Installed with DVD can't see harddrive

[peanutmms42]

Hello, I'm totally new here. I have an old Dell PC that I wanted to use as network storage at my home. It is 32 bit and it would not boot from a USB. Even before I wiped Vista it had issues with USB sticks but worked fine with USB mouse and USB keyboard. I used a DVD to install FreeNAS and am trying to view storage and don't see the hard drive. Does that mean it actually installed on my hard drive now I can't use it for storage?

 

[cyberjock]

Does that mean it actually installed on my hard drive now I can't use it for storage?

Maybe... the real question is "what media did you actually install to when the menu asked you to chose a device to install to?"

That will tell you the answer.

It is also possible that the disks are connected to a controller that isn't supported by FreeBSD. Pretty common for Dell machines to not play nice with FreeBSD. ;)

 

[danb35]

It's also very likely that an old 32-bit machine will not come close to meeting the minimum system requirements if you want to use ZFS (which you should, else there isn't really much point to using FreeNAS).

 

[pirateghost]

It's also very likely that an old 32-bit machine will not come close to meeting the minimum system requirements if you want to use ZFS (which you should, else there isn't really much point to using FreeNAS).

Some people are actually confused about what hardware they have. They tend to think that because windows 32 bit was installed at one time, that their machine is 32 bit only. It's likely the hardware is 64 bit capable....

 

[danb35]

Good point, but if the machine is old enough to not be able to boot from USB that doesn't speak well of the likelihood of its meeting the requirements.

 

[pirateghost]

Good point, but if the machine is old enough to not be able to boot from USB that doesn't speak well of the likelihood of its meeting the requirements.

True, but they did say it had vista on it. ;)

 

[peanutmms42]

Maybe... the real question is "what media did you actually install to when the menu asked you to chose a device to install to?"

That will tell you the answer.

It is also possible that the disks are connected to a controller that isn't supported by FreeBSD. Pretty common for Dell machines to not play nice with FreeBSD. ;)

Sadly I don't remember what media I actually installed to, can I try reinstalling?

 

[peanutmms42]

True, but they did say it had vista on it. ;)

So does Vista tell the tale of a 32 bit machine or is there another way to tell? (total newbie here)

 

[pirateghost]

So does Vista tell the tale of a 32 bit machine or is there another way to tell? (total newbie here)

The fact that it once had vista 32 bit says nothing.

Why don't you figure out your specs first so you know if FreeNAS is even feasible. You know that whole, hardware requirements thing the documentation talks about?
;)

 

[danb35]

Yes, system specs (motherboard, CPU, RAM, disk(s), etc.) would be helpful to know if this can even work for you. But to your question, yes, you can start over and reinstall--but to where? If your system won't boot from USB, there's no sense in installing it to a USB stick, so you'll be installing it on a hard drive and wasting a lot of space.

 

[joeschmuck]

If you are unable to get FreeNAS to run, try NAS4Free, but first as the others have said, post your hardware specs.

 

[gpsguy]

And to add to what 'a already been said, if you install it on a hard disk, you need one or more additional hard disks for FreeNAS. Unlike Windows, you can't use the disk where the OS resides,


Sent from my phone

 

[peanutmms42]

I hope I have part of the solution, I purchased a second hard drive for my machine. :) I was installing from an article I read. So I have found the documentation mentioned above and am making my way through it. After weighting getting another hard drive for the pc I have vs purchasing a new NAS ready machine, it is most cost effective (cheaper) for me to get a 2nd hard drive for the machine I have. Thank you everyone for your patience and knowledge sharing. I really appreciate it. I'm sure I'll be back with more questions once the documentation has been digested.