Reset All Changes To Factory Default VS Better Options For New Boot Device?

[yadafaber]

Hello,

First time posting. Please let me know if this post is missing needed information. I will add it.

I have been configuring FreeNAS on a Dell T7500. I made a few users, groups, pools, and datasets while getting used to the system. To get up and running, I initially installed the OS on one of the HDDs while I waited for my SATA-DOM to arrive.

Now that FreeNAS is installed on my new SATA-DOM, I would like to boot from the SATA-DOM. But I can only boot from the SATA-DOM when I unplug the all other hard drives. I decided to do a Factory Reset (11). And this worked, but it does not seem like a viable option in most cases.

A Note:
I had only the SATA-DOM selected as a boot device in the BIOS but it would still boot from one of the HDDs.
Another Note:
Now the HDD that I initially installed FreeNAS OS, is not available. Do I need to 'Resilver' this drive?

Perhaps I missed my chance to load a different boot environment at startup?
Did this this also delete all of my data?
How would you do this without destroying your configurations?
Are configuration files stored in any way on each of the drives? Or only on the boot device?


Hardware:
Dell T7500
Intel® Xeon® 5600
DDR3 1066 MHz and 1333 MHz Registered DIMM ECC - 64GB
Seagate 7200RPM SATA HDD 3Tb (x2)
Seagate 7200RPM SATA HDD 500Gb (x2)
NVIDIA Quadro 4000, 2GB (Stock) - Should I remove?
SuperMicro 16GB SATA DOM

 

[dlavigne]

Just to clarify, you are talking about 4 different things which are totally separate from each other:
1. the boot (operating system) device
2. the configuration
3. the storage disks
4. boot environments (which are backups of installed operating system versions, you get a new one each time you update to a new OS version)

The boot device does not affect the storage disks. Resetting the configuration does not affect the boot device or the storage disks.

If you wish to use the HDD as a storage device, you will need to wipe it first.