Accidentally formatted USB drive with FreeNAS

[Kamel]

I could provide a lengthy and a possibly entertaining explanation, but I don't want to waste your time so this is the abridged version.

Situation: My FreeNAS install was on a USB thumb drive and I accidentally formatted that drive to a blank fat32 volume. I have not made any other changes since I immediately realized what I had done. I do not have any backups of freenas that I'm aware of, but I have no reason to believe any of my data on the drives is damaged (zfs raidZ2), but ironically enough one of the drives did die recently and it is in a degraded state.

Things to consider: My data on my drive isn't super duper critical, but like everyone it'd be nice to get it back. I am unwilling to go through any elaborate or expensive processes, but I have a good working knowledge of linux/freebsd and am willing to put in the legwork to restore my data. I also do not have an urgent need to get it back up, so I favor a longer process over a shorter/riskier process. Also, I did have some extra packages installed, but those packages are unimportant to me - I only care about the data. My freenas installation was done using the latest version in november of 2013. I did not actively update it, but am unsure if it was ever updated automatically (i would imagine not).

Options: Can I install freenas to a new thumb drive and simply re-mount my pool no harm no foul? If not, what would be my best shot at recovery? Would it be advisable to try and recover the files on the drive? I would imagine the files are still physically there, but the filesystem was overwritten.

Thank you so much for your time and consideration.

 

[danb35]

Can I install freenas to a new thumb drive and simply re-mount my pool no harm no foul?

Yes. It would be best to use the same version as you had (no, it doesn't automatically update; all updates require user intervention of some sort). The ideal situation would be if you could recover your config file, either from the USB key itself or from a backup saved on your pool or downloaded to your (client) computer; otherwise you'll have to reconfigure your users, shares, etc., but the data will all be safe on your pool.

 

[Kamel]

Thank you for the prompt reply! I am unconcerned about the users/shares/etc, so I will likely opt to just install fresh rather than restoring from a backup.

Once I get around to attempting this, I will come back to update this thread since I know all too often threads go with no followup. It may not be a fast process though, as I tend to move slowly on things like this.

 

[pirateghost]

http://doc.freenas.org/9.10/storage.html#import-volume