Import TrueNAS 12 ZFS HDD, import into Windows based VM

[rs_taylor]

Hi,

I have a dedicated(Not VM) HP Microserver with TrueNas 12 containing multiple x4 HDD (4-8GB drives), nice and simple, no raid, no encryption, ZFS, 1 pool = 1 disk.

I have exported 2 of the HDD's & have taken them to a new location.
I would now like to be able to get access to the content by importing them into a new TrusNas install at the new location.

I'm trying to avoid buying dedicated hardware to do this, and have a Win11 Pro PC.
I would ideally like to run TrueNas in a VM running on the Windows 11 PC, then import the disks. Sounded simple to me :-(

I have physcially attached the HDD to PC and they show up in Windows Disk Manager, but as expected the content cant be read as they are ZFS.
I have setup TrueNas in a VirtualBox VM, but having major problems getting Disks to be visible to TrueNAS so that i can import them.
I need the Win11 PC, using other VM software is no big deal, I'm less keen to buy dedicated hardware for TrueNas unless no other option.

Any thoughts on how to do this?

Thanks in advance

 

[sretalla]

attached the HDD to PC and they show up in Windows Disk Manager,

Hopefully you didn't let windows initialize the disks.

Surely all you need is to pass the USB ports into the VM... I guess that could be complicated if you have the OS already looking at them with disk management.

VMware workstation/player might be better at grabbing the USB ports from the OS, but Virtualbox should be doing it all the same.

 

[rs_taylor]

Thanks for the reply sretalla

No, I didn't think initialising would be a good idea haha
They aren't in USB enclosures, they are connected to motherboard SATA ports directly.

From the reading i've done, this might be a windows thing refusing to give Raw access to the Drives, I found this in virtualBox documentation
"On some host platforms, such as Windows, raw disk access may be restricted and not permitted by the host OS in some situations."