Upgrading from 9.10 to 11.3 Questions

[Christopher Ward]

My download jail decided to break and i figured this would be a good a time from 9.10 to 11.3. When installing big updates i always like to do fresh installs but all the guides i see are for upgrading and not doing a clean install. I want to keep my data but i don't care about the settings.

- Would i loose my data if i do a fresh and clean install, i have over 30TB so i don't want to start again
- How do i go about doing a clean install?

Is it as simple as;
unplug the current USB stick, quick format, make the usb stick bootable and stick the iso on it and install FreeNAS as normal then go into the web GUI and pools > Storage > Pools?

 

[sretalla]

Is it as simple as;
unplug the current USB stick, quick format, make the usb stick bootable and stick the iso on it and install FreeNAS as normal then go into the web GUI and pools > Storage > Pools?

Storage > Pools > Add ... Import an existing pool.

To make your life better, before you shut down the existing system, stop all your jails/shares/services and detach the pool from it.

 

[Christopher Ward]

Storage > Pools > Add ... Import an existing pool.

To make your life better, before you shut down the existing system, stop all your jails/shares/services and detach the pool from it.

Done all that, by the last one do you mean storage > volumes > detach volume?

 

[sretalla]

Yes, make sure that you don't tick the box to destroy the data.

 

[Yorick]

> unplug the current USB stick

While you are at it, do you have a small SSD you could use as a boot drive? It'll last longer than a USB stick. You'd boot from USB with the install ISO, and then install onto the SSD.

Intel 320 40GB are going for about 15 bucks on eBay, those make great boot drives.

 

[Christopher Ward]

> unplug the current USB stick

While you are at it, do you have a small SSD you could use as a boot drive? It'll last longer than a USB stick. You'd boot from USB with the install ISO, and then install onto the SSD.

Intel 320 40GB are going for about 15 bucks on eBay, those make great boot drives.

Unfortunately I don't have any more sata ports available. Im using all 10 for my hard drives

I'm trying to install FreeNas into the USB stick but i don't see it under destination media but it must be there as it just boot to the install.

Do i need a second USB stick for the bootable ISO and an empty drive to install it onto?

 

[sretalla]

Do i need a second USB stick for the bootable ISO and an empty drive to install it onto?

Yes, or put the install on a CD if you still have a drive.

Another alternative is to do the install on a Virtualbox PC with the (blank) USB passed through and the ISO mounted directly as a CD in the VM... then shut it down and transfer to the hardware when done.

 

[Yorick]

Also, keep in mind that USB 3.0 drives will burn out in months. If you are going to use USB to boot from, use the USB stick you have used for years (2.0 presumably), as it'll likely last longer than a new stick.

 

[sretalla]

use the USB stick you have used for years (2.0 presumably), as it'll likely last longer than a new stick.

Or just plug your USB3 stick into a USB2 port... it works just fine like that too.

 

[Christopher Ward]

Thanks guys I had a newer 32GB USB drive doing nothing so i just inserted that instead of the one i had been using for 4 years.

I managed to install 11.3 and import my pool, now to look around for guides on how to get my plugins back and learn this new UI.

 

[Christopher Ward]

Also, keep in mind that USB 3.0 drives will burn out in months. If you are going to use USB to boot from, use the USB stick you have used for years (2.0 presumably), as it'll likely last longer than a new stick.

My old install was painfully slow when loading the UI. That was one of the reasons i wanted to switch over to the latest version. Could that have been the cause?

I had a newer 32GB USB drive doing nothing so i just inserted that as the destination media. The other usb stick i had been using for 4+ years. I managed to install 11.3 and import my pool, now to look around for guides on how to get my plugins back and learn this new UI. Everything feels snappy.

I will look into some sort of PCI card to add an extra sata port if it will make a difference in the future though. My motherboard is the Supermicro MBD-X10SL7-F-O

 

[sretalla]

some sort of PCI card to add an extra sata port

The recommendation here will be to look for a cheap (used) LSI HBA. You can usually find them for under $50.