How to take my ZFS formatted disks from 64bit to 32bit?

[Dixioldie]

Hello,

I have build a RAID1 system (with 2 disks) on new hardware.
I used FreeNAS 8 64bit.
All disks formatted with ZFS.
FreeNAS is on an USB stick.
Due to a problem with the hardware, I got the mainboard changed.
Now, this mainboard is a INTEL ATOM AD2700B-ITX, which doesn't support 64 bit.
Is there a way to change from 64bit to 32bit without loosing all my stored data?
(I booted with the 32bit version of FreeNAS 8, but all the configuration isn't there. So, I made a shutdown without changing any setting)
I'm new to FreeNAS, even I'm more then 60 years old, so, maybe, my question is silly for experienced users.

Thanks in advance for any help

 

[joeschmuck]

Your data should be in tact and all you need to do is create a new USB boot drive (save the old one in case you need it) and load up the 32 bit version of FreeNAS (which I believe you have already done). I don't believe the user configuration files are compatible so you will need to basically reinstall FreeNAS from scratch and change the Admin password, setup your NIC (if it not DHCP), and all that. When it's time to import your pool, use Auto Import Volume. It should find the pool and you will select it and bring it in. Once that is done you can create your shares.

 

[Dixioldie]

Hello joeschmuck,
thanks for the fast response!
I'm very nervous about loosing all my data.
(it's the family pictures and movies over 30 years)
Is "autoimport" a safe function, which will not destroy all data?

I didn't had the chance to make an additional backup due to the hardware problem.
Ii just finished to save successfully the data from an other damaged system, before the new main-board must be changed. bad luck)
I also didn't find any way to read the content of this ZFS formatted disks with Linux or Win7.
Is there a way to read the content of a ZFS formatted disk?

Is it a good idea, first to use only one disk to keep the other unattached?
It was a RAID1 system, so both disks should have the same content.
Is this true?

Thanks for your help

Your data should be in tact and all you need to do is create a new USB boot drive (save the old one in case you need it) and load up the 32 bit version of FreeNAS (which I believe you have already done). I don't believe the user configuration files are compatible so you will need to basically reinstall FreeNAS from scratch and change the Admin password, setup your NIC (if it not DHCP), and all that. When it's time to import your pool, use Auto Import Volume. It should find the pool and you will select it and bring it in. Once that is done you can create your shares.

 

[joeschmuck]

Both drives must be attached to the system and Auto Import Volume is a very safe function, it either works or it doesn't. It will not alter your data. What bothers me is you tried to access the individual drives with other software? or was it just you were looking for ways to look at it?, lets hope you didn't harm your data. And yes, you could look at the data using other software but that is a tricky thing to explain easily here.

Also you do need to save that data on other media, like DVD's. My wife would kill me, and I'd kill myself for loosing all our photos. Days have changed from when everything was a print or slide.

 

[cyberjock]

You didn't say how big your zpool is, but if its too big you can expect the system to be unstable and perhaps crash frequently from insufficient RAM. There's a reason why the manual has these warnings:

A 32-bit system can only address up to 4 GB of RAM, making it poorly suited to the RAM requirements of ZFS. If you only have access to a 32-bit system, consider using UFS instead of ZFS.

The best way to get the most out of your FreeNAS® system is to install as much RAM as possible. If your RAM is limited, consider using UFS until you can afford better hardware. ZFS typically requires a minimum of 8 GB of RAM in order to provide good performance. The more RAM, the better the performance, and the FreeNAS® Forums provide anecdotal evidence from users on how much performance is gained by adding more RAM. For systems with large disk capacity (greater than 6 TB), a general rule of thumb is 1 GB of RAM for every 1TB of storage. This post describes how RAM is used by ZFS.

An unstable system can put your data at jeopardy. So be warned that if you go down this path you may not be happy with the results...(permanent data loss). Plenty of people have had 32-bit systems and were very sad at the end of the day.

 

[Dixioldie]

Thanks a lot!
I closed my eyes, when I hit the "auto import" button.
But: after a few seconds, all data was available!
The only thing to do, was switching CIFS service on and ad my default family user.
Everything works fine now!
Can I do something for you?
You was really a great help for me!
:):):)

- - - Updated - - -

Is it possible to change the file system AFTER I have successfully used "autoimport"?

 

[joeschmuck]

Not sure what you mean by change the file system. If you mean change it from from ZFS to UFS? That answer is no, not without loosing all your data in the process. I recommend you backup all your data before you do anything else to your system and then use your system and see if it remains stable. Once you have a good backup then you might consider a change. You might also look into NAS4Free, I believe they have a good reliability for system running 32-bit code but I don't know if that includes using ZFS. And one other thing, you could always purchase a small NAS product that you could install a pair of drives and mirror them. They are not fast but they are easy enough to turn on an forget them. I have one in the basement and all my critical data gets copied there as well so I have multiple copies of my photos and computer backups. My photos are also on DVDs but I only create new DVDs every 4 to 6 months so having the data in more than one place is smart until I create the new DVDs.

I agree with Cyberjock, 32-bit really isn't the way to go with the FreeNAS software but if it allows you to recover your data, that is a good start.

 

[JaimieV]

Thanks a lot!
Everything works fine now!
Can I do something for you?

The best thing for you to do is set up a backup. Having a ZFS RAIDZ system is a very good start, but it's not the same thing as having a backup - one that you can put in a different location, so the flood or fire or electrical spike or clumsy child or nest of spiders that destroys the original FreeNAS won't touch it.

At the very least, do as joeschmuck suggests and make DVD backups of all the important stuff.