NASLite Network Attached Storage

Further to my thread about NL2 only seeing 700-odd-GB on a 3TB drive, other members and threads suggest that I should be booting from a USB drive.

That is fair enough - I actually tried that as the very first thing when I got my copy of NL2, but nothing I tried would make it work.

With a fresh 4GB flash drive in there, start up machine, BIOS sees flash drive as USB Hard Disk, and I can set that as the 2nd boot device. Upon boot of the NL2 CD, option d for diagnostic sees the flash drive there no problems.

Install NL2 to the USB stick using option 2 - bootable partition only(although I tried option 1 too, but it also would not boot)

Install completes fine, transfers binaries etc, makes it bootable - all that.

However, after asking to reboot, the system just falls over with "Boot error." - in that there is nothing it can find to boot.

Back in the board BIOS again, the USB drive has vanished - it is no longer there in the list of drives to attempt to boot from.
I suspect that this is perhaps because the BIOS is trying to see what filesystem it is, and if it is not FAT32, it just ignores it.

So, in with the NL2 CD again, boot from it, select d again to run HDT, and sure enough - the USB flash drive IS NOT THERE anymore, so CORE3 and the HDT cannot see the flash drive, once the install to said flash drive has been completed, which suggests something odd, as any drive, bootable or not, should be seen by a modern BIOS or indeed, the HDT.

Any ideas as to what is going on?

Okey dokey, just a little update for you all.

Using the exact same flash drive, in the exact same USB port, I can setup Puppy Linux on it fine, and it boots and runs happy as Larry from the flash drive, so it is not a BIOS or perhaps my selected USB flash-drive issue.

Interestingly, once Puppy had installed itself to this flash drive, back in the board BIOS, the system can see the drive again, and so can boot from it fine, as it can see it there, I expect.

Most definitely some issue with NL2 installing/setup to USB flash drives.
How many other members here, are using USB flash drives to boot NL2?
Did any of you have issues getting NL2 to boot from USB?

Perhaps NL2 install is making the drive bootable and all that, but perhaps it is NOT setting the boot flag you tend to need to have set for USB drives to be seen as bootable?

I will try another experiment - I will install NL2 to the USB flash again, but then I will crank up Puppy Linux, and use Gparted to see if the boot flag is set. If it is not, I will set it, and reboot, and see if NL2 boots then.

EDIT: Nope, it IS bootable. Puppy says that the flash drive is fat16, and the boot flag is set, so it SHOULD be able to boot from it, but the fact of the matter is that it can't. But whatever Puppy does differently, allows this exact same flash drive to boot up fine, so something fishy going on here...

I will try another flash drive - I have a few old Trancend drives, so will try one of them, as it is a more well-known brand.

EDIT: Same old same old. Trancend drive(4GB) does exactly the same thing - "Boot error.", and BIOS cannot see the USB drive at all AFTER the install of NL2.

I will check for a BIOS update for this board, but I thought that NL2 did not really care much about BIOS settings, as it uses it's own drivers etc... I suppose that is true, but in order to do that, it first has to be able to boot...

EDIT: Just for experimentation, I setup FreeNAS on the flash drive - boots and runs fine from USB.

We definitely have some kind of bug in the way that NL2 is building it's bootable USB, cos other systems boot and run fine from USB, so it simply can't be the board or the USB flash drive, or these other systems would also not want to co-operate.

Hi folks.

Just got back from work, so attacked this again. This time, I installed Ununtu Server to the USB flash, and it boots and runs fine, but still nothing I do will make the NL2 install boot up.

Little help?

The install on USB drive can be an issue sometimes. That is why Mike (THE computer expert here ) counsels using CF drives on IDE to CF boards. Both are cheap and make you gain time

I boot form USB (but I haven't the latest version). I remember that I had tried several USB keys for NL2 to install and work. With the latest beta, there was a USB install problem but it was solved and working before the final version was out. But, as there are so many different USB keys and MBs out there that some combinations may have problems.

Could you please try the following solution ?

Unplug all hard drives, leave just the USB key, turn off everything in BIOS and do a new install on the USB key using all the volume for NL install. Then boot from the key and tell us what happens.

Robby

Hi there - thanks for the reply.


Good idea - I tried it.

However, I hate to have to report, that even with ALL HDD's removed, the USB install still fails.

Nice idea, but no IDE ports on this board - all SATA, as IDE has pretty much died these daze....

the cf card is the best option imo and maybe this will solve the problem

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CF-Compact-Fl ... 4ab81e11ab

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Compact-Flash ... 35b5ff3abf

there are many - they just an examples

Thanks a bunch for posting.


This may indeed work, but it would gobble up an entire SATA port just for NL2 - not really what I want or need, as I need the SATA ports for the high-capacity HDD's. Putting a nice cheap thing-y like that in there, MIGHT allow NL2 to boot fine, but it would rob the system of up to 3TB of storage - not ideal.

Thanks anyway for the idea.

I understand your need to spare SATA connections. Try installing on the USB with no disks attached as I said. Sometimes, the config files of older installs may create problems.

Robby

Hi there. Thanks for posting back.

Have a look at my post, five posts back up the thread.

A cheap work around the SATA port issue is simply to use a SATA port multiplier.

Like this, Ebay auction numbers 281143606093 or 190994899388 Both are functionally the same as they both use the JMB321 chip.

Another option which has a single to dual rather than a single to five port option is this Ebay auction number 130984741676 It uses the JMB390 chip.

Performance should be good enough for basic NAS needs with any of the above solutions since after the load of the OS the flash is not hit anymore. In theory there should be no impact to the performance of the drive attached to the same port.

Obviously this is a less than optimal solution with a silver lining, added ports should you go with the 1x5 solution.

Mike

Nice idea, and I already have five of those SATA cards, but I was never able to get them to work past port1. I think that the problem is, that the on-board SATA ports have to support port-multiplication, and 99% of all SATA controllers don't, so they don't really jive with most of the hardware out there.

The 1-to-5 unit states on the listing that: "Your mainboard must support PM port multiplier" - therein lies the problem - most boards don't.

The 2x one looks like it does not care so much about PM compatibility, so says the listing, so may well be worth a look.

Same basic device under the hood. IF the five port don't work then the 2 port won't either.

Didn't think of that to be honest. I think the SiiG chipsets DO support PM, not sure about the Intel and AMD south bridge chips though.

What board do you have?

Mike

Oups. Sorry Nothing more to propose

Robby

I assume you mean motherboard?

Gigabyte E350N mini-ITX