PSA on SanDisk USBs

[wuudogg]

Ordered two of the pictured units to test. 

These are found on eBay/Aliexpress.

  Blue PCB

  Brass/Gold colored hardware features

Can confirm that the units pictured do contain ASPM1153e chip.

They do not contain unique GUID/UUID.  Creation tool fails outright. Default ID is full of zeros.

 

THE FOLLOWING UNITS DO NOT CONTAIN A UNIQUE IDENTIFIER. THEY DO NOT MEET CURRENT REQUIREMENTS. THEY ARE REJECTED BY MEDIA CREATION TOOL.

 

[adoucette]

I just received ONE of the following devices:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B092DDRRRQ

Unraid thought it was a unique GUID. I've moved an existing Unraid install and license key to it without problem.

However, just as above, let the buyer beware.

I only purchased one of them, and I cannot be sure that others will be unique (who knows? maybe I was simply the first to try to move Unraid onto one of these?).

 

[adoucette]

On 3/9/2024 at 1:52 AM, SpaceGator said:

I wonder how well something like this would work. USB Flash Drives Industrial Embedded USB module

 

@SpaceGator - agree. I was also interested in same so I reached out to SwissBit tech support. Unfortunately they told me that those do not have a unique GUID:

 

Quote

Me: "Hello, Do your eUSB 2.0 Modules each have a unique GUID? For example, part number SFUI016GJ2AB2TO-I-5S-2AP-STD I'm asking because a common piece of software ("Unraid") is run as an OS from USB sticks but requires it's USB drive to have a unique GUID to tether the license to. Thank you for any information."

 

Quote

SwissBit Application Engineer: "No the GUID is not unique to every drive, it is unique to each individual drive.  It is unique to the controller series.   We do have other unique identifiers in the Identify information, but it sounds like those would not be helpful in this case."

 

("No unique GUID for each drive" seems to be the most likely interpretation of what they told me. The reply could really be interpreted either as that, or as "Each individual drive has a unique GUID, but it is not unique to every model number." Perhaps that clarity and resulting specificity was lost in translation.)

Edited March 29 by adoucette

[J_5]

On 3/8/2024 at 12:36 PM, Miss_Sissy said:

 

I've been spooked off of getting 'creative.'  The problem is that the first person who tries something will probably see success.  But what happens if another person tries the same thing and it turns out that their device provides the same GUID numbers?

I finally got around to trying it and...the SSK and Samsung enclosures present as a removable SCSI disk, so no go on that front. 

[Elmojo]

Hi all,

I have a Dell T440 with the "Internal Dual SD module (IDSDM)". For any not familiar, it's a PCIe card that (per Dell site):

"provides you with a redundant SD card solution. You can configure the IDSDM for storage or as the OS boot partition. In modular servers, you can choose either a redundant SD module mode or share one slot with the iDRAC module and the remaining slot can be used for storage or as the OS partition.

The Internal Dual SD Module (IDSDM) card provides two SD card slots and a USB interface dedicated for the embedded hypervisor. This card offers the following features:

Dual card operation—maintains a mirrored configuration by using SD cards in both slots and provides redundancy.

Single card operation—single card operation is supported, but without redundancy."

 

Anyway, I was wondering if it would be possible (or advisable) to install unraid on one or both cards of this module?

If not, then what flash disk are we recommending now?  This thread has gotten way off in the weeds, and I don't see any discussion of actual USB flash drives in the last several pages.  If I was to go buy a new USB drive today, what would be a good choice?
I was wondering about the whole USB 2.0 vs 3.0 thing as well.  I'm having trouble even finding 2USB2 drives on Amazon right now.

[Miss_Sissy]

33 minutes ago, Elmojo said:

 This thread has gotten way off in the weeds, and I don't see any discussion of actual USB flash drives in the last several pages.  

No, it has not “gotten off in the weeds.”  This was never a thread of brand-agnostic USB flash drive recommendations.  It’s a warning about Sandisk USB flash drives and a follow-on discussion of alternatives, including SSDs.
 

 

[Elmojo]

7 hours ago, Miss_Sissy said:

No, it has not “gotten off in the weeds.”  This was never a thread of brand-agnostic USB flash drive recommendations.  It’s a warning about Sandisk USB flash drives and a follow-on discussion of alternatives, including SSDs.
 

 

Sorry, poor choice of words.  I was just frustrated last night after about 30 minutes of searching and not being able to find a clear answer on which drives are good choices for unraid, that are actually available retail today.  Still friends?

[Mattaton]

17 minutes ago, Elmojo said:

Sorry, poor choice of words.  I was just frustrated last night after about 30 minutes of searching and not being able to find a clear answer on which drives are good choices for unraid, that are actually available retail today.  Still friends?

I'd say any decent name-brand drive will do fine USB 2 or 3. I run two Samsung USB3 drives ( the same ones @SpaceInvaderOne listed in his video a while back, I believe - the ones with the all-metal bodies) and a Sandisk Cruzer USB2 drive on my 3 systems. All work great.
I think I've only had to replace the drive on my first system from when I had no idea what I was doing and just grabbed a random drive when I was first trying unRAID. It worked fine for a while, but ended up swapping it out for a Samsung drive when I started getting some strange behavior.

Edited May 13 by Mattaton

[dragoontwo]

I bout a 5 pack of these HP USB 2.0 drives.  They appear to be legit and do have unique UUIDs.

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09189G29H/

[Elmojo]

29 minutes ago, Mattaton said:

I'd say any decent name-brand drive will do fine USB 2 or 3.

So USB3 is okay?  The docs say to use USB2 only.  That would certainly make it easier to find a new drive... lol

To be clear, I have a server of my own that's been running great for about 2 years now, but the drive is on an internal header, and I can't recall what it is.  Also, the server itself is remote, so I can't just go pop the cover and look.

I'm asking because I'm seeting a new one up for my office, and I want to do it right from the start.

Edited May 13 by Elmojo

[Miss_Sissy]

48 minutes ago, Elmojo said:

Sorry, poor choice of words.  I was just frustrated last night after about 30 minutes of searching and not being able to find a clear answer on which drives are good choices for unraid, that are actually available retail today.  Still friends?

I was a bit thin-skinned after a miserable day of home repair, so frustration got us both.  Peace, friend! ✌️

[adoucette]

24 minutes ago, Elmojo said:

So USB3 is okay?  The docs say to use USB2 only.

So far I've run USB3 drives.

 

53 minutes ago, Mattaton said:

I'd say any decent name-brand drive will do fine USB 2 or 3. I run two Samsung USB3 drives ( the same ones @SpaceInvaderOne listed in his video

I also bought the Samsung Bar based on recommendations here in post #1, but it failed after a couple years. Probably just my own experience, though. (or maybe being USB3 broke it? I don't know)

Either way, just keep good backups - somewhere other that server.

Edited May 13 by adoucette

[Mattaton]

37 minutes ago, Elmojo said:

So USB3 is okay?  The docs say to use USB2 only.  That would certainly make it easier to find a new drive... lol

To be clear, I have a server of my own that's been running great for about 2 years now, but the drive is on an internal header, and I can't recall what it is.  Also, the server itself is remote, so I can't just go pop the cover and look.

I'm asking because I'm seeting a new one up for my office, and I want to do it right from the start.

I can only say USB3 works in my experience. 😄

 

As @adoucette says, keep backups of the flash. I use AppData Backup plugin and the unRAID Connect service for this.

[primeval_god]

3 hours ago, Elmojo said:

So USB3 is okay?  The docs say to use USB2 only.  That would certainly make it easier to find a new drive... lol

There is nothing inherently wrong with USB3 flash drives that make them incompatible with unRAID. At one time (possibly still today) some motherboards had issues booting from USB3 drives but not from USB2 drives. I think those issues may have also included a tendency for the USB3 drive to drop offline periodically but dont quote me on that part. Additionally USB3 drives, particularly smaller form factor ones, tend to run much hotter than their USB2 counterparts, overtime that is probably not good for the flash memory. If those problems dont apply to your flash drive/mobo then a USB3 drive will likely work just fine. 

[Miss_Sissy]

4 hours ago, primeval_god said:

There is nothing inherently wrong with USB3 flash drives that make them incompatible with unRAID.

The main issue for most people was anecdotal evidence of USB 3.0 flash drives exhibiting a higher failure rate than USB 2.0 flash drives.  Or maybe Limetech had statistics that I was not aware of.

 

I want a flash drive equivalent to the Samsung PRO Endurance MicroSDXC cards.  Those sacrifice a little bit of write speed to get much greater lifespans for write-intensive uses like dash cams, body cams, and security cameras.  I use them almost exclusively as the bootable primary drives on Raspberry Pi web servers that I run. I have yet to see a failure.

 

 

[Miss_Sissy]

8 hours ago, Mattaton said:

As @adoucette says, keep backups of the flash. I use AppData Backup plugin and the unRAID Connect service for this.

Good advice, but I'm looking for something reliable when I'm on an extended trip far from home.  Then if I'm hosting publicly facing services on my Unraid server, such as VPNs, web servers, or FTP/SFTP servers, they won't suddenly disappear for days or weeks until I return home and resuscitate my Unraid server.

 

I suggested allowing Unraid customers to boot from any drive they wanted as long as the licensed thumb drive was plugged in.  People who are fine with the way things are now could continue booting from their thumb drives while others could elect to use more reliable media like SSDs, allowing the thumb drive to be used as a form of dongle to which no data is ever written and the only thing read is the GUID.  

[Mattaton]

3 minutes ago, Miss_Sissy said:

Good advice, but I'm looking for something reliable when I'm on an extended trip far from home.  Then if I'm hosting publicly facing services on my Unraid server, such as VPNs, web servers, or FTP/SFTP servers, they won't suddenly disappear for days or weeks until I return home and resuscitate my Unraid server.

 

I suggested allowing Unraid customers to boot from any drive they wanted as long as the licensed thumb drive was plugged in.  People who are fine with the way things are now could continue booting from their thumb drives while others could elect to use more reliable media like SSDs, allowing the thumb drive to be used as a form of dongle to which no data is ever written and the only thing read is the GUID.  

Nothing you said is wrong. Agree with all of it. Definitely would love to use something other than USB for boot.

Per my understanding (I could be wrong), the boot drive is only accessed at boot or when plugins are installed, updated, that sort of thing. 

So for 99% uptime servers, flash reliability from wear isn't really an issue.

[Miss_Sissy]

25 minutes ago, Mattaton said:

Nothing you said is wrong. Agree with all of it. Definitely would love to use something other than USB for boot.

Per my understanding (I could be wrong), the boot drive is only accessed at boot or when plugins are installed, updated, that sort of thing. 

So for 99% uptime servers, flash reliability from wear isn't really an issue.

I've been using a Toshiba 16GB USB 2.0 flash drive on my current Unraid server.  It self-identifies as "TransMemory" and the drive's pronoun is "it."  If the drive becomes non-binary, I have a real problem, but at least no one has to worry about which restroom it uses.   

 

Edited May 13 by Miss_Sissy

[dandirk]

So I actually have some old SanDisk Cruzer Fits...

 

Saw the GUID reported by the creator tool doesn't have letters, only numbers.

 

This seems odd doesn't it, though they all appear to be unique.

 

[nickp85]

On 5/13/2024 at 6:08 PM, Miss_Sissy said:

The main issue for most people was anecdotal evidence of USB 3.0 flash drives exhibiting a higher failure rate than USB 2.0 flash drives.  Or maybe Limetech had statistics that I was not aware of.

 

I want a flash drive equivalent to the Samsung PRO Endurance MicroSDXC cards.  Those sacrifice a little bit of write speed to get much greater lifespans for write-intensive uses like dash cams, body cams, and security cameras.  I use them almost exclusively as the bootable primary drives on Raspberry Pi web servers that I run. I have yet to see a failure.

 

 

I had two Samsung Fit 32GB USB3 drives and they both failed within a year, one time I had to get Unraid support involved to get a new key since it had been less than 12 months. They just burn themselves out with consistent use and are too small to be properly cooled. Ended up going with a tried and true Kingston 16GB USB2 metal stick and it's been rock solid now for years. My coworker also had multiple Samsung Fit USB3 fail on him in about the same time period.

[InternetD]

I use a PNY HP x911w Solid State Flash Drive (128GB, 32GB pSLC cache) after a manual installation. I got hardware wear leveling support confirmed by the PNY/HP consumer support and TRIM should come within the 6.13 update. The stick itself require USB 3.1 gen2 or 3.2 for full speed support, but should also work just fine on USB 3.0 or lower (just with limited bandwidth). Do it's job just fine since January.

 

I used a (2019) Sandisk USB stick beforehand which ran fine but I replaced because of the performance and being a few years old.

Edited Wednesday at 02:32 PM by InternetD

[Frank1940]

On 5/13/2024 at 6:22 PM, Miss_Sissy said:

I suggested allowing Unraid customers to boot from any drive they wanted as long as the licensed thumb drive was plugged in.  People who are fine with the way things are now could continue booting from their thumb drives while others could elect to use more reliable media like SSDs, allowing the thumb drive to be used as a form of dongle to which no data is ever written and the only thing read is the GUID.  

I can see a problem with that licensed flash drive being moved from server to server for the just the boot process.  There would have to be code written to check that flash drive with the GUID remained plugged in at all times.  This could be a source of wear on the drive...

 

EDIT: What might work out better would be for LimeTech to offer an option 'Doogle'  that could be used in place of a registered GUID while still retaining the current licensing method.

Edited May 22 by Frank1940

[Miss_Sissy]

2 hours ago, Frank1940 said:

I can see a problem with that licensed flash drive being moved from server to server for the just the boot process. 

I never suggested that there just be a one-time check at boot time.  Unraid could periodically, or randomly, read the GUID while it was in operation.  In fact, I proposed using a USB flash drive that might mot even be formatted and writable — it would just be the source of a GUID.

 

Quote

There would have to be code written to check that flash drive with the GUID remained plugged in at all times.  This could be a source of wear on the drive...

Absolutely unacceptable.

[dopeytree]

I reccomend SLC based NAND usb keys. Often they show up as 'industrial' usb keys.

 

https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/usb-sticks/1947444?gb=s

 

 

[NeoJoris]

On 5/24/2024 at 10:19 PM, dopeytree said:

I reccomend SLC based NAND usb keys. Often they show up as 'industrial' usb keys.

 

https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/usb-sticks/1947444?gb=s

 

 

Those are expensieve! 

 

 

Came here looking for a replacement recommendation after seeing that my newly acquired Sandisk Ultra Fit wont work anymore...

 

The search continues...