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.

Pull the USB drive and plug it into a Windows PC first. Look for a folder named config and copy the entire thing to your desktop immediately. That folder contains your license key, array configuration, network settings, and Docker templates. As long as you have it your configuration can be fully restored. If the drive is readable on Windows the issue is likely the bootloader rather than drive failure. Download the Unraid zip for 7.3.3, extract it to the USB drive formatted FAT32 labeled UNRAID, then right click make_bootable.bat and run as Administrator. Copy your saved config folder back onto the drive. Also check whether there’s an EFI- folder with a trailing hyphen -- rename it to EFI if so. If the drive isn’t readable at all it’s failed and you’ll need a fresh drive. Either way -- when replacing the Samsung, that recommendation is outdated and the drive has a documented history of problems in Unraid. Get a reliable drive as a replacement: https://forums.unraid.net/topic/199642-psa-on-industrial-mlc-usb-boot-drives-mlc-nand-end-of-life-and-last-accessible-stock

At $20 it's still a solid deal. Did you find a better alternative at a lower price? Curious what else is out there.

Just be aware that all those 8TB drives are SMR. While btrfs RAID0 initial sequential writes might perform well, the rewrites will encounter significant traffic jams.

I really hope the devs can keep Unraid 8 lean enough to support an 8GB boot device as the minimum. It would be great to keep re-using those reliable, tried-and-true USB flash drives we already have on hand without being forced to upgrade just for the boot media.

I think it's reasonable to expect a delay due to the recent decision to switch to Fedora, which makes a lot of sense, and I doubt anyone here would complain. But it needs to be communicated instead of keeping total radio silence.

Before attempting the recovery, your absolute first step should be getting a high-quality replacement USB drive delivered. Here's a great, fully vetted option: https://forums.unraid.net/topic/199642-psa-on-industrial-mlc-usb-boot-drives-mlc-nand-end-of-life-and-last-accessible-stock/

A sharp brush-off isn't really what a newcomer means when they ask for help!

I advise against wasting money on low-quality drives sold on Amazon. Instead get this: https://forums.unraid.net/topic/199642-psa-on-industrial-mlc-usb-boot-drives-mlc-nand-end-of-life-and-last-accessible-stock/

https://forums.unraid.net/topic/200239-unraid-8-explained-fedora-docker-compose-faster-security-updates/#findComment-1633920

Learn about all downsides of internal boot first and only then decide. Your flash drive will not fail if you select a reliable drive. You can find lots of relevant info, including a suggestion for a reliable USB flash drive here: https://forums.unraid.net/topic/196967-unraid-boot-device-guide-usb-and-internal-boot-hardware-selection-and-risk-tradeoffs