Hardware died - recover disks?

[gpsguy]

IANAN (I am not a Noob), but I've been away from FreeNAS (serious health issues in the family) for ~5 months and between RTFM, my search terms, memory - I can't find the answers I need.

Last winter I built a server running FN 8.0.4 x64 server [home use] with a 2Tb (2x2Tb) ZFS mirror. I was slowly moving (consolidating data from multiple pc's/server's) to it. And, at the same time, backing it up to multiple hard disks. Sometime in the June/July/August timeframe, I started having issues with my hardware. I'm sure I documented the problem at the time, but can't find it now. I could boot, by it the server would crash shortly thereafter. Booting off my backup USB drive yielded the same issue, even after I reinstalled the OS on it. So, it looked like a hardware issue of some sort. Now (December), I can't even get the system to POST with a FN USB Flash drive in the server. My guess is that my full backups (3+) contain between 90-100% of the source data, but I can't compare them with the original. I was rotating between backups, as I loaded the data, so I wouldn't have all my eggs in one basket.

Rather than trying to diagnose and fix my current system, I took advantage of the Black Friday/Cyber Monday specials here in the US, and bought a HP Microserver (n40l) and 8Gb of RAM. I'll put an Intel Pro/1000 NIC in it. I know the server doesn't have much horsepower, but at this point, all I want to do is synchronize my source data with my backups. Then figure out where I want to go with FN.

So, where do I go from here? I have a fairly simple installation - 2 users, 3 CIFS shares, and good notes on the installation. I also have multiple backups of my freenas*.db configuration file.

Should I format a USB stick with 8.3.0 or 8.0.4? Should I put both drives in the new machine (if they are mirrored, shouldn't one be enough?, in case something goes sour). Is the backup config (freenas*.db) any good (with new hardware).

TIA, Bill

 

[cyberjock]

If your machine isn't POSTing then you have a hardware problem. POST = Pre Operating System Test

 

[gpsguy]

The "not booting" with the USB flash drive, is the condition as of today. But, this summer it did boot, but crashed.

But, as I said, I just bought a brand new server and want to move the "old" drives to it, match up the data, then worry about trying to fix the "old" (less than a year old) "server".

btw, i've always thought that POST = Power-on self-test

 

[cyberjock]

The "not booting" with the USB flash drive, is the condition as of today. But, this summer it did boot, but crashed.

But, as I said, I just bought a brand new server and want to move the "old" drives to it, match up the data, then worry about trying to fix the "old" (less than a year old) "server".

btw, i've always thought that POST = Power-on self-test

Eh, POST could probably be either. The point is if it isn't POSTing its a hardware issue.

If you are using ZFS, you should be able to simply install them in your new server and they will just work.

If you use the same config file you shouldn't even need to import the volume. Otherwise if you are starting over from scratch and just want your data you can click the "Import Volume" button and your data will be there.

I'd probably run a scrub first thing just to make sure everything is in working order but its not required.

This is one of the best things about ZFS. Without the hardware NEED for a particular brand or model of RAID controller you don't have to spend alot of money to replace a broken RAID controller.

 

[gpsguy]

The POST issue is only with the USB flash drive installed ... but there's still a lingering hardware issue.

Rather than trying to fix these problems right now, I bought brand new hardware (still in the box).

Salvaging the data is my primary concern. Since RAID <> backup, I rotated between 3 backups. But, I fear that none has everything that was on the array.

The point is if it isn't POSTing its a hardware issue.

It sounds like you're saying that in my case, I should install the latest OS and import the volume (ignoring my config file). And, run a scrub.

 

[cyberjock]

It sounds like you're saying that in my case, I should install the latest OS and import the volume (ignoring my config file). And, run a scrub.

Exactly! You could use your config if you want, its just a matter of if it will work or not. Since your issues are likely entirely hardware related using your current config is probably fine.

 

[gpsguy]

Thank you very much for your help.

I setup the new server today, did a fresh install of 8.3.0, imported the volume, scrubbed it, restored a backup config and am back in business.

Exactly! You could use your config if you want, its just a matter of if it will work or not. Since your issues are likely entirely hardware related using your current config is probably fine.