Lolight

One thing worth doing before you run the wizard again: make a fresh backup of your /config folder from the USB flash drive to a Windows machine. Given the wizard's behavior last time having a clean known good config backup before you start is good insurance.

Great -- no important data lost. Your path forward is actually straightforward now. The SPCC 512GB SSD (sdm) showing in your unassigned devices is exactly what you should be using for internal boot -- an SSD, not spinning hard drives. If you can find a second 512GB SSD a mirrored boot pool would be a better setup and is strongly recommended. A single unmirrored internal boot drive is a single point of failure for both your boot configuration and any data partition on the same drive. Suggested steps: 1. Stop the array 2. Remove the current internal boot configuration from the spinning drives -- this means going back to USB boot temporarily 3. Once back on USB boot cleanly, run the internal boot wizard again with the SPCC SSD as the target device 4. If you find a second SSD configure a mirrored boot pool On the USB flash drive -- keep it plugged in. You're right that it's still needed for licensing since you haven't moved to TPM. It's also your safety net during this transition. On fTPM -- first generation Threadripper fTPM is genuinely problematic. If you want TPM licensing eventually a discrete TPM module in your board's SPI header is the right approach -- but that's a separate conversation once your boot setup is sorted correctly.

The HDD boot priority taking over USB boot is actually the problem, not the solution. Your system is booting from spinning hard drives -- the two Seagate 4TB drives (sda and sdd). These are mechanical hard drives, not NVMe or SSD. Spinning hard drives are not appropriate internal boot devices and should never be used for this purpose. Your NVMe drives are all committed to your cache pool and were unavailable to the wizard. Rather than refusing to proceed the wizard used whatever was available -- your spinning drives. Before anything else please answer these two questions: 1. What were those two Seagate 4TB drives (sda and sdd) before you ran the wizard? Array drives? Empty drives? 2. You mentioned formatting the data volumes on them after booting -- did they contain any data before that formatting happened? This is the most important question in this thread right now. Everything else -- fTPM, boot pool display, BIOS settings -- can wait until we know whether any data was lost on those drives.

Just a heads-up: BIOS updates mentioning Secure Boot key update in their description (KEK/DB/PK) have been known to reset fTPM on some boards, which would trigger a license state mismatch. Worth keeping in mind if you go with fTPM.

Random disconnections on USB storage are almost always power management related rather than a fundamental stability issue. Two things worth trying: 1. Disable USB autosuspend via the go file if enabled (/boot/config/go). This prevents the OS from suspending idle USB devices and persists across reboots. Search for "USB autosuspend go file" to confirm the exact syntax. 2. If disconnections continue, try a USB 2.0 port. Slower but USB 2.0 ports tend to have less aggressive power management behavior than USB 3.0 on many motherboards. The Crucial SSD should also be more reliable than the spinning portable drive regardless -- no spinning platters means no head park/unpark cycle issues and generally more stable USB behavior.

The greyed out POOL button with the array stopped is likely why it's not responding. Try starting the array first -- in maintenance mode is fine -- and then attempt the POOL button again on Dev 1 in Unassigned Devices. The array being started doesn't mean data is at risk here. The cache pool issue is separate from the array drives. If the POOL button is still greyed out after starting the array, post a screenshot of what you're seeing and it would be worth opening a dedicated thread for this specific issue to get more focused help.

Glad you're mostly back up. Don't start the array yet. 1. Click the POOL button next to Dev 1 in Unassigned Devices 2. Click Apply 3. The pool should return to mirrored state and resilver automatically 4. Once complete run a scrub on the cache pool to confirm integrity Double check you're assigning the correct drive before clicking Apply. Don't start the array until the pool looks correct.

This is purely a boot drive issue and fully recoverable. Use the Unraid USB Creator to create a fresh bootable drive on a new USB, selecting the current stable version (6.12.15 is fine -- you can update from within Unraid afterward). Then copy your config folder from your flashbackup to the new USB, replacing what the Creator put there. That's it. A few notes: -- Don't copy everything from the flashbackup, just the config folder -- The new drive will have a different GUID so you'll need to transfer your license. You get one self-service transfer per year via the Unraid Connect portal. -- Once back up, avoid USB 3.x ports for boot. -- While you're sourcing a replacement, check the Unraid Boot Devices Guide guide in the Boot Devices section of this forum. If in a hurry, get Innodisk DEUA1-64GI61BW1SC -- industrial grade, around $4, plug into a USB 2.0 port. Worth getting a couple while they're available at that price. eBay item number: 326046070546

Four drives in 16 months strongly suggests a selection issue rather than bad luck. Before you pick another one of the same, search for eBay item number 326046070546 -- industrial grade USB drive, currently around $4. Plug it into a USB 2.0 port on your motherboard. It will serve you far better than anything you have.

Yes but there's much more to it. The guide will explain.

The Creator will flag your drive if it thinks there's a problem with its GUID. https://unraid.net/blog/new-usb-creator Don't order anything until you know what to look for. Check the guide in this section: https://forums.unraid.net/forum/119-usb-flash/ If you're in a hurry, get this: eBay item number 326046070546

If you've already used one recently for the Cruzer Fit replacement, the next switch may require a support contact.

For the USB drive question, Amazon is not the right place to shop for this -- MLC is rarely disclosed in listings and what is disclosed can't always be trusted. Have a look at this thread instead: https://forums.unraid.net/topic/196990-mlc-consumer-and-industrial-usb-flash-drives/ It covers several consumer ebay drives, including an Innodisk industrial drive currently available on eBay for around $4 eBay item number: 326046070546 Check this guide for in-depth info if you have time: https://forums.unraid.net/topic/196967-unraid-boot-device-guide-usb-and-nvme-hardware-selection/#comment-1606140 For the VM/network issue -- that deserves its own thread where it can get proper attention from people familiar with Virtio and USB NIC passthrough.

The following output was kindly shared by @landS and reproduced here with their permission. Innodisk USB Drive 3ME -- 64 GB, USB 3.0 -- Industrial USB Flash Drive: P/N: DEUA1-64GI61BW1SC-B345B, Made in Taiwan Year: 2026 -- eBay purchase, $3.99 GUID: YES Controller: Silicon Motion SM3261 AB Possible Memory Chip(s): Toshiba 983C95937A51, 15nm Memory Type: MLC VID: 196D PID: 0201 Physical Disk Capacity: 64 GB USB Version: 3.00 Declared Power: 504 mA eBay item number: 327321790467 https://www.innodisk.com/en/products/flash-storage/others-usb-usb-edc/usb-drive-3me

The pack of 10 makes total sense as a decision at the time. But consider what just happened -- a single boot drive failure cascaded into two parity rebuilds and a week of stress across a carefully built system. With 8 Cruzer Fits left, that's 8 more opportunities for the same cascade. A single quality MLC drive will likely outlast all 10 of them and the 10-pack cost is already spent either way. On the BIOS point -- skipping updates is harder to maintain than it sounds, especially on AMD platforms where AGESA updates carry real stability and security fixes. "Don't update often" tends to quietly become "haven't updated in 3 years".

Glad you got it sorted -- what a week indeed. One suggestion: avoid replacing the Cruzer Fit with another Cruzer Fit. The flush form factor traps heat, which is hard on NAND over time. A standard full-size USB drive with MLC NAND will serve you much better. On internal boot -- it will solve the cheap USB drive problem but introduces new ones. Routine BIOS updates with Secure Boot key changes can brick internal boot entirely. Worth understanding before making the switch.

If you like Corsair then Corsair RM1200x (Shift or Standard) is a much better choice. EVGA SuperNOVA 1300 P+ or G+ is another good choice with a massive single 12V rail. There are other good choices: https://tuerie.github.io/psu-tier-list/ https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1akCHL7Vhzk_EhrpIGkz8zTEvYfLDcaSpZRB6Xt6JWkc/edit?gid=1719706335#gid=1719706335

Thank you! Flash ID code: 983C95937A51 it's Toshiba's A (Advanced) 19nm a "half-node" shrink of the original 19nm node. It's post-2016 production using 15 nm Toshiba MLC. Thanks again for providing that detailed NAND readout! Do you mind if I copy that output over to my MLC collection thread to archive specs for different MLC drives to keep all this technical data in one place. I’ll make sure to credit you for the dump.

If you're not using a UPS, you should. Also, be very selective about the quality of new USB drives.

The 64GB eMMC in the Steam Deck uses 3D TLC NAND with a proper wear-leveling controller, so it's significantly more durable than a typical flash drive for continuous writes -- definitely a reasonable repurpose for syslog or similar. If you want even better NAND quality on the cheap though, there are Innodisk 3ME industrial USB drives on eBay right now for around $4 -- these use MLC NAND which is substantially more wear-tolerant than consumer grade TLC flash. This specific ebay listing is worth a look: 326046070546. Could be worth migrating your boot drive to one of those depending on what you're currently using. If you want to learn more about the subject, check the Boot Device Guide in the Boot Devices section of this forum.

Thanks for posting the USB info output. I'm assuming you've used the Flash Drive Information Extractor utility. Could you also run ChipGenius just to see if it shows any Flash ID info? Would you mind checking if any S.M.A.R.T data comes through? A quick way to test is via HWiNFO Innodisk has a S.M.A.R.T readout tool for their industrial USB drives called iTracker, designed specifically for USB drives -- it provides visualized S.M.A.R.T information, including P/E cycles and health status. But there's no "one-click" download on the main Innodisk site. It's managed through the MyInnodisk portal and requires registration.

Sorry to hear. Kanguru has removed any mention of the NAND type from their documentation -- it used to be clearly stated as MLC. Take a look at the Unraid Boot Device guide in the USB Flash section of this forum first -- it explains what to look for. Prices have skyrocketed lately for the industrial types: https://au.rs-online.com/web/c/?searchTerm=usb+flash+drive&rpp=100&sortType=ASC&sortBy=price&selectedNavigation=availability=IN_STOCK https://au.mouser.com/c/embedded-solutions/memory-data-storage/storage/usb-flash-drives/ There’s one clear bargain I’m aware of: an industrial USB stick being sold at liquidation-level prices. However, the shipping cost makes it less of a deal for those located in Australia: eBay item #: 326046070546 Another good option is legacy, new-old-stock MLC consumer drives. You can find examples in the "MLC-Based Consumer USB Flash Drives" thread.

For what you're describing -- NAS, Docker, and a decent UI -- Unraid is honestly a pretty solid fit, especially for beginners. The mixed drive size array is the thing that sets it apart. You can throw in whatever drives you have lying around without needing matched pairs, which is great when you're starting out and building gradually. The Docker side is handled through Community Apps which makes installing things like Plex, Jellyfin, Emby or whatever else you want genuinely painless -- most popular apps have one-click templates. A couple of honest things worth knowing before you pull the trigger. There's no built-in data backup solution which is a gap that comes up a lot in the community -- you'd need to sort that separately through a Docker container. And security patches have historically been on the slower side, though that seems to be improving. The 30 day trial is fully featured so there's no reason not to just try it before spending the $71. A few weeks with it will tell you pretty quickly whether it clicks for you. One more thing worth knowing if you do go ahead -- the quality of your USB boot drive matters a lot more than most people realize. Not all USB drives are created equal for always-on server duty and the wrong one can fail on you within a couple of years, or even months. Before you buy anything check out the USB Flash section of this forum -- there's a guide there that explains exactly what to look for and what to avoid.

Internal boot has more drawbacks than benefits https://forums.unraid.net/topic/196967-unraid-boot-device-guide-usb-and-nvme-hardware-selection/#comment-1606140

The vast majority will end up with a single cheap QLC NVMe. Don't those fail? And how easy is the recovery process compared to a failed USB boot drive? btw, the mirrored USB drive pool is also an option if desired.