How to get back to Truenas (or Freenas) - boot messed up by me!

[Alan of Amersham]

OK I am stupid (can old age be an excuse?). The short story - upgraded my system to Truenas; found it seemed to use jails etc in a different way; used an option to go back to the earlier freenas version (which unfortunately was not the final release before Truenas) . It did not boot and now will not boot. How can I get out of this without destroying my data disks?? I am using HP Proliant server box with system on an USB Drive inside the box.

I have been running a freenas server backing up my data, pictures etc for years but found that I was getting issues with owncloud. Thought maybe I should update the OS and noted everything going to Truenas so updated to that. It worked and I could see my data disks via the truenas page but could not access them via windows. It seemed like the jails and associated shares were not recognised. So I stupidly restarted the server and used an option to go back to the previous Freenas version. Machine hung and power off/ restart goes into same 'hung' mode. If I reinstall latest freenas onto that USB (or a new USB) would that work and not delete the data drives etc. Would I need to reconfigure jails etc. I was using freenas 11.3 - should I go back to that first and upgrade to latest freenas?

 

[pschatz100]

Firstly, it is not possible to make specific comments without a description of your system. Check the Forum Rules for more information.

Generally speaking, you should be able to upgrade your system without affecting your data. If you want to be safe, then I would remove the data drives, and rebuild/update TrueNAS. If you do not have a backup of your system configuration, then you will have to respecify everything.

Once you have the new version of TrueNAS up and running, then you can remount the data drives. As long as the version of TrueNAS you install is at least at the level you were before or newer, there should be no problem mounting the data drives. TrueNAS will recognize them.

Most likely, any jails from 11.3 would have to be reconfigured under the new version. There was a big change to the jail system. There is much discussion about this posted in the forum.

Good luck.