Lolight

No, you should not expect issues with a new stick, provided it is a high quality, reliable drive specifically chosen for the job. However modern consumer USB drives fail at an alarming rate in Unraid. I'd advise getting a true industrial grade drive, such as an Innodisk 3ME, rather than a standard retail stick: https://forums.unraid.net/topic/199642-psa-on-industrial-mlc-usb-boot-drives-mlc-nand-end-of-life-and-last-accessible-stock/

I'd advise to stay on USB boot. But get a reliable drive (ideally with a spare) that is designed for always-on operation. It will likely outlast your server. https://forums.unraid.net/topic/199642-psa-on-industrial-mlc-usb-boot-drives-mlc-nand-end-of-life-and-last-accessible-stock/

Thanks for reporting this. Anyone replacing a USB drive should watch for it. The TPM preference is documented in Unraid’s TPM licensing FAQ. https://docs.unraid.net/unraid-os/troubleshooting/tpm-licensing-faq/ It says new and replacement keys use TPM where possible, even if you boot from USB. So if you’re swapping a failed flash drive on a board with a TPM, check which license type you end up with. Going back to USB is possible through the replacement flow.

That’s a classic sign of a failing USB flash drive. As for internal boot, the real-world gain is a slightly faster boot. The tradeoffs are bigger: it counts against your device limit, you’d either tie your license to the motherboard (TPM) or still keep a USB drive plugged in for it, and recovery is harder if something goes wrong. Get an industrial USB drive as a replacement. It's designed for 24/7 service. https://forums.unraid.net/topic/199642-psa-on-industrial-mlc-usb-boot-drives-mlc-nand-end-of-life-and-last-accessible-stock/

Good point about the adapter. People recommend industrial microSD cards for Unraid boot but rarely mention that the USB adapter isn’t a passive pass-through. There’s a card reader controller chip in there, and most of those adapters aren’t built to run 24/7, so the adapter can end up as the weak link however good the card is. Your suspicion sounds plausible. Glad the drives got to you so fast. The Innodisk is a different class of hardware from the Ultra Fit too, so this should be a solid upgrade on both counts.

Glad you tracked it down. I’ve added a direct link to the listing at the top of the PSA thread, so the next person won’t have to hunt for it.

Your prior USB failure was a drive issue rather than anything inherent to USB boot. USB boot remains tried and true -- overall, much less complex and almost completely independent of other parts of the system. I'd suggest buying a high-quality USB stick that is designed for long-term service. https://forums.unraid.net/topic/199642-psa-on-industrial-mlc-usb-boot-drives-mlc-nand-end-of-life-and-last-accessible-stock/

BIOS security updates and microcode patches can also reset the TPM identifier -- which means another support ticket even without touching the hardware. Something to keep in mind before the next BIOS update.

https://forums.unraid.net/topic/199642-psa-on-industrial-mlc-usb-boot-drives-mlc-nand-end-of-life-and-last-accessible-stock/

If you're in the US, grab a $20 industrial USB flash drive and switch back to USB boot. These drives are nearly indestructible, and you'll have no dependency on TPM or anything else in the system.

@JorgeB As in reference to RAM or boot device size?

That's a major concern considering the current market.

Never mind... Forget about 8GB boot drives. Eli in the latest Unraid 8 Q&A: "Um, we're using Universal Blues UCore, so that includes a pretty wide base set of packages. And we're doing a lot less trimming of that base set because we wanna give you guys more out of the box ability to script."

https://docs.unraid.net/unraid-os/getting-started/set-up-unraid/create-your-bootable-media/#finish-the-usb-setup

Go into BIOS and check two things: First, find Secure Boot and disable it if enabled. Second, find CSM (Compatibility Support Module) and try toggling it -- if it’s enabled try disabling it or vice versa. It really sounds like a UEFI/Secure Boot/CSM conflict rather than anything wrong with the drive or Unraid installation. Also check whether the EFI folder on the drive has a trailing hyphen -- EFI- instead of EFI. If so remove the hyphen.