March 10, 20251 yr Hey All, long time listener, first time caller. Finally decided to bite the bullet and give Unraid a try! I understand that the licensing is tied to the GUID of the usb drive, but you all have to make it SIGNIFICANTLY easier to find drives that will work with Unraid. So far, I've gone through about 13 different drives (bought from reputable brands and others that I had on hand) and NONE of them have had a valid GUID. I've tried links from folks here in the forum and none of those drives have worked as well. I've heeded the PSA's around not using/buying from paticular manufacterers. I've gone through Samsung, Transcend, Sandisk (I know I know), and others. I have 4 other drives arriving today that I'm hoping one of them will work. Is there a definitive list of usb drives with valid GUIDs? If Unraid is going to pin their licening model on this, there's gotta a better way. I'm desperately trying to just give this product a chance so I can potentially become a paying customer.
March 10, 20251 yr Community Expert Solution How did you test? The USB tools sometimes gives false positives, so make sure you try the manual install method: https://docs.unraid.net/unraid-os/getting-started/manual-install-method/
March 10, 20251 yr 3 hours ago, beingageek said: Is there a definitive list of usb drives with valid GUIDs? I have This HP 2.0 Flash drive in one of my Unraid servers. When I had issues with a prior flash drive no longer being able to boot Unraid, I went through 5-6 others which also would not work. I bought the linked flash drive at a local Office Depot (it's only $6). It has a unique GUID and has been booting that Unraid server for a couple of years now. Edited March 10, 20251 yr by Hoopster
March 10, 20251 yr Author 1 hour ago, JorgeB said: How did you test? The USB tools sometimes gives false positives, so make sure you try the manual install method: https://docs.unraid.net/unraid-os/getting-started/manual-install-method/ OMG, I'm pretty sure in my frustration I did NOT try it with the brand new drives I got. I DID try it with the existing drives and no dice. It worked with the new Samsung drive I got! Thank you!
March 13, 20251 yr I only use Samsung USB drives and they work well. I've tried Sandisk and they need replacing more often than unRaid recomends.
March 20, 20251 yr FWIW, I've been using this Verbatim drive for a little over a year with no problems, in fact, I'm setting up a 2nd unraid server, so just ordered a second one. EDIT: The second drive I bought does not have a valid GUID, so I removed the link to the product. Edited March 21, 20251 yr by psyonico update
April 16, 20251 yr On 3/20/2025 at 5:09 PM, psyonico said: FWIW, I've been using this Verbatim drive for a little over a year with no problems, in fact, I'm setting up a 2nd unraid server, so just ordered a second one. EDIT: The second drive I bought does not have a valid GUID, so I removed the link to the product. I had the same problem... bought a Verbatim USB 16 GB drive (all metal, USB 2 for heat dissipation as some videos recommend)... no GUID bought another 32 GB same version of the drive and USB creator tool shows a GUID. I am currently running on a 2 GB freebie USB drive I got from an IT conference over 10 years ago because it was the only one in my drawer that registered a valid GUID when I originally installed Unraid. I have read all over, but cannot figure out how to check GUID for the manual install method... Is it just manually install, turn it on, then try to license it and see if it works? I don't want a bunch of hate my way... but I really hate the USB GID licensing scheme because of the hunt and peck with USB drives these days. (I figure if I don't say it, the longer it is likely to last before someone finds a better way.) This makes me want to tape a second USB drive (known good GUID) inside my case for use down the road so I'm not hunting around again for a good USB while my server is down. I wish they would at least keep the original USB GUID in your account and not blacklist it in case you have to revert.
April 17, 20251 yr 23 hours ago, Fered said: I really hate the USB GID licensing scheme because of the hunt and peck with USB drives these days. (I figure if I don't say it, the longer it is likely to last before someone finds a better way.) This makes me want to tape a second USB drive (known good GUID) inside my case for use down the road so I'm not hunting around again for a good USB while my server is down. I wish they would at least keep the original USB GUID in your account and not blacklist it in case you have to revert. Yeah, me too. I think my drive just bit the dust and I'm having the damndest time trying to find new ones that work. Could we at least migrate to Micro-SD cards? Or fix the USB 3.0 drivers... Guess I've got to sneak in a Microcenter trip soon.
April 17, 20251 yr 4 hours ago, parcler said: Could we at least migrate to Micro-SD cards? MicroSD card do not solve the unique identifier question.
April 17, 20251 yr On 3/10/2025 at 9:46 AM, beingageek said: So far, I've gone through about 13 different drives (bought from reputable brands and others that I had on hand) and NONE of them have had a valid GUID. Something's wrong with your system and/or test, as the above is statistically improbable (IMO, I'll go as far as saying "impossible") Non-scientific, but empirical example: I've never owned nor bought (seemingly at random) any USB drive that does not work with Unraid - dozens of drives, almost as many variations of brand, model, capacity. USB 2 or 3 drives, USB 2 or 3 ports - doesn't matter. I'm currently running 4 Unraid installations 24/7, each on completely different hardware. And all 4 USB thumb drives bought in the past 12 months (to replace physically larger ones that also worked without issue) On 4/15/2025 at 9:18 PM, Fered said: I don't want a bunch of hate my way... but I really hate the USB GID licensing scheme because of the hunt and peck with USB drives these days. (I figure if I don't say it, the longer it is likely to last before someone finds a better way.) I think there's something to be said about the very small number of people expressing this sentiment among the many thousands of Unraid installations in use. Edited April 19, 20251 yr by Espressomatic
May 6, 20251 yr On 4/17/2025 at 2:04 AM, ChatNoir said: MicroSD card do not solve the unique identifier question. Depends on the reader. I have a Sandisk Mobilemate reader with a unique identifier and some 8GB industrial microSD cards to use. I haven't had any issues.
May 12, 20251 yr When I was installing Unraid for the first time I had the same issue using the USB tool. It wouldn't recognize any of my USB flash drives. But, once installed Unraid itself had no problem pulling the GUID from my SanDisk USB flash drive. I actually emailed tech support and they explained this to me. I ended up doing a manual install instead of using the boot creation tool thing. Manual install instructions; https://docs.unraid.net/unraid-os/getting-started/manual-install-method/ Worked perfect for me. Also, make sure SECURE BOOT is turned off (disabled) in the BIOS before doing a manual install. I hope this helps you.
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