How to install SCALE to USB SSD as MBR formatted?

[jhk62]

I use an old HP ML310e Gen8 v2 as SCALE evaluation system. As of now I set the onboard controller to AHCI and use slot 1 as boot disk. The SCALE install is done with a MBR formatted USB stick. SCALE installs and boots from slot 1. So far so good.

But I like to install SCALE to a USB SSD drive connected to the internal USB port instead. This is where the trouble begins. SCALE installs fine to this drive but boot doesn't work. It doesn't work because the USB drive is GPT formatted during the install process and HP's highly sophisticated BIOS can only boot from MBR formatted media If i install CORE 12 to this drive, booting works because the CORE install process allows to format the USB drive as MBR.

Is there any way to set up SCALE to this USB SSH drive with a MBR flavour? Saying any I mean a method that will survice the next upgrade

 

[Subsonic]

I use an old HP ML310e Gen8 v2 as SCALE evaluation system. As of now I set the onboard controller to AHCI and use slot 1 as boot disk. The SCALE install is done with a MBR formatted USB stick. SCALE installs and boots from slot 1. So far so good.

But I like to install SCALE to a USB SSD drive connected to the internal USB port instead. This is where the trouble begins. SCALE installs fine to this drive but boot doesn't work. It doesn't work because the USB drive is GPT formatted during the install process and HP's highly sophisticated BIOS can only boot from MBR formatted media If i install CORE 12 to this drive, booting works because the CORE install process allows to format the USB drive as MBR.

Is there any way to set up SCALE to this USB SSH drive with a MBR flavour? Saying any I mean a method that will survice the next upgrade

It depends on the USB adapter if SCALE can boot or not. Have a look at this thread:

TrueNAS SCALE Can Install to USB SSD But Won't Boot

USB to sata adapters, depending on model, can sometimes not be loaded correctly by the BIOS (or at all). It doesn't matter if the TrueNAS installer can see the drive, but if BIOD does. Because if it doesn't, no boot. Check if the drive is detected correctly at BIOS (its not enough for the...

www.truenas.com

 

[jhk62]

It depends on the USB adapter if SCALE can boot or not. Have a look at this thread:

TrueNAS SCALE Can Install to USB SSD But Won't Boot

USB to sata adapters, depending on model, can sometimes not be loaded correctly by the BIOS (or at all). It doesn't matter if the TrueNAS installer can see the drive, but if BIOD does. Because if it doesn't, no boot. Check if the drive is detected correctly at BIOS (its not enough for the...

www.truenas.com

I have given up on this in the meantime because it would be a gamble if a certain disk/adapter combo would work or not, waste of time and money. So I boot SCALE from slot 1 with an ancient WD Raptor now which works reliably and fast. The 4th raid disk is mounted under the DVD drive now and is connected to SATA port 5. Not the way I liked it to set up but I see it pragmatically. It works very well, its only a test system and the HP ML310 gen8v2 was a steal

 

[jhk62]

Finally, I got it to work as intended. Boot-Drive attached to the optical disk-drive port. I followed these instructions: HPE gen8 ODD boot

Initial boot with a uSD card inserted into the internal SD slot which then kick-starts the boot-drive attached to ODD port. Let's see if this survives a software upgrade

 

[Subsonic]

fingers crossed ;-)