FreeNas not seeing any Volumes

[cillian]

Hi there,

I've had a Freenas box up and running in my shop for a few years now. One day (seemingly out of nowhere) I could not access my 1TB network drive.

I logged on to the web interace and it simply wasn't there, I tried to press the import new volume and there were no volumes in the list to choose from.

steps I have tried:

1. I reformatted my USB drive (where Freenas is installed) and re-installed a fresh Freenas onto it - No success

2. I put the new drive into a whole new computer and booted it in that - no success

3. I inserted a USB HDD into the new computer whilst Freennass was running, it DID detect it and I WAS ABLE to see it in the "import volumes" list.

4. I took my main 1TB drive out of the computer and connected it via USB to my win7 computer, I could browse the drive perfectly which the help of a UFS explorer for windows. I even managed to backup what files I needed, so I then deleted the Volumes of the disk so it was setup as "unalocated space"

5. I then put the freshly deleted drive back into the freenas box and booted freenas, but i can still not see any volumes to import


am I doing something fantastically stupid ? I think the drive is fine.


It's been over 3 years since I initially setup freenas and I've probably forgotten most of what I learned in order to set it up in the first place, as it always ran flawlessly and i never needed to go back to it.

all help greatly appreciated

thanks

 

[dlavigne]

Which version of FreeNAS did you reinstall?

 

[cillian]

Hi thanks for your reply,

I'm not sure of the version number, it would have been a few months back.

I just don't have access to that box here in this office.

would the version have anything to do with it do you think ? were there any known bugs a few months back like this?

 

[gpsguy]

If the disk is still UFS you did a fresh install of FreeNAS 9.3, it won't see it. Support for UFS was dropped in this version.

If you'd like to try a version before 9.3, you can download older versions here: http://download.freenas.org/

would the version have anything to do with it do you think?

I don't understand this statement. Were you trying to wipe the drive? If it had been done correctly, you wouldn't be able to import the volume. You'd need to create a new one. Try using DBAN (www.dban.org) with the quick option to wipe your drive.

I then put the freshly deleted drive back into the freenas box and booted freenas, but i can still not see any volumes to import

Lastly, please post your server spec's. See the hardware section of the forum rules (in red at the top of the page).

A WAG is that you don't have sufficient RAM to run the latest version of FreeNAS.

 

[cillian]

thanks for the reply,

the drive is now just 1TB of unpartitioned space so it should be able to see and format that, no?


the server, well... it's not really a server just an old ATX box that I had lying around. I think it's got 2GB of RAM but was never a problem before

 

[SweetAndLow]

What version of FreeNAS would be helpful information. Also very few people use ufs around here. Maybe it's time to upgrade hardware and run ZFS.

 

[gpsguy]

As I suspected 2GB of RAM is insufficient to run ZFS on FreeNAS 8/9.. For these you'll need 8GB at a minimum.

If you can't/won't upgrade check out the "old" FreeNAS, which is now called NAS4free. Go to nas4free.org for support.


Sent from my phone

 

[SweetAndLow]

As I suspected 2GB of RAM is insufficient to run ZFS on FreeNAS 8/9.. For these you'll need 8GB at a minimum.

If you can't/won't upgrade check out the "old" FreeNAS, which is now called NAS4free. Go to nas4free.org for support.


Sent from my phone

He isn't using ZFS, he said he was using ufs. I think 2GB of ram is ok in that case but it's still quite low. My phone has more memory than his computer.

 

[cyberjock]

He isn't using ZFS, he said he was using ufs. I think 2GB of ram is ok in that case but it's still quite low. My phone has more memory than his computer.

Actually, towards the end of 9.2.1.x we recommended 3GB for UFS. 2GB was causing problems for users.

 

[gpsguy]

The OP never told us what version of FreeNAS he reinstalled. I am A$$uming the latest, ie 9.3.

And, he thinks the drive is blank. Again, my guess, is that it isn't back to it's virgin state.

He isn't using ZFS, he said he was using ufs. I think 2GB of ram is ok in that case but it's still quite low.