SOLVED trying to raid 5 the install

[wuw]

I have 3 500GB drives I have them in a raid 5 and I set aside some space so I can do another raid 5 for the install(total usable for the install is 10gb). When I try to install freenas it does not see the raid partitions that I have. I don't want to use a flash drive because the can fail and I want to be able to recover.

How can I do this without losing an entire drive?

 

[dlavigne]

FreeNAS is not meant to be installed onto disks:

http://doc.freenas.org/index.php/Hardware_Recommendations#Compact_or_USB_Flash

 

[wuw]

It says that it can. I dedicated 10 GBs for it yet it is not seeing it. I don't want to use a flash drive because they fail, people take them out, they can be broken. That is why I want to raid it with hard drives and have another raid for the NAS files

 

[Knowltey]

It says that it can. I dedicated 10 GBs for it yet it is not seeing it. I don't want to use a flash drive because they fail, people take them out, they can be broken. That is why I want to raid it with hard drives and have another raid for the NAS files

Yes it can, but just because it can does not mean that it should.

It won't see the partitions because FreeNAS is designed to take up the entire drive. If you're trying to install FreeNAS to a RAID5 of 3 500GB drives, you're going to be wasting basically 1496GB as FreeNAS will reserve all physical 1500GB for itself as it is designed to take up the entire install drive since it's intended to be installed on a USB drive as a running image.

Also, don't worry about the USB Drive failing, it's a running image, so it's all placed into RAM at boot. For the most part it's only read or written to when changing settings or booting. The back of my NAS where my USB stick is is against an always dark wall, and the USB has a pretty bright status LED. The only times I ever see a flash from back there is at boot or if I change a setting. It's a running image, it lives in RAM, and since a NAS is intended to run 24/7 you'll very rarely ever touch the USB stick. Hell, a physical hard drive would likely die long before a USB stick in this operating mode.

Just make sure you always have a saved version of your configuration.

In the event that you need to change the drive it's as simple as installing the FreeNAS .xz to a new USB, sticking it in the FreeNAS, booting, and uploading the config and you're back like nothing ever happened. Takes ~5 minutes. I have done this before it's not a big deal at all.

If you really don't want to use USB for it, you can get a SATA Flash module, but really all that is is a USB stick that connects via SATA instead, so you're just going to be spending a lot of extra money for the same thing more or less.

 

[wuw]

I have 2 raids on the drives and the one I am trying to install it on is only 10GB so I am not wasting 1.5TB. The thing about using a flash drive is the location of the server. We are a small business and the server is sitting out in the open and the guys here are not tech savvy and would see the flash drive and take it out without thinking. I don't have the budget to buy anything more.

When I am installing it FreeNAS does not see any of the raids that I have and it only sees the drives.

 

[Knowltey]

I have 2 raids on the drives and the one I am trying to install it on is only 10GB so I am not wasting 1.5TB. The thing about using a flash drive is the location of the server. We are a small business and the server is sitting out in the open and the guys here are not tech savvy and would see the flash drive and take it out without thinking. I don't have the budget to buy anything more.

When I am installing it FreeNAS does not see any of the raids that I have and it only sees the drives.

Correct, it won't see any RAIDs or partitions as it is designed to take up the entire drive, so as such the installer has not been programmed to look for anything past the physical drive because thqat all is irrelevant to the installer. With FreeNAS it's the entire drive or nothing. So the choice here is to install it to the whole 500GB drive or install it to USB.

ALSO, you don't want to be running hardware raid with FreeNAS period. FreeNAS is designed with direct access to the disks in mind, if it does not have that you are putting your data at more risks than if you were to simply be running a plain old 1 disk volume.

If you're afraid of having the USB on the outside you can get a USB extension cable and run it into the case and put the thumb drive on the end of it. Perhaps they'd be less willing to randomly unplug a cable like that?

If it's really a major concern here is a 4GB SATA Flash Module that you can stick in the case: http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/151169662428?lpid=82

No offence, but you REALLY need to read around the FreeNAS documentation. You are doing the exact opposite of everything in FreeNAS 101.

 

[Dusan]

Please read the documentation (especially the Note in this section: http://doc.freenas.org/index.php/Hardware_Recommendations#RAID_Overview). If you want to realize all the benefits of FreeNAS/ZFS you must not use hardware RAID -- you should let FreeNAS directly manage the drives.
As for somebody removing the USB stick, you should consider these or similar adapters that will allow you to place the stick inside the case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812200294
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815201028

 

[wuw]

It is not a hardware raid but I think I know what I might do. I will respond with what I did and if it worked. Thanks for your help everyone.

 

[Knowltey]

It is not a hardware raid but I think I know what I might do. I will respond with what I did and if it worked. Thanks for your help everyone.

Well hardware -or- software raid is bad if it's not a raid created by FreeNAS. (although pretty sure any software raids outside freenas won't be seen as a raid, and will be seen as the individual member disks anyhow) So if it's software raid, that would also explain why FreeNAS doesn't see the RAID.

 

[cyberjock]

wuw: Your controller either isn't a real hardware RAID controller(we call it fakeRAID as it only works as RAID for Windows) or it isn't supported in FreeNAS.

In any case, doing hardware RAID is a very bad idea. We laugh and joke at the people that paid for a ready-made server that used hardware RAID in their systems because so many companies sell the hardware that way. Don't become a statistic for the forum. Get rid of the hardware RAID.

 

[wuw]

I opened up the server to see what expansion slots I have available and behold the motherboard has an onboard USB. I wish I could do a raid with it even if it is just a raid 1. I will just back up the installation once I get it configured.

Edit: how do I change the prefix from question to sloved?