Core to Scale Upgrade with Backout

TrueNAS General
1

I’ve previously tried installing Scale on a new USB device and booting off that, but it has proved unsuccessful with the computer unable to start booting. (My backout has been to replace the existing boot media and reboot.)

With damaged confidence, I now want to try the upgrade again. I have the latest core installation which is currently running a LEGACY boot.

I want the new media to use UEFI boot.

So what should be the order in which I do things?

  • Do I create the new media when the machine is configured for Legacy boot or do I create the new media when the machine is configured for UEFI? Does it make a difference?
  • When I create the new media, what options do I have to choose? What is the “install EFI” and do I need it?
  • I then want to remove all my data drives before booting on the new media to check it works. (I’ll insert the data drives on a subsequent reboot with the saved config, but I need to know that this will boot). So I realise I have to switch the machine to UEFI before attempting the boot. Last time, the machine couldn’t find the boot media. Is there anything I missed last time in this sequence that could have caused this?
2

Try avoid at all USB stick to boot the os, Scale will fry your device very fast. SSD with USB-sata adapter are cheap and way reliable.

By the way,

It makes no difference (if i well understand what you mean)

Use balena etcher and literally go steaight with everything as default (legacy neither Is supported on balena)

This sounds odd, honestly seems more that your BIOS lose that settings (to keep uefi)

3

Thanks for your reply. Firstly, there is no room for an SSD within the chassis. I have moved the system dataset to the data drives to reduce drive wear. I’ve also used a premium USB stick which is massively oversized.

So to make it clear, I created the truenas install media on a DVD and used that to create the USB boot drive. However I used a different computer to create this. Could this be the problem?

4

Good MLC stick are not cheap but should be ok. Don’t forget to keep regularly a config backup in case of need (or give a look into multi report script).

I don’t even remember the last time i make an os installation via cd-dvd :grinning: why not use a regular USB stick?
There Is no problem to use a different PC to create the bootable device, try as i suggested above, use balena etcher Is pretty simple and you don’t risk to mess with settings

5

  1. You can buy a SATA DOM. It’s a stick with MLC Flash memory that plugs directly into a SATA slot and is intended to work as a boot device and fill all the deficiencies of USB sticks. Supermicro makes them for the Motherboards, but there are myriad other options out there.

  2. You can buy an adapter board that takes 2x M.2 SSDs and exposes them as SATA ports. This is what I did for years before SATA DOM. Cheap 64GB M.2 SSD.

  3. On Ebay, there is a board that has a single SAS SFF-8087 port and 4x M.2 SSDs. If you have a SAS Controller in IT mode, an -8i or a -16i, this a very nice way to go.

6

Thanks for that info - I have an HP Microserver Gen10 Plus v2. It only has an internal USB port and a PCIe slot (half height). Right now I want to stick with the USB socket and upgrade core to scale. I’m likely to wait for the next release before I try and create bootable media again. I don’t even know whether I can boot off the internal PCIe slot.