Looking for non-USB boot options with no free SATA ports

[Tom_]

Hi all,

I'd like some help getting away from the USB 2.0 boot device in my FreeNAS system.

I have Mini-ITX system based on a SuperMicro A1SAi-2750F board. I first set this up right after FreeNAS 9.3 was released, so I think that would have been early 2015. Since then, I'm on my 7th or 8th 16 GB USB 2.0 SanDisk Cruzer Fit boot device! I know it's that many because I bought two batches of four and I don't have any left. They just keep dying. Cost-wise, it's not the end of the world (they are about NZ$20), but it is irritating having to replace them.

I don't have any free SATA ports on the MB, but I do have an 8x PCI-E 2.0 slot. I've searched and read here and seen that PCI-E SATA cards are generally discouraged. The other option, M.2 SSDs via a PCI-E adaptor, seems like it should work, but according to this list on the SuperMicro site, my motherboard doesn't support booting from NVMe SSDs. That leaves AHCI-based PCI-E SSDs, but I can't find any M.2 SSDs for sale that specify AHCI (plenty that specify SATA or NVMe). As far as I can tell the Samsung SM951 is discontinued.

I'm on 9.10.2-U6 but I could upgrade if the newer kernel would help somehow.

Am I stuck with USB? I would appreciate any suggestions. Thanks for reading.

 

[MrToddsFriends]

I don't have any free SATA ports on the MB, but I do have an 8x PCI-E 2.0 slot. I've searched and read here and seen that PCI-E SATA cards are generally discouraged.

Since switching from USB media (mirrored) to SATA SSDs (mirrored, too) about a year ago I'm using a Syba SI-PEX40063 PCI-E SATA card for the boot media with no apparent problems so far, on a A1SAi-2750F based system, just like yours.

AFAICT the following Syba PCI-E SATA cards should do the job:

Code:

Syba SI-PEX40062	Marvell 88SE9235	4 Port SATA III					  PCIe 2.0 x2
Syba SI-PEX40063	Marvell 88SE9235	2 Port SATA III, 2 Port eSATA III	PCIe 2.0 x2
Syba SI-PEX40064	Marvell 88SE9215	4 Port SATA III					  PCIe 2.0 x1
Syba SI-PEX40065	Marvell 88SE9215	2 Port SATA III, 2 Port eSATA III	PCIe 2.0 x1

I'm on 9.10.2-U6 but I could upgrade if the newer kernel would help somehow.

I did the switch from USB to SATA in FreeNAS-11.0-U2, running FreeNAS-11.1-U6 right now. I have no information why the PCI-E SATA cards mentioned above should not work in 9.10.2-U6.

 

[Chris Moore]

I have Mini-ITX system based on a SuperMicro A1SAi-2750F board.

Since you only have the one slot for expansion, I would suggest going with a SAS HBA. Connect all your storage drives to it and connect the SATA boot SSD to the SATA interface on the system board. You can always use the SAS controller to connect additional drives if you want to expand later without needing to make an additional purchase of a different controller.

This is the controller I would suggest:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-H220-6G...0-IT-Mode-for-ZFS-FreeNAS-unRAID/162862201664
With a set of these cables to connect to your SATA drives:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Lot-of-2-M...-Forward-Breakout-Internal-Cable/371681252206

 

[Alecmascot]

I use these in my two Dell T110II with 32Gb SSDs
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mini-For...257824&hash=item5b49aceb11:g:HRcAAOSwivNbPwjD
They have been running for over two years now.

 

[MrToddsFriends]

If you decide to go the SATA SSD route please also read Bug #35065 where some problematic SSDs are listed, all using certain Silicon Motion controllers.

 

[Tom_]

Since you only have the one slot for expansion, I would suggest going with a SAS HBA. Connect all your storage drives to it and connect the SATA boot SSD to the SATA interface on the system board.

Thanks Chris. That looks like a good solution, although quite expensive. Better in the long term than replacing USBs all the time.

Is there any difficulty moving the drives from the MB SATA ports to the HBA? Will FreeNAS recognise that it's the same drive in a new interface without having to resilver?

 

[Chris Moore]

Is there any difficulty moving the drives from the MB SATA ports to the HBA? Will FreeNAS recognise that it's the same drive in a new interface without having to resilver?

FreeNAS has no problem with moving drives from one controller to another, or even to another system board if you were wondering. I have moved my pool from SATA to SAS and then moved to a newer SAS controller and then moved again to another newer SAS controller adding a SAS expander into the mix along the way. As long as FreeNAS has a driver for the hardware, and it can find the drives, it will mount the pool and work with no trouble at all.

 

[diskdiddler]

Sorry to hear it. I don't know why some people have such huge issues with USB.

I feel like maybe some motherboards are bad and they're 'doing something wrong' - I just don't know?
My HP Microserver has no such issues and I'm a bit worried because eventually I'll probably switch to a SuperMicro board.

Where is your system dataset stored?

 

[Tom_]

System dataset is on the storage pool and Syslog and Reporting Database are disabled.

It could also be bad drives, since I bought them in batches. Now that I think about it, I may have gone through 9 or 10 drives, because I RMAed two right at the start. I don't remember if they sent replacements or refunded me, though.

It's not a massive problem, more of a recurring annoyance. Just feel that since my stash has run out I'll try a different solution.