have tried both and have attempted several different methods of install with no success. I would greatly appreciate any advice or help – if my solution ends up becoming something I missed in viewing this forum or user guide I will be sincerly humbled.

I am running Linux Mint 14 from a clean install on an older white iMac with an Intel processor. I have tried to download both the .iso and .img.cz files of the newest build of FreeNAS (8.3.1-BETA2-x64). I have tried the method explained in the user guide for burning a CD with the .iso and installing to a USB stick. I have also tried to load the .img file directly to a clean USB stick using the 7zip/win32 method and keka/dd method explained in the user guide. I have also tried using different USB sticks (4GB and 8GB) and ports on the computer.

I have no issue loading FreeNAS onto the USB stick (at least I don't think so anyhow). As soon as it loads and reboots the computer immediately rejects the disk. I have tried holding option on the mac, but the USB isn't a recognized device. I have tried to boot using a windows machine (athough it is not my intended NAS machine) and I get an error mounting disk. If I reboot into the system OS and try to mount the USB stick it gives me an "unrecognized device" with an option to reinitialize or format.

Any ideas on how I could try to correctly load the FreeNAS system to my USB stick without comprimising its bootability?

Should I not be using a BETA version?

Do you think I may have better luck with a 32bit release?

I am open to any suggestions.

Thank you.

 

[cyberjock]

Few things: You shouldn't be starting off with using a Beta. Stick to the 8.3.0 RELEASE. It's less buggy. Especially since you are having problems.

Can you post the system specs you are using? Also what happens when it "rejects the disk"? Have you checked the BIOS and enabled booting from USB and set it as the first boot device?

I'd expect that an iMac with an Intel CPU would work. I'm not sure I've heard of anyone trying to use a Mac as a FreeNAS machine but don't see any reason why it wouldn't.

Edit: Didn't answer your last question.. If you plan to use ZFS you absolutely want the x64 version. If your CPU doesn't have 64 bit support then obviously you'd have to use the 32 bit version. Assuming your system is 64bit compatible I'd recommend you use the 64 bit version.

 

[gdspeed]

Few things: You shouldn't be starting off with using a Beta. Stick to the 8.3.0 RELEASE. It's less buggy. Especially since you are having problems.

Can you post the system specs you are using? Also what happens when it "rejects the disk"? Have you checked the BIOS and enabled booting from USB and set it as the first boot device?

I'd expect that an iMac with an Intel CPU would work. I'm not sure I've heard of anyone trying to use a Mac as a FreeNAS machine but don't see any reason why it wouldn't.

Edit: Didn't answer your last question.. If you plan to use ZFS you absolutely want the x64 version. If your CPU doesn't have 64 bit support then obviously you'd have to use the 32 bit version. Assuming your system is 64bit compatible I'd recommend you use the 64 bit version.

My specs are as follows:
iMac Intel 64-bit w/2GB RAM
Linux Mint 14 OS (clean installation)
4GB USB stick

There is no way of entering the bios of a Mac, but holding the option key at boot brings up a startup disk selection. I have also tried booting on a Windows machine to take the Mac out of the equation, but that failed too.

Apple has a GUID as their partition table, and I noticed after installing on the USB it changes that USB partition to MBR.

I can try the non-beta release and post back my results.

 

[JaimieV]

"I have tried holding option on the mac"

You're using a Mac as the host? They won't boot a FreeNAS stick without serious enhancement of the EFI firmware (because it's MBR). Install rEFIt, then you should be able to.

/Edit - I was writing as you posted the specs! If you no longer have an OSX partition you perhaps can't install rEFIt, I'm not sure. Set GRUB or whatever bootloader you're using for Linux to boot off the USB stick instead.

/More edit - using an iMac is a strange plan. Is this just a temp testbed? You'd be better off playing inside a VM really.

 

[cyberjock]

/More edit - using an iMac is a strange plan. Is this just a temp testbed? You'd be better off playing inside a VM really.

+1

Since you only have 2GB of RAM you are pretty much stuck using UFS for a file system. This is a strange plan nonetheless so I'm not sure how this is going to workout or if it will workout in a fashion you are happy with.

 

[mlc]

I wanted to migrate my existing FreeNAS from an old Dell to a newer Mac Pro because I am concerned that the Dell is about to bite the dust since others in my organization are all starting to fail. So here are my observations and how I got mine working:

0) Make absolutely sure that the thumb drive you imaged has the freenas image installed on it by doing the normal steps in the Wiki instructions. To verify, open Terminal and type "diskutil list" and you should see the partitions for free nas. Another test that should work is to reboot holding down "OPTION", and it should appear as a windows disk. If it appears, try selecting it. On mine I was able to force this to work before proceeding using option key.

1) You will need a second Mac to do this or the ability to boot the mini from a DVD/USB with the Apple OS on it. (Or to remove the drive and place it in a hard drive enclosure). Why? You need to reformat the internal disk so that it doesn't have an OS on it. If the computer sees an installation of Mac OS on the internal drive, it will automatically read from the GPT partitioning table. We are going to make it so that it has no choice but to read from MBR on your freeNAS installation.

2) Either firewire-boot or thunderbolt-boot the mini in target disk mode on the other Mac. ...Or boot from the installer disk if that's not an option. ...Or do the enclosure bit and attach to another computer. ... Or boot from a Windows installer disk to format in NTSF. Now you will reformat the Mini's hard drive to remove the Mac OS.

3) plug your FreeNAS usb into the mini, and reboot. Without a GPT disk installed, it should default to reading the MBR on the only OS disk plugged in, which should be your USB key. It might take a minute or so. If not, try holding OPTION to select the "Windows" partition.

4) Once it fully boots, go into the web interface, and you can format your Mini's HD and mount it as the share volume.

That worked for me (although I was on a Mac Pro with multiple disks). I had my FreeNAS installation installed on one of the four internal HDs in the Mac Pro, but it seems like it should still work the same with a single internal disk as the no-OS storage volume and the USB key with MBR.

Hope this is helpful. Your post was the ONLY one I could find asking the question I had before trying all of the above stuff.