Unable to import pool after migration to new hardware

[Popper2615]

I recently migrated from Truenas Core installed on a Proxmox Server using a couple of USB enclosures to a server only running Truenas Core.

Motherboard: C246-WU4
CPU - I3-8300
RAM - 36
1 - 246gb m.2 SSD
1 - 10tb HDD WD 7200rpm
1 -14tb HDD WD 7200 rpm

I am rather new, so I have been doing everything through the UI. The HDDs from the proxmox server are now in the new server. Truenas core recognized the 10tb drive. It has the dataset on it. It automatically imported it. The 14tb I am unable to import. When I get to, "select a pool to import" it does not give me an option. I do see the disk when I look at "Disks", but the Pool column shows, N/A for the disk that is not importing. From what I have read, the disk should be showing up and able to import. None of my disks are encrypted.

Any help is appreciated. Thank you!

 

[ChrisRJ]

Your USB enclosures are responsible.

Your setup is highly dangerous, because of 1) the USB connection, and 2) vdevs without redundancy. Are you aware of this?

 

[Popper2615]

Your USB enclosures are responsible.

Your setup is highly dangerous, because of 1) the USB connection, and 2) vdevs without redundancy. Are you aware of this?

Thank you for the reply. Yup, I know it is dangerous. I read all about using the USB enclosures. That is why I am doing the migration, so I can ditch the USB enclosures and set up redundancy. I bought a motherboard that has 10 sata connections and a case to hold all 10 HDDs. Right now I just need to figure out how to import 1 of the 2 HDDs that is I holding my data.

 

[ChrisRJ]

What you could try is to copy the data over from the USB disk that is connected now. Then disconnect it and try to connect the other one. The key point would be to not have both USB enclosures connected at the same time.

 

[Popper2615]

I will give that a shot. Thank you for the suggestion

 

[Arwen]

Why bother with the USB enclosure at all?

Unless the USB enclosure is doing some kind of stupid JBOD, you can just plug in the 2 disks into SATA ports. (Assuming the 2 USB disks can be removed from their USB enclosures and end up as SATA disks.) If TrueNAS / ZFS recognizes them, you should be good to later add a Mirror to each. Or perform other migration to RAID-Zx.

 

[Popper2615]

I believe the sata connector on the HDD was damaged. I tried lsblk, lspci and looked at the bios, but it doesn't show up. I tried different sata and power cables, different sata ports. Other drives work on the same sata cable and sata port. But for some reason this drive only spins when it is docked in that USB enclosure.

 

[Arwen]

There is a "new" feature of hard drives, allowing remote reset. You might check your drive's manual. This is the so called feature that I am referring to;

Enter/exit Power Disable (PWDIS) mode (3.3 V power, pre-charge prior to SATA 3.3)

SATA - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Some people have used electrical tape to cover pins 1, 2 & 3 on the drive's power connector. This disabled that feature and allows normal use.


You can also try an AMP Mate-n-Lok 1-480424-0 power connector, (aka MOLEX), to SATA power cable adapter, which won't have the 3.3v lines.

 

[Popper2615]

Wow! This is awesome! When I get home tonight I will check out the manual to see if this is something I can do. It would allow me to salvage the hdd rather than replacing it. Thank you for the reply.

 

[Popper2615]

There is a "new" feature of hard drives, allowing remote reset. You might check your drive's manual. This is the so called feature that I am referring to;

Enter/exit Power Disable (PWDIS) mode (3.3 V power, pre-charge prior to SATA 3.3)

SATA - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Some people have used electrical tape to cover pins 1, 2 & 3 on the drive's power connector. This disabled that feature and allows normal use.


You can also try an AMP Mate-n-Lok 1-480424-0 power connector, (aka MOLEX), to SATA power cable adapter, which won't have the 3.3v lines.

Unfortunately, the electrical tape over the first 3 pins didn't work. Although, it seems like it should. I found a review of the hard drive, (Western Digital DC HC520) after you posted the wiki link. It requires a N701D FoxConn Sata to Sata Power connector. It is missing the orange cable, which supplies the 3.3v. I am assuming Molex to SATA would work as well. I will update this once I receive the connector.

 

[Popper2615]

The $4 connector worked great! I also was a bit impatient, so I tried the electrical tape again, and it worked as well. The tape took a couple of tries because it came off once I hooked up the connector. Thank you @Arwen. You saved me $200. Let me know if I can buy you a coffee or a beer. Also, just as suggested, the drive showed up as soon as I boot up TrueNas.

 

[Arwen]

You are welcome.

No need for any coffee or beer. Just understand not all fixes will be this straight forward.

Enjoy your TrueNAS.