usb drives not visible

[southman]

hi everyone,

I need help with my brand new truenas 13 core système.

I had to change my old computer with a new one and I installed truenas 13 core that have a full device support. The only thing I kept was my ICYBOX that is a 4 sata hard drives dock, connecting in USB 3.0 to the truenas server.

So my problem is that not all my drives appear on storage/disks (the same in create pool tab). I only have one of my 3 disks that appear mounted as "da2", but when I have a look directly on the shell, I can see that all my disks were detected like "da0" "da1" and "da2".

previously my old computer used Xigmanas system with the same Icybox and all my disks appear. I changed to truenas because I had a problem with my new computer ethernet card, that is not working on xigmanas, but works good under truenas.

obviously I tried to format all the disks, so they are now completely empty, and in NTFS format, but only one is detected.

May I have help please.

Thanks a lot

 

[danb35]

The only thing I kept was my ICYBOX that is a 4 sata hard drives dock, connecting in USB 3.0 to the truenas server.

...which is probably reporting the same serial number for each of those drives. USB disk enclosures are a bad idea, and that's just one of the reasons. To confirm (or disprove) this as the issue, run smartctl -a /dev/ada1 followed by smartctl -a /dev/ada2, and compare the reported serial numbers. If they're the same, that's your problem--TrueNAS indexes the disks by serial number.

 

[southman]

...which is probably reporting the same serial number for each of those drives. USB disk enclosures are a bad idea, and that's just one of the reasons. To confirm (or disprove) this as the issue, run smartctl -a /dev/ada1 followed by smartctl -a /dev/ada2, and compare the reported serial numbers. If they're the same, that's your problem--TrueNAS indexes the disks by serial number.

Thanks for answering, but I tried the command on the 3 HDD and it giving me 3 different serial numbers, any other idea ?

 

[southman]

I tried another command "geom disk list" and with this command I have the same ident number. so I do not understand why the system can see 3 different serial numbers and give the same ident to all.

 

[ChrisRJ]

Connecting your disks to TrueNAS via USB is generally a very bad idea, unfortunately. It is like with RAID controllers. Things work, until they don't. ZFS was build for high-end enterprise storage (i.e. 6-7 digits figures SAN/NAS systems), and therefore has very particular demands on the hardware. For one-time data transfer a USB disk is ok, but not if you want your data to be safe.

Sorry for the bad news.

 

[southman]

Connecting your disks to TrueNAS via USB is generally a very bad idea, unfortunately. It is like with RAID controllers. Things work, until they don't. ZFS was build for high-end enterprise storage (i.e. 6-7 digits figures SAN/NAS systems), and therefore has very particular demands on the hardware. For one-time data transfer a USB disk is ok, but not if you want your data to be safe.

Sorry for the bad news.

ok I undersand this, but my server is à minipc chuwi. It's quite powerful but I can't directly connect hard drives. I have no choise than connecting it to usb. that's the reason I've bought a dock.

The reason I've chose this kind of computer is because I have to install it in the living room, and this mini pc with the dock doesn't produce any noise. and the power consumption is extremely low.

before this I had another minipc who passed away, so I have to change it with this one. My old minipc worked under xigmanas and I had no problem with the docks. but with this new one xigmanas doesn't recognize the ethernet card, so I changed to truenas that is the only nas system that recognize every device. It's very good excepting this usb hard drives detection.

 

[winnielinnie]

I noticed this too around version 13.0-U1.1

Plugging in any external USB drive (not a multidrive enclosure) does not always list it under Storage -> Disks

However, any such ZFS pool on the USB drive is detected and imported without issues.

The command-line (whether via SSH or the Shell) also properly lists the drive.

This might be a GUI / Middleware bug introduced in one of the 13.x updates.

In summary: "da0" exists, and is evident by the Shell/SSH, and its pool is detectable and importable. No problems. However, "da0" is not listed under Storage -> Disks (even if it is the only USB drive connected.)

* No multidrive "bay" involved.

 

[ChrisRJ]

@southman , I understand. Just make sure to always have a proper backup. There is an increased risk of data loss with such a setup.