SOLVED Is it normal for the wizard to create a volume with only 3/4 disks?

[AgedReason]

So, I'm ready to hit the installation Wizard. First thing it wants to do is create a pool. Sounds good.

However, it behaves as though it intends to format only 3 of the 4 disks on the system. Also, RAID Z2 is not an option (likely because it REALLY DOES only intend to create the volume with 3 disks).

Is this normal? Is there something I've not tweaked properly?
Thx!

Here's what I'm seeing.

 

[Bidule0hm]

Is the 4th drive the same size as the others?

 

[AgedReason]

Is the 4th drive the same size as the others?

Yes, it is the same in every way. The pic also shows all the disks that are recognized by the system.

 

[gpsguy]

Is it s new disk or has it been used before?


Sent from my phone

 

[AgedReason]

Is it s new disk or has it been used before?


Sent from my phone

It has been used before.

 

[gpsguy]

Please blank it, before trying to reuse it.


Sent from my phone

 

[AgedReason]

Please blank it, before trying to reuse it.


Sent from my phone

Hmm. I think I have a good idea what you mean; but just to be sure, can you tell me what you mean.

 

[Bidule0hm]

Wipe it with dd or a similar program.

 

[AgedReason]

Wipe it with dd or a similar program.

For future reference, is that something I should have done to all my drives to begin with out of principle?

For good measure, should I go ahead and do that even to the drives that appear to be ready to go?

I guess I'm wondering how far I should take this, since I am unclear about the mechanics of how doing this affects my issue and I would simply rather take whatever precautions now rather than deal with unknown consequences later.
Hopefully, my knowledge will catch up in time.

 

[AgedReason]

Side question: how does dd differ from the "wipe" option for disks in the WebGUI.

 

[Bidule0hm]

If the drive is used then it's a good idea to do it (preceded and followed by an extended SMART test so you can be sure the drive isn't likely to die in the next few days) but if it's new then don't bother (especially as you should burn it in with badblocks that will wipe it anyway...).

You don't risk anything, it's just that FreeNAS will stop you from using a drive with existing partitions and co because you may not want do that (if you've put the wrong drive by error with some important data on it for example...), it's a bit overkill IMHO, a bypass option (something like "yes, I'm sure, use this drive and destroy any data on it") would be a good thing :)

I honestly don't know what the GUI wipe feature do (but it's probably a dd of the start and the end of the drive (where the partitions tables are written)) but you can always read the code to know :D

 

[AgedReason]

I decided to do a quick wipe using the gui, just for kicks. It made no difference. da3 shows up fine, acts fine, but still isn't included on the Wizard's pool creator. Now I'm doing the dd wipe. I'll see what happens.

Weird thing is, I've been stress testing those buggers with no errors ever showing up in any of them. I'm hoping this issue doesn't indicate a bigger problem. I mean, I'd be glad to find out now vs. later, but I was hoping this was more a "you forgot to push a button" kind of problem.

 

[Ericloewe]

Weird thing is, I've been stress testing those buggers with no errors ever showing up in any of them. I'm hoping this issue doesn't indicate a bigger problem. I mean, I'd be glad to find out now vs. later, but I was hoping this was more a "you forgot to push a button" kind of problem.

No, it's really just an additional safety measure to help prevent accidents.

The wipe option is not very in-depth, whereas dedicated tools or a hacked-together dd can zero everything.

 

[AgedReason]

So, if I'm understanding correctly, the (likely) reason the installation wizard could "see" the drive but would not include it among the drives to be added to the new volume is (possibly) because the drive did not appear to be blank and therefore was excluded as a safety precaution?

That's a nice feature. Still, I thought I had already wiped the drives. However, it's not impossible that I missed it. And barring any other obvious possibilities, that must be what happened. I guess I'll know for sure if the system will add it after this wipe is completed.

 

[gpsguy]

Correct.

Over the years, safety features have been added to FreeNAS to prevent accidents from happening.

So, if I'm understanding correctly, the (likely) reason the installation wizard could "see" the drive but would not include it among the drives to be added to the new volume is (possibly) because the drive did not appear to be blank and therefore was excluded as a safety precaution?

 

[AgedReason]

Okay. This looks like it's turning into a problem.

I did a DBAN quick wipe on disk da3. I unplugged the other drives, just to make sure I got the right one. I rebooted, then started the wizard to see how it would treat the freshly wiped disk by itself. What'd you know? It offered to use the disk to start a new pool. I thought, "great!"

I replugged in the other drives. Did it all again, and... same problem. da0, da1, da2 all get selected for the new pool. da3 gets left out.

I must've missed a step somewhere. What does it need from me?

 

[jgreco]

Wipe ALL the disks with dban in fast zero mode.

 

[AgedReason]

Wipe ALL the disks with dban in fast zero mode.

Will do. Be back in 12 hours. Thanks.

Oh yeah, just to be clear: "fast zero mode" is the same as "Quick Erase" in DBAN, right?

 

[jgreco]

Yeah, whatever it calls it.

 

[AgedReason]

Cool.
I'd be just my luck that if I wasn't sure but didn't ask, I'd only find out later that they were totally different and I picked one that would somehow manage to send an obscure command to the water treatment plant to pump raw sewage into my house, or generate some other ridiculously impossible consequence.