Grub error: unknown filesystem after FreeNAS 9.10 (stable) update

[Zensig]

Today I started my FreeNAS 9.10 to do a BitTorrent Sync backup update over the Internet (NAS is at another location). As usual I checked if there was any updates to my FreeNAS 9.10 stable train already installed. As usual there was a newer build so I did the update which downloaded, installed & rebooted. WebUI never came back again so via IPMI I checked the boot screen which showed the following (I entered the ls commands later).

The USB is a 8GB stick plugged into the internal USB connection on the motherboard. There was plenty of room on the stick, only a third of the space was used.

Is the USB stick completely buggered? If so it's the 2nd to bite the dust :-(

 

[Nick2253]

What brand/model of USB stick was it?

 

[Zensig]

Kingston DataTraveler

 

[Sakuru]

It's likely toast. Buy 2 when you replace it so you can mirror them.

 

[Nick2253]

I agree, probably toast.

For replacements, now might be a good time to jump off the USB ship, and get a small SSD for your boot device. You can get 30GB or smaller SSDs for crazy cheap, so if you've got space in your case/controller, it's worth considering.

 

[Zensig]

No SATA slots available or room. I got 6x4TB disks in a Node 304 case so it's packed!

 

[Robert Smith]

You could replace 6 x 4TB with 4 x 8TB, and that would free up two ports for mirrored SSDs. Not sure how practical it is for you, but it is an option.

 

[Bidule0hm]

Even one SSD is better than two mirrored USB sticks so you can have 5 drives. But I'm not sure I'd remake my pool just to free a SATA port; I think I'd just use two mirrored USB sticks ;)

 

[Robert Smith]

BTW, has anyone run with three or more mirrored USB sticks as a FreeNAS boot volume?

 

[Nick2253]

BTW, has anyone run with three or more mirrored USB sticks as a FreeNAS boot volume?

I would guess that someone around here has, but there's really not much of a benefit in doing so. If you have three drives, doing a rotating mirror might not be a bad idea, so that you have less wear on the drive.

 

[Robert Smith]

I would guess that someone around here has, but there's really not much of a benefit in doing so. If you have three drives, doing a rotating mirror might not be a bad idea, so that you have less wear on the drive.

By rotating mirror you mean do that manually (replace-detach)? Or is there a mirror autorotation feature hidden somewhere (using ZFS hot-spare perhaps)?

 

[Nick2253]

By rotating mirror you mean do that manually (replace-detach)? Or is there a mirror autorotation feature hidden somewhere (using ZFS hot-spare perhaps)?

Manually.

 

[Robert Smith]

Manually.

How do you make sure Grub does not start the wrong out-of date copy of the FreeNAS? Do you physically remove the 'resting' USB stick out of the system?

 

[Nick2253]

How do you make sure Grub does not start the wrong out-of date copy of the FreeNAS? Do you physically remove the 'resting' USB stick out of the system?

First off, I don't do this, because I don't think it's worth my time or effort. Also, I don't use a mirrored USB drive, because I do nightly backups of my config to my pool, and I don't think it's worth the wear on the drive to have two active. Instead, I've got a spare drive on my emergency shelf, and if my main USB drive dies, I'll just install FreeNAS to that drive, retrieve my config, and, Boom!, I'm working again. And since I'm a home system, a few hours of downtime doesn't make a difference to me.

That being said, if you want to try this rotating method, the point is to minimize the risk for downtime. To that end, you'd always want to have one drive out of the system, so that you reduce the wear on the drive. By rotating them, you spread the wear more evenly over three drives, and you'll always have a "nearly good" USB drive sitting on your shelf.

 

[Robert Smith]

I have that same "time and effort" problem right here. It would be nice if FreeNAS could just do all that automatically. It is very unlikely that the developers will be interested in this functionality as TrueNAS does not boot from USB sticks; therefore somebody from the community would need to implement the feature, which again requires time and effort. LOL