New to BSD - help with boot volume

[alphadog00]

So my FreeNas devices has been humming along for a while. 2 times in the last 2 weeks i have received this alert:
The boot volume state is UNAVAIL: One or more devices are faulted in response to IO failures.
A reboot fixes things, and I see no errors anywhere - but not sure where to look.

So, I guess i need to replace my boot drive.

I will probably just use a USB stick - should be as fast as desktop HDD - any reason not to? I see it is also possible to mirror boot devices in FreeNAS.

I saw the 3 steps "if something goes wrong" - and I had some questions:

1. Perform a fresh installation on a new boot device.
2. Import your volumes in Storage ‣ Auto Import Volume.
3. Restore the configuration in System ‣ General ‣ Upload Config.

Questions:

If i install from CD will freenas see my USB sticks as storage/boot devices? I assume I only have to set USB in the boot order bios, anything else?

2 and 3 look painless as long as I do a save config.

I am running Plex and Jails - should there be any issues?

Thanks for any help/advice

 

[jgreco]

If you install from CD, yes, FreeNAS will see your USB sticks as storage devices, if they're supported (most are). Check the boot order in the BIOS.

There shouldn't be any issues with jails as long as you've given it the same config to run off of.

 

[danb35]

I will probably just use a USB stick - should be as fast as desktop HDD - any reason not to?

No, there's no reason not to, and it's in fact the way that FreeNAS is designed to be run--that, or from a small SSD, or from a SATA DOM. And really, of the steps you list, #2 isn't necessary--restoring the config will pick up the volumes.

 

[alphadog00]

Great - thanks for the replies. Really love the software. Got a Seagate BlackArmor NAS years ago (luckily it was free) has always been a PITA - If i could hack freenas onto it i would as it has worked great for everything i have thrown at it. My next step is to beef up my hardware and probably add another pair of drives to increase storage.
Hopefully a couple of mirrored usb sticks will make the boot volume indestructible.

 

[jgreco]

Unlikely to have the 8GB minimum RAM FreeNAS requires, unfortunately.

 

[alphadog00]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I replaced the hdd with mirrored usb sticks.... all is well. One other question. I have 2 250gb mirrored drives as my storage. I have a dataset, jail, content and plex. If I want to swap out the 250GB for 1TB is there a tutorial that has any advice? Trying to avoid recreating everything if possible as it took a little work to get it all working as I wanted.

 

[danb35]

Replace the disks one at a time following the manual's instructions. The pool will expand once you've replaced the second disk.

 

[alphadog00]

Replace the disks one at a time following the manual's instructions. The pool will expand once you've replaced the second disk.

Thanks,

I had no idea it would be that easy. Liking FreeNAS more all the time. Always did like it, but now even more. :)

 

[alphadog00]

just looked.... RTFM as I tell others and didn't bother to look myself. Sorry about that.

 

[jgreco]

just looked.... RTFM as I tell others and didn't bother to look myself. Sorry about that.

No worries. Lots to read, lots to know.