TrueNAS SCALE Can Install to USB SSD But Won't Boot

grone

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Jul 14, 2022
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USB to sata adapters, depending on model, can sometimes not be loaded correctly by the BIOS (or at all). It doesn't matter if the TrueNAS installer can see the drive, but if BIOD does. Because if it doesn't, no boot. Check if the drive is detected correctly at BIOS (its not enough for the adapter to be detected, the drive should be detected).
We both have the same issue - CORE will boot from USB but SCALE will not.
 

grone

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Subsonic

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The last post of @Subsonic indicates it's not a CORE vs. SCALE issue...
its defintely a problem from scale, otherwise CORE and debian also wouldnt boot with the same hardware constellation.

Did you let the installer format the drive, or did you use advanced options?
didnt see where i could choose advanced in the installation progress.

i will stick with the thumb drive as the boot device. will configure everything and then make a clone of it to a identical drive. in case of a failure i only have to switch the thumb drives.

thinking about using my ssd for some sort of caching now...
 

shanemikel

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I'm having the same issue installing SCALE to an internal mSATA USB. A MicroServer Gen10 Plus set to BIOS mode. No issues installing Core in the same configuration. I haven't tried a USB thumb flash drive yet. Will give that a shot and report back.
 

Subsonic

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I found two more SATA to USB adapters and tried them both. The system is really booting from my not prefered one :-D.

@homer27081990 I apologize, you were right. It depends on the SATA to USB adapter, but it is still strange that it works with CORE and not with SCALE?!

IMG_20221014_101457.jpg Screenshot 2022-10-14 102511.jpg
 
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Subsonic

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Did you find a small mSATA to USB adapter that works? Or an M.2 SATA or NVMe adapter?
Look at my picture which one i have used :-D
 

Subsonic

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Sadly yes. I also have a M.2 NVME to USB case which i will try next. Maybe this works...

edit: I did a clean install with the latest stable release and it´s also booting from the big dock. First i tried the lastest beta release in hope that it makes a difference.

Screenshot 2022-10-14 102511.jpg
 
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homer27081990

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I found two more SATA to USB adapters and tried them both. The system is really booting from my not prefered one :-D.

@homer27081990 I apologize, you were right. It depends on the SATA to USB adapter, but it is still strange that it works with CORE and not with SCALE?!

View attachment 59117 View attachment 59118
Sorry for the delay, got caught up with work. It is not strange, considering the fact that FreeBSD is famous for its out-of-the-box support for all kinds of crazy and obscure hardware, while linux is not known as such... CORE is FreeBSD based (meaning FreeBSD drivers), SCALE is Linux based (Linux drivers).
 

shanemikel

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Well, that's OK as an explanation, but ideally SCALE should be able to install as easily and robustly as the mainstream Linux it is based on.

... Eventually. I know it's still early days.
 

Subsonic

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I found another USB to SATA adapter which is booting and i could sacrifice. This thing is from 2005! I bought it when i was studying in vienna. Its an old USB 2.0 adapter with an extra ESATA port. I drilled two holes in the ODD cover for the LED-lights so i also see if there is disk activity. It needs a 12 volt external powersource which i´m getting from the ODD-powerconnector.

IMG_20221018_183405.jpg IMG_20221018_183858.jpg


Did you find a small mSATA to USB adapter that works? Or an M.2 SATA or NVMe adapter?

I tried a M.2 NVME to USB-C adapter and it also was not booting. Such a stupid behaviour from SCALE here.
 
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packoman

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Apr 23, 2022
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I seem to also be bitten by this issue ... I am using this USB to SATA adapter and SSD:

Crucial MX500 250GB: https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B0781VSXBP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
StarTech.com USB 3.1 to 2,5" SATA III Adapter Cable with UASP (USB312SAT3CB) : https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00XLAZODE/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

For what it's worth I also found this in the Microserver Gen8 docs [here](https://images10.newegg.com/User-Manual/User_Manual_59-108-088.pdf):

> Before the OS loads, HP provides support for USB 2.0 devices through legacy USB support, which is enabled by default in the system ROM. USB 3.0 ports are not functional before the OS loads. The native OS provides USB 3.0 support through appropriate xHCI drivers.

Maybe this explains why @Subsonic old USB 2.0 case works, while the newer ones with USB 3.x do not?!

It is a bit annoying and unfortunate and I am not yet giving up hope ...
 

shanemikel

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I'm having the same issue installing SCALE to an internal mSATA USB. A MicroServer Gen10 Plus set to BIOS mode. No issues installing Core in the same configuration. I haven't tried a USB thumb flash drive yet. Will give that a shot and report back.
Forgot to update. I believe these issues were related to BIOS legacy mode vs UEFI boot. I successfully installed both core and scale on a usb to mSATA SSD adapter on the internal usb2 port once I made sure to do everything in UEFI mode (despite core recommending otherwise).

However, I have since decided to move to a high durability flash drive. So far it has not required replacement and I don’t expect it will. The brand is Transcend and I posted the specific model in another thread.
 

packoman

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Forgot to update. I believe these issues were related to BIOS legacy mode vs UEFI boot. I successfully installed both core and scale on a usb to mSATA SSD adapter on the internal usb2 port once I made sure to do everything in UEFI mode (despite core recommending otherwise).

However, I have since decided to move to a high durability flash drive. So far it has not required replacement and I don’t expect it will. The brand is Transcend and I posted the specific model in another thread.
Thank you very much for this information! Could you please point me to the post on the Transcend flash drive? Perhaps I will go that route, if I fail on getting this to work ...
Thanks in advance!
 

packoman

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Apr 23, 2022
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Forgot to update. I believe these issues were related to BIOS legacy mode vs UEFI boot. I successfully installed both core and scale on a usb to mSATA SSD adapter on the internal usb2 port once I made sure to do everything in UEFI mode (despite core recommending otherwise).

However, I have since decided to move to a high durability flash drive. So far it has not required replacement and I don’t expect it will. The brand is Transcend and I posted the specific model in another thread.
I forget ... sorry:
Do you know of a concise instruction on how to switch to UEFI boot? Is this complicated? I remember this being a pain a long time ago with a laptop I had (my first with an UEFI)... a pain I would like to avoid repeating. Again thanks!
 
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