February 15Feb 15 Hello, I am new here and I want to try Unraid in a DXP2800. As I have only two 6TB HDDs (no SSD but I plan to buy 2 NVME 2TB when their price drop), can I use a 512 sata SSD in a USB3.0 case to boot, install and run Unraid from this USB - SSD? Also can I use this (as it is very fast) USB SSD as a storage for the Docker images (pihole, tailscale, OwnCloud, Ubuntu 24.04 VM) that I plan to add to this NAS and use the HDDs ONLY for file and media storage (no running binaries in them) ?Thank you in advance!
February 15Feb 15 Community Expert Currently you cannot boot Unraid from a SSD drive, only from a USB flash drive. Typically USB to SATA/NVME adapters do not provide a unique GUID identifier, which is part of the equation that verifies you have a valid license.You can use the SSD in a pool, where it is a good choice for putting your Docker image (where the docker programs reside) and your Docker appdata (where the docker settings and other support files are stored).
February 15Feb 15 Author My USB - SSD is an Samsung mSata card that was in a laptop which died, I though that I would be able to use it for the OS and temporary for the Docker images, until I have the $$$ to buy the 2x2TB ssds that I want to use with DXP2800
February 15Feb 15 Community Expert The Unraid OS doesn't live on any of your storage. The OS is unpacked fresh from archives on the boot flash drive, into RAM, and runs completely in RAM. Think of it as firmware.
February 15Feb 15 Author Yeap, I know, like a linux LiveCD (boot). What I ask is can I use the extra GBs left on that stick for anything?
February 15Feb 15 Community Expert Better if you don't try to use the boot flash for anything else. If you wear it out you will have to do a license transfer to another.If you mean that mSATA drive, have you even tried to boot Unraid with it? Likely it won't work for that.
February 16Feb 16 Author I will try! As I see the mSata in this USB has a UUID made from the SSD's serial and the Vendor & HW ID's of the SATA's adapter so as long as I don't change anything in this device the GUID will be the same. It is such a small elegant and fast device, it is a pity not to be used in a project like this! Anyway, if I manage to boot from this USB, can I use the extra storage of this device?
February 16Feb 16 Community Expert 31 minutes ago, tzifosf1 said:! As I see the mSata in this USB has a UUID made from the SSD's serial and the Vendor & HThis is NOT the GUID! I doubt that UNRAID will accept it as a valid boot device now.(Later versions MAY work, they say there are changes ahead that will lift the barrier someday. But for now they are only rumours...)
February 17Feb 17 Community Expert 8 minutes ago, tzifosf1 said:This is what I mean!!That version has not been released yet.
February 17Feb 17 Author I'll wait, test it and if meets my expectations I will get it. At the moment I will try some other OS. I hope that it will be out very soon :)
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.