Blacklist USB Drive - Unraid Development Failure

[eliminatrix]

I am really, really frustrated / upset / pissed off. 

Purchased TWO USB drives: a 16GB Silicon Power & a Sandisk UltraFit 16GB.

https://www.ple.com.au/Products/643283/Silicon-Power-Jewel-J35-16GB-USB-31-Gen-1-Flash-Drive---Hazelnut

https://cplonline.com.au/storage/usb-keys/sandisk-sdcz430-016g-g46-cz430-16gbultra-fit-usb-3-1-flash-drive-black.html

 

Downloaded and run USB creator - does not detect EITHER drive.

Followed the OFFICIAL steps to MANUALLY create a USB drive:

https://wiki.unraid.net/Articles/Getting_Started

Booted with the Silicon Power dive - Unraid boots and says device is BLACK LISTED. What I want to say would give a priest an instant heart attack. The drive is BRAND NEW and was purchased less than TWO days ago. Specifically wanted these drives due to the small / compact form.

I am so cheesed off. 

Edited April 29, 2021 by eliminatrix
Edited Post

[trurl]

The Unraid flash drive must have a unique GUID. Probably yours doesn't. You can see that GUID on the Registration page.

[itimpi]

It is also worth pointing out that small form factor drives often seem to have a shorter life span than larger form factor ones.  It is suspected this is because they tend to run hotter because their small size does not dissipate heat well which is not good for the electronics of something that is running 24x7.

[tjb_altf4]

I'm surprised the sandisk flash drive didn't work, I've had a few of the USB2.0 & 3.0 (not 3.1 though) drives and have worked well for Unraid.

In case you are confused about the talk about the USB's GUID, that is what the license gets tied to.

[itimpi]

30 minutes ago, tjb_altf4 said:

I'm surprised the sandisk flash drive didn't work, I've had a few of the USB2.0 & 3.0 (not 3.1 though) drives and have worked well for Unraid.

In case you are confused about the talk about the USB's GUID, that is what the license gets tied to.

 

There have been lots of reports of the USB Creator tool having trouble seeing USB 3.1 drives - I have no idea what is the underlying cause of this behaviour.

 

It is not clear to me whether the 'manual' method was used with the Sandisk drive?   I would have expected that to work as historically Sandisk drives DO have unique GUID's although it is always possible they have changed that policy with their latest drives. 

 

[Lolight]

2 hours ago, itimpi said:

It is also worth pointing out that small form factor drives often seem to have a shorter life span than larger form factor ones.  It is suspected this is because they tend to run hotter because their small size does not dissipate heat well which is not good for the electronics of something that is running 24x7.

I don't think the size is a deciding factor here.

e.g. 

just from my personal observation, on average, my USB 3.0 drives tend to run noticeably warmer than any of my USB 2.0 drives.

And my small factor USB 2.0 drives don't run any warmer than their bigger USB 2.0 brethren.

[itimpi]

3 hours ago, Lolight said:

I don't think the size is a deciding factor here.

e.g. 

just from my personal observation, on average, my USB 3.0 drives tend to run noticeably warmer than any of my USB 2.0 drives.

And my small factor USB 2.0 drives don't run any warmer than their bigger USB 2.0 brethren.

I think it is a combination?  If the drive is running warmer in the first place then larger size helps with heat dissipation. Since USB3 drives seem to run hotter than USB2 ones and as USB2 drives get harder to find then the sizes may well start becoming more important in terms of determining lifetime.   My experience is that my small form factor USB 3.x drives run noticeably hotter than their larger size brethren.    Offsetting this it is quite possible newer chipsets may become more energy efficient which would tend to reduce heat generation. 

[trurl]

A have been using Sandisk Fit 2.0 small form factor on both servers for many years. And as often mentioned, there is no advantage to USB3 speed in this case.

[ljm42]

Is it just the Silicon Power drive that is blacklisted or the Sandisk too?

 

If manufacturers do not give each drive a unique GUID then it cannot be used for licensing and has to be blacklisted. This is generally not a problem with name brand devices but if the name brands are taking shortcuts now that complicates things.

 

When you go to Tools -> Registration it will show you the GUID. If it has a large section of zeros or other obvious non-random characters then feel free to post it here because it is obviously not unique. If you think the string could be unique then send an email to [email protected] and we can research it, although the answer will likely be that someone else has already registered that GUID.

 

If you need help picking a flash drive, see this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjkaidlZmgs