SSD Not Listed for Install of FreeNAS OS

[cafenfrek]

I built my installation disk as directed in the guide for version 11; however, when I start the install, the SSD is not listed for me to install the OS onto during setup. I can only see the disks I plan to use for storage. I'm sure it is something simple I am overlooking but I am getting very frustrated. Thanks in advance for any assistance!

 

[garm]

What do you expect to see? And what do you see? Screenshots? System specs? Anything?

 

[cafenfrek]

What do you expect to see? And what do you see? Screenshots? System specs? Anything?

I was expecting to see my SSD for installation of the OS...if I am wrong in my expectations, please let me know. I see all 7 of my 3 TB drives. I would upload screen shots but I am installing on a system I built.

 

[Chris Moore]

Impossible to troubleshoot this or really give you an advice when you have not given us the most basic information about your system.
Please refer to: https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/updated-forum-rules-4-11-17.45124/

What kind of SSD?
What controller is it connected to?
What (in detail) is the hardware configuration that you are using?

 

[cafenfrek]

Impossible to troubleshoot this or really give you an advice when you have not given us the most basic information about your system.
Please refer to: https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/updated-forum-rules-4-11-17.45124/

What kind of SSD?
What controller is it connected to?
What (in detail) is the hardware configuration that you are using?

Thanks for the reply Chris. I agree it is impossible to troubleshoot without details. I will update my signature with my system details. I appreciate the link to the rules for the forum.

 

[jlpellet]

While more info will help, you might want to also add if any of the following are known.
1) does the SSD show up in POST and/or BIOS?
2) does the behavior change if the intended pool drives are unplugged when trying to install (pool drives are not needed during install)?
3) does the system behavior change if the SSD is on a different port/controlled?
Good luck!

 

[MrToddsFriends]

Thanks for the reply Chris. I agree it is impossible to troubleshoot without details. I will update my signature with my system details. I appreciate the link to the rules for the forum.

Info in the signature is nice to have but when asking for help please include the details in the body of your posting due to at least two reasons:

- The signature cannot be seen by forum users that use some mobile apps (tapatalk, ...)
- Your signature might change in the future and thus the info contained in it gets out of sync with the question asked

 

[Chris Moore]

Thanks for the reply Chris. I agree it is impossible to troubleshoot without details. I will update my signature with my system details. I appreciate the link to the rules for the forum.

I took a look at the data you posted about your system.
The boot drive needs to be connected to this controller:

Code:

SATA Controller: Intel C2550 - 2 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/S	 SATA_0, SATA_1

and I would suggest getting rid of these Marvel controllers:

Code:

	 Add'l Controller:  Marvell SE9172 - 2 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s, support RAID 0, 1		 SATA_M0, SATA_M1
	 Add'l Controller:  Marvell SE9230 - 4 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s, support RAID 0, 1, 10	SATA_M2, SATA_M3, SATA_M4, SATA_M5

Send them back for a refund if you can or sell them on eBay, but they are not reliable with FreeNAS.
If you need additional drive ports, you should use one of these:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-H220-6G...0-IT-Mode-for-ZFS-FreeNAS-unRAID/162862201664
It is a SAS controller, but you can connect SATA drives to it and they are extremely reliable and well supported under FreeNAS.
These are the cables that you would use with it:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Lot-of-2-M...-Forward-Breakout-Internal-Cable/371681252206
I have used this type of controller in my system for more than 5 years now and never had any trouble with it where many people have had trouble with the Marvel chip controllers.

 

[cafenfrek]

I took a look at the data you posted about your system.
The boot drive needs to be connected to this controller:

Code:

SATA Controller: Intel C2550 - 2 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/S	 SATA_0, SATA_1

and I would suggest getting rid of these Marvel controllers:

Code:

	 Add'l Controller:  Marvell SE9172 - 2 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s, support RAID 0, 1		 SATA_M0, SATA_M1
	 Add'l Controller:  Marvell SE9230 - 4 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s, support RAID 0, 1, 10	SATA_M2, SATA_M3, SATA_M4, SATA_M5

Send them back for a refund if you can or sell them on eBay, but they are not reliable with FreeNAS.
If you need additional drive ports, you should use one of these:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-H220-6G...0-IT-Mode-for-ZFS-FreeNAS-unRAID/162862201664
It is a SAS controller, but you can connect SATA drives to it and they are extremely reliable and well supported under FreeNAS.
These are the cables that you would use with it:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Lot-of-2-M...-Forward-Breakout-Internal-Cable/371681252206
I have used this type of controller in my system for more than 5 years now and never had any trouble with it where many people have had trouble with the Marvel chip controllers.

Thanks again Chris. I figured I needed to check the controller and make sure it was one of those 2. The Marvell controllers are built into my motherboard, so I will just plan to not use them and add additional drive ports as recommended.

 

[cafenfrek]

While more info will help, you might want to also add if any of the following are known.
1) does the SSD show up in POST and/or BIOS?
2) does the behavior change if the intended pool drives are unplugged when trying to install (pool drives are not needed during install)?
3) does the system behavior change if the SSD is on a different port/controlled?
Good luck!

JL,
It does show up in the POST and BIOS. I will try number 2 tonight, but the behavior doesn't change on a different port. I even tried SATA_0 and SATA_1 last night to no avail. I have to think it might be a cable at this point, but that just doesn't make any sense to me.
Thanks again.
Jack

 

[Chris Moore]

JL,
It does show up in the POST and BIOS. I will try number 2 tonight, but the behavior doesn't change on a different port. I even tried SATA_0 and SATA_1 last night to no avail. I have to think it might be a cable at this point, but that just doesn't make any sense to me.
Thanks again.
Jack

If you have an old (but still working) small capacity (50 to 100GB) hard drive laying around, with nothing important on it, connect it in place of the SSD, just for testing, and see if that is detected and FreeNAS will install on it.
Exactly what model drive is that PNY SSD?

If FreeNAS can install to any other SATA drive, it should install on the SSD. If the SSD is not being detected by FreeNAS, it is likely a problem with the SSD. Is it new? Even if it is, it could be defective from the start.

 

[Jailer]

I bet its the ssd. Seems like someone posted this same problem not all that long ago and it turned out to be an old ssd that wasnt recognised by freebsd bacause of the controller on the disk. Thats if i remeber it correctly.

 

[cafenfrek]

If you have an old (but still working) small capacity (50 to 100GB) hard drive laying around, with nothing important on it, connect it in place of the SSD, just for testing, and see if that is detected and FreeNAS will install on it.
Exactly what model drive is that PNY SSD?

If FreeNAS can install to any other SATA drive, it should install on the SSD. If the SSD is not being detected by FreeNAS, it is likely a problem with the SSD. Is it new? Even if it is, it could be defective from the start.

I will certainly give this a try Chris. I did some more troubleshooting last night and I am pretty sure it is the drive. I have a thumbdrive and it was recognized during install and available for the OS during setup. Pulling at this thread, I removed my SSD, hooked it up to a USB cable with power, and tried installing with it plugged into the USB port. Still no joy...it was still not recognized during the install other than during boot up. I'm seriously considering using the SSD somewhere else and just using the 16Gb thumbdrive for the OS. I really want my system up. I do plan to buy the SAS board you recommended, but I wanted to clarify how many drives a single board will support since I have only one expansion slot on my motherboard. I take it from our conversation and the cables you recommended that it will support up to 4 drives (2 on each port). Please confirm my logic here. Thanks again for all the assistance.

 

[Chris Moore]

I will certainly give this a try Chris. I did some more troubleshooting last night and I am pretty sure it is the drive. I have a thumbdrive and it was recognized during install and available for the OS during setup. Pulling at this thread, I removed my SSD, hooked it up to a USB cable with power, and tried installing with it plugged into the USB port. Still no joy...it was still not recognized during the install other than during boot up. I'm seriously considering using the SSD somewhere else and just using the 16Gb thumbdrive for the OS. I really want my system up. I do plan to buy the SAS board you recommended, but I wanted to clarify how many drives a single board will support since I have only one expansion slot on my motherboard. I take it from our conversation and the cables you recommended that it will support up to 4 drives (2 on each port). Please confirm my logic here. Thanks again for all the assistance.

With SAS EXPANDERS, you can connect many drives to one SAS HBA. The cables I pointed out would allow 4 directly attached drives on each port. That is 8, but it is not the maximum number that could be connected. The card is able to handle 256 drives with the right assortment of SAS EXPANDERS. With the appropriate cables, you can even attach an extra enclosure with more drives.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Tapatalk

 

[cafenfrek]

With SAS EXPANDERS, you can connect many drives to one SAS HBA. The cables I pointed out would allow 4 directly attached drives on each port. That is 8, but it is not the maximum number that could be connected. The card is able to handle 256 drives with the right assortment of SAS EXPANDERS. With the appropriate cables, you can even attach an extra enclosure with more drives.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Tapatalk

So, I am bad at public math...but so excited about the ability to connect so many drives! I really appreciate your help on this. Can't wait to get home now and get my system up and running.

 

[cafenfrek]

Just want to thank everyone for your help. The SSD is definitely bad and I am now up and running with my install. I still need to set up my storage, but FreeNAS 11.1-U4 is up and running on my server from an SSD. Now I get to build my pools and set up my plex server! Woo hoo!

 

[Chris Moore]

It is a strange thing. I have a system that is malfunctioning in the same way. The SSDs I am trying to use are shown in BIOS but the installer doesn't show them.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Tapatalk

 

[cafenfrek]

It is a strange thing. I have a system that is malfunctioning in the same way. The SSDs I am trying to use are shown in BIOS but the installer doesn't show them.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Tapatalk

I used an older Kingston and it worked. Now I can't use the original SSD for anything. Got it to format into a single partition finally, then it says it is write protected. Remove the protection and reboot, it comes right back. I'm going to open a case with PNY.

 

[cafenfrek]

SO, I've created 2 more SSD paper weights now and know it is something in the way I am formatting and reformatting them when I rebuild my failed/corrupt FreeNAS installs. I follow the media prep steps in the install guide, but after 3 weeks, I am about to look elsewhere for a NAS/plex home solution. It shouldn't be this hard...and I consider myself somewhat tech savvy...but maybe, I am becoming the old guy...Getting SUPER FRUSTRATED for sure!

 

[Chris Moore]

I follow the media prep steps in the install guide

How are you preparing these SSDs? You shouldn't need to prep them at all other than to delete any existing partition table.