shift current system to new disk

[viphone]

Hi there

My current system version is 9.2.1.9. With last 2 versions, I was suffering unexpected power down issue(AC supply is normal and stable, PSU is fine), after I upgraded to current version, the issue seems to be gone.

However, it did happen again as I'm writing this thread. I was trying to solve this through upgrade firmware again, but the new v9.3 requires 8GB disk space, while my CF card only has 2GB. I was thinking the unstable system could be caused by bad CF card, so giving the NAS a new system disk(I'm thinking about HDD this time) might get the whole thing running well.

So, I'd like to know how to shift my current system version 9.2.1.9 on CF card to a hard disk. I'm an active Linux user, but I've never handled embedded system before now. I'm thinking about 2 solutions:

1. Get a way to move the system from CF to HDD, then the whole thing can boot up properly and work normally.
2. Backup the configuration from current system, install 9.2.1.9 on HDD as fresh installation, then upload the config to new system disk.

Though I'm not afraid of losing those files in NAS, but it's quite time consuming to put those back in there. If there's someone knowing how to do this seamless or with less pain, I'd love to hear it. Thanks.

PS: My equipment menu
i3-3110 / 16GB RAM / 3TB HDD x5 in ZFS / 2GB CF card

 

[marbus90]

Either dd the CF card to the new bootmedia (FreeNAS needs to be offline for that, boot via ubcd or the like) or just do a completely new install of 9.3 to the new media and import your old config.

16GB is recommended since with 9.3 there are ZFS snapshots on the bootmedia, allowing for rollback if something went wrong. The more storage on the bootmedia, the more rollback snapshots you have.

 

[cyberjock]

Don't dd the CF card. That isn't guaranteed to work (I've tried it before and I couldn't get it to work no matter what I tried).

The best is to take your config file off the 9.2.1.9 install, install 9.3 on the new CF card, then import your config file.

99% of the time, spontaneous powerdowns and reboots without crashes is the result of failed/failing/unsupported hardware. So far I haven't seen a person yet that replied with the cause that wasn't in that category.

If FreeNAS actually crashes you'll see a file in /data called crash. If you provide it in a bug ticket the devs can tell you what went wrong.

 

[viphone]

Thanks, cyberjock. I'll check into that.