New TrueNAS Scale Pool Setup - Getting Error: Error opening /dev/sdc: No such device or address

TrueNAS General
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1

Setup is new on everything except the HHD enclosure (only a few years old).

  • Beelink EQi12, Intel Core i7 12650H (Up to 4.7GHz) 10C/16T, 24GB LPDDR5 RAM, 1TB NVMe SSD
  • 2 HHD = Seagate IronWolf 8TB NAS HDD – 3.5 Inch SATA 6Gb/s 7200 RPM 256MB Cache
  • Hard Drive Enclosure: OWC Mercury Elite Pro Quad
  • Connected with USB 3 cable

Fresh install of ElectricEel-24.10.0.2
Tried to do a mirror pool with the 2 drives above and getting this error.
I did a short smart test & it passed ok on both drives.
I’ve tried wiping the driver on my Mac. Then putting it back in, still won’t create the mirror pool.

Error Details on Pool Creation 
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/middlewared/job.py", line 488, in run
    await self.future
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/middlewared/job.py", line 533, in __run_body
    rv = await self.method(*args)
         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/middlewared/service/crud_service.py", line 261, in nf
    rv = await func(*args, **kwargs)
         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/middlewared/schema/processor.py", line 49, in nf
    res = await f(*args, **kwargs)
          ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/middlewared/schema/processor.py", line 179, in nf
    return await func(*args, **kwargs)
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/middlewared/plugins/pool_/pool.py", line 577, in do_create
    await self.middleware.call('pool.format_disks', job, disks, 0, 30)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/middlewared/main.py", line 1626, in call
    return await self._call(
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/middlewared/main.py", line 1457, in _call
    return await methodobj(*prepared_call.args)
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/middlewared/plugins/pool_/format_disks.py", line 27, in format_disks
    await asyncio_map(format_disk, disks.items(), limit=16)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/middlewared/utils/asyncio_.py", line 19, in asyncio_map
    return await asyncio.gather(*futures)
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/middlewared/utils/asyncio_.py", line 16, in func
    return await real_func(arg)
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/middlewared/plugins/pool_/format_disks.py", line 22, in format_disk
    await self.middleware.call('disk.format', disk)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/middlewared/main.py", line 1626, in call
    return await self._call(
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/middlewared/main.py", line 1468, in _call
    return await self.run_in_executor(prepared_call.executor, methodobj, *prepared_call.args)
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/middlewared/main.py", line 1361, in run_in_executor
    return await loop.run_in_executor(pool, functools.partial(method, *args, **kwargs))
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3.11/concurrent/futures/thread.py", line 58, in run
    result = self.fn(*self.args, **self.kwargs)
             ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/middlewared/plugins/disk_/format.py", line 34, in format
    if not dev.clobber():
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/parted/decorators.py", line 42, in new
    ret = fn(*args, **kwds)
          ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/parted/device.py", line 190, in clobber
    return self.__device.clobber()
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
_ped.IOException: Error opening /dev/sdc: No such device or address

I came from OpenMediaVault on a Raspbery Pi 4 & that has been stable for years. New to TrueNAS & Looking forward to getting it working.

2

Serial # collision?

lsblk -o name,model,serial,partuuid,fstype,size

Put your hazmat suit on. You’re about to be dragged over the coals for using a USB enclosure with TrueNAS + ZFS. :biohazard:

3 Likes
3

So basically if I am using a Mini PC I can’t use TrueNAS?
Or do I need a different HHD enclosure that I can connect to via ethernet instead?

4

Yes.

An “Ethernet HDD enclosure” would basically be a fully qualified NAS.
You could use an external SAS enclosure (or SATA: QNAP D-400S, D-800S) but that would require a SAS HBA, which you cannot install or cannot cool properly, in the mini-PC.

5

Thank you, guess I’ll go back to OpenMediaVault…

6

You can, you shouldn’t.
If you’re motivated enough you can find a USB-enclosure that doesn’t duplicate serial numbers. That doesn’t magically solve the other issues with, for example, reliability that USB-enclosures often have.

7

TrueNAS and ZFS redundant file systems are a great solution in principle, but ONLY if they are run on suitable hardware.

In simple terms if your data isn’t worth anything to you and you are not worried about losing it then the mini-PC and USB attached external storage is an absolutely brilliant solution for you, and I would personally advise you not to listen to a single criticism of it.

BUT…

If you value your data and want to keep it safe against e.g. hard drive failure and corruption, then you need to be prepared to invest in suitable hardware and a mini-PC and a USB-attached external enclosure isn’t it.

You have already spent a reasonable amount on 2x Seagate Ironwolf 8TB disks, and that is a good investment.

My advice would be to sell on the mini-pc and spend a bit more money on an appropriate system (MB, processor, memory, SATA controller(s), disk slots.

There are many ways to do this - and there is a reasonably comprehensive guide at Uncle Fester’s Basic TrueNAS Configuration Guide.

Personally, I bought a used Terramaster F5-221 5 slot NAS appliance, with a Celeron 2-core processor and 10GB of memory and populated it with 5x 4TB Ironwolf drives, and despite the ancient CPU and relatively small memory it performs brilliantly. If you don’t want to build a system yourself, buying an appliance like this might be a good way to go. Just don’t buy an ARM processor or an Intel 32-bit processor or one which can’t reach 10GB-16GB of memory - and if you think your needs will ever exceed 8TB useable, then buy one with 4+ slots and build your array as RAIDZ1 even with only 2 drives. Your system will also need 2 M.2 slots or equivalent for a boot drive and an SSD for an apps pool.

1 Like