how to solve "cannot create 'pool': one or more vdevs refer to the same device, or one of the devices is part of an active md or lvm device

TrueNAS General
1

how to solve this vdef error when trying to add a pool of Raid Z with 3x 12T HD diske wipped partion deleted but same error all the tiem

2

Oh come on - try giving us some basic details
What HDD’s
How are they connected to the motherboard
Whats your hardware involved (see my sig for example)

3 Likes
3

The system based on Gigabyte GA X99 UD5 with sata direct controllers on the motherboard support IDE or AHCI, those ports could be raid controller, but it configured as SATA only the motherboard can support M2 + 8 sata 6GB/s sata, full detail on the Hard-disks below
root:~# smartctl -i /dev/sdf
smartctl 7.2 2020-12-30 r5155 [x86_64-linux-5.15.158-2-pve] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-20, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke,

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family: Seagate IronWolf
Device Model: ST12000VN0007-2GS116
Serial Number: ZJV2KFPY
LU WWN Device Id: 5 000c50 0b337e624
Firmware Version: SC60
User Capacity: 12,000,138,625,024 bytes [12.0 TB]
Sector Sizes: 512 bytes logical, 4096 bytes physical
Rotation Rate: 7200 rpm
Form Factor: 3.5 inches
Device is: In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is: ACS-3 T13/2161-D revision 5
SATA Version is: SATA 3.1, 6.0 Gb/s (current: 6.0 Gb/s)
Local Time is: Tue Jan 7 01:32:26 2025 IST
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

root:~# smartctl -i /dev/sde
smartctl 7.2 2020-12-30 r5155 [x86_64-linux-5.15.158-2-pve] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-20, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke,

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family: Seagate IronWolf Pro
Device Model: ST12000NE0008-2PK103
Serial Number: ZTN08BT4
LU WWN Device Id: 5 000c50 0c2e46350
Firmware Version: SN04
User Capacity: 12,000,138,625,024 bytes [12.0 TB]
Sector Sizes: 512 bytes logical, 4096 bytes physical
Rotation Rate: 7200 rpm
Form Factor: 3.5 inches
Device is: In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is: ACS-3 T13/2161-D revision 5
SATA Version is: SATA 3.1, 6.0 Gb/s (current: 6.0 Gb/s)
Local Time is: Tue Jan 7 01:32:36 2025 IST
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

root:~# smartctl -i /dev/sdd
smartctl 7.2 2020-12-30 r5155 [x86_64-linux-5.15.158-2-pve] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-20, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke,

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family: Seagate IronWolf Pro
Device Model: ST12000NE0008-2PK103
Serial Number: ZTN08BT8
LU WWN Device Id: 5 000c50 0c2e7b920
Firmware Version: SN04
User Capacity: 12,000,138,625,024 bytes [12.0 TB]
Sector Sizes: 512 bytes logical, 4096 bytes physical
Rotation Rate: 7200 rpm
Form Factor: 3.5 inches
Device is: In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is: ACS-3 T13/2161-D revision 5
SATA Version is: SATA 3.1, 6.0 Gb/s (current: 6.0 Gb/s)
Local Time is: Tue Jan 7 01:32:40 2025 IST
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

4

Try wiping the disks first - I have found that putting the disks into a windows box and running diskpart/clean can be effective

5

@NugentS - already did :wiped all disks and delete all partitions for all

6

Did you ever resolve this? I’ve just set up TrueNAS scale inside of Proxmox and I’m getting this with a 6 drive pool.

7

There are very specific installation steps for installing TrueNAS SCALE as a VM under ProxMox for reliable TrueNAS operation. Several people who failed to follow this, have lost data, permanently.

Some of the steps, (and I am no expect in running TrueNAS SCALE as a VM under ProxMox):

  • Pass through the disk controller to SCALE
  • Blacklist the disk controller in ProxMox, so it does not attempt any work with disks attached to that controller
  • Only use disks from that passed through controller in SCALE, for data devices.
  • It may be possible to use a virtual hard drive, or other storage, as the boot device for SCALE. Just backup your configuration in case that blows up and you loose your boot device. (But you won’t loose data!)

Just note that TrueNAS SCALE, (and Core), were never designed to be run in production as VMs. Enterprise users, (the paying ones), use bare metal iX hardware to run TrueNAS.

That said, lots of people were and are successful in using TrueNAS as a VM. It is just that the main prior recommended Hypervisor was VMWare. With Broadcom dropping free users, many people are migrating to other less used Hypervisors like ProxMox.

Good luck.

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