NASLite Network Attached Storage

As a result of a boot drive failure yesterday it was necessary for me rebuild my NasLite server -- but I am having two issues that I hope someone can help me with.

I am using a fairly large hard disk as my boot / config disk (320 GB) -- this was the same type of disk that was in my old NasLite server before the system failed. In the original system I had it setup so that the HDD boot / config disk was also used as a data / storage disk and this has worked great but in creating the new server and reinstalling NasLite from scratch I can not get the system to allow the same type of a setup -- using the HDD boot disk / config disk also as a data disk.

When installing NasLite I select the option for a combined HDD boot / config disk plus data disk and everything seems to install correctly -- but after all the reboots (entering the license ID and unlock code) the system will not allow me to mount the boot / config disk -- the option to format the disk is not available. I have added additional HDD disks and they all allow me to format and mount as expected -- but the boot / config disk will not allow me to access all the additional space that I know is there. What am I doing wrong? I have re-read the instructions a dozen times and reinstalled everything at least six times and each time the result is the same -- I can not use the HDD config / boot disk as a data disk. I know that this was working in the past -- so why can I not get it to work now?

The second issue I am having is that I would like to change the order that disks are mounted -- NasLite seems to take the order from how the disks are assigned from the bios during the boot process -- and there is no way to change this in the bios so I am looking for a way to change the order from within NasLLite. I have a total of 9 Hard Disks in my setup -- four IDE drives plus one SCSI drive and four SATA drives. The system boots into NasLite and the drives are mounted with the first four in the IDE bios order then the SCSI drive and the then the four SATA drives in bios order.

IDE Drive 1 Master -- Mounted as drive 0 -- 500 GB
IDE Drive 2 Slave -- Mounted as drive 1 -- 320 GB
IDE Drive 3 Master -- Mounted as drive 2 -- 320GB
IDE Drive 4 Slave -- Mounted as drive 3 -- 320GB
SCSI drive -- Mounted as drive 4 -- 3 TB
SATA Drive 1 -- Mounted as drive 5 -- 1.5 TB
SATA Drive 2 -- Mounted as Drive 6 -- 3 TB
SATA Drive 3 -- Mounted as drive 7 -- 3TB
SATA Drive 4 -- Mounted as drive 8 -- 3TB

I need to move the SCSI drive so that it is mounted last -- as drive 8. Is this possible?

Michael

a very much i think reply

on 1 - what you want should work as you know - it sounds as though you originally set the partitioning wrong not telling naslite to make the main part of the drive available - you need to remove naslite from that drive using the uninstall from within the setup disc - its no good just to start again - removing the partition and/or formatting will not remove naslite in my experience - on a reboot you are back where you started - remove all the other drives from the system except the boot drive - boot from the cd and choose the option to remove naslite - once thats complete reboot the system and start again - that should work

on 2 - hmmmm dont know - the answer may lie with the scsi controller - many have a delay that you can set - it may let the system see the other drives first

Tony:

Thank you very much for your ideas.

I tried your suggestion regarding my problem in accessing the extra space on Drive 0 -- the boot / config device -- but when I restarted the system with the Install CD there was not an option to remove NasLite -- only options to deactivate and update NasLite.

Anyway -- I tried the deactivate option , rebooted and then reinstalled Naslite (using the correct option to install with the remaining space for data storage). After the full install is completed with the ID and unlock code and a couple of re-boots I get the same problem as before -- when I select Drive 0 under Storage Configuration I get a status of "NOT MOUNTED - BOOT/CONFIG DEVICE" and the only option under the sub menu is to "Run Disk-0 Extended S.M.A.R.T. Self-Test. If I run the SMART test it completes and reports that the drive is OK -- but I still do not get the option to format the excess space on Drive 0

Is there anything else I can try?

Michael

Make your life simple and use an ATA to CF adapter and a CF card for the boot drive. Keep the boot and the storage separate. They can be had off of Ebay for really cheap for both the adapter and the CF. If you spend more than $10.00 USD you are paying to much for the parts.

Works like a charm and prevents the issues you are now having.

You can simply boot a live OS like Knoppix and format the selected that way. I would advise that you first disconnect all the target drives that you don't want to format first though to ensure that you only can format the drive you want to.

Mike

I ran into the same problem i.e., not being able to use the system drive for storage even when selecting that option in setup. I resolved the issue by re-installing Naslite with all drives disconnected except the system drive onto which I placed Naslite. The option to format the system drive and thus use it for storage was then available. Hopefully this will work for you as well.

Joel