5 hours ago, imrobertcampbell said:

The 24x7 use stated here made Me assume they thought that the USB is constantly being read/written 24x7. I was commenting on that point/issue.

The recent write-up on USB flash drives mentioned that with the modern flash drives the controller on the drive is doing a continual activity even when the flash drive is NOT being read-written and this can keep them heated up which is not good for them. How severe this is in affecting the life of the flash drive I have no practical experience of as I have USB2 drives with metal casings that I use for myself.

On 3/30/2026 at 4:21 AM, itimpi said:

The recent write-up on USB flash drives mentioned that with the modern flash drives the controller on the drive is doing a continual activity even when the flash drive is NOT being read-written and this can keep them heated up which is not good for them. How severe this is in affecting the life of the flash drive I have no practical experience of as I have USB2 drives with metal casings that I use for myself.

I also only have smaller usb 2.0 drives that I use for booting from. The only thing I use 3.0 drives for are my portable drives (I have one with portable type apps and my personal files and I have one that I keep in my survival bag with an offline version of wikipedia and stuff like that on.) So I guess I wasnt fully aware that newer 3.X versions have continual activity. I am still confused by that term of "continual activity" because a USB can only do 1 of 2 things. Read or Write. The computer is what is doing the processing. Im not sure if anyone remembers this but some time ago I remember having to sometimes change my usb power settings to "always on" because my usbs would basically hibernate or go into sleep mode because of the lack of activity; I dont think this is much of a problem now a days though and might be the reason that 3.0's are made to do continual acitivity; Im just guessing there.

In any regards I am hoping to hear back from the correct people/channels in the new few days that would solve this problem for all of Unraid users.

1 hour ago, imrobertcampbell said:

solve this problem for all of Unraid users

Maybe not all users, but with TPM licensing flash drive can be eliminated:

https://docs.unraid.net/unraid-os/release-notes/7.3.0/#onboarding-and-internal-boot

2 minutes ago, trurl said:

Maybe not all users, but with TPM licensing flash drive can be eliminated:

https://docs.unraid.net/unraid-os/release-notes/7.3.0/#onboarding-and-internal-boot

Ohhhh interesting. If I had a secondary server I would beta test that. I probably wouldnt want to use it on my own server as standard as I have my own reservations on the whole "TPM" experiment. My hardware supports and has TPM which I was requried to activate for the Windows 11 Pro install but I dont honestly think that TPM was actually built for the purpose they want Us to believe. (Puts on tinfoil hat and walks away)

6 hours ago, imrobertcampbell said:

I am still confused by that term of "continual activity" because a USB can only do 1 of 2 things. Read or Write. The computer is what is doing the processing.

In any regards I am hoping to hear back from the correct people/channels in the new few days that would solve this problem for all of Unraid users.

Your confusion is understandable.

In basic terms -- USB flash drives consist of two major components: controller and flash.

It's the controller chip that generates heat even when there is nothing being read or written to the drive.

Modern drives come with much more powerful controllers compared to the legacy ones.

That extra processing power comes at the cost of additional heat.

Controllers do many things: error correction, wear leveling, bad block management, garbage collection...Just to name a few.

Legacy drive controllers are quite simple -- they're not capable of doing much; however, stable NAND does not require advanced features.

Low NAND maintenance activity results in minimal heat.

Those drives can last decades in the Unraid environment.

Modern drives are the complete opposite -- unstable NAND requires lots of housekeeping by the controllers.

Constantly active controllers mean lots of heat.

BTW, you consistently mention the correct people and channels.

Could you please share your sources? I'd love to learn from them as well.

Edited April 1Apr 1 by Lolight

10 hours ago, Lolight said:

BTW, you consistently mention the correct people and channels.

Could you please share your sources? I'd love to learn from them as well.

I can not at this time but the people who need to know, already know. When/If the time comes for others to know then there will be an official announcement. If You dont hear of an official announcement then the deal didnt go through.

• Regards

The USB arrived. No useful info on package: copyright 2007 and product id: 91005813F-4GB-U

Is there any other info I can obtain to help out?

Thanks!

Here is the ChipGenius output:

Description: [D:]USB Mass Storage Device(PNY USB 2.0 FD)

Device Type: Mass Storage Device

Protocal Version: USB 2.00

Current Speed: High Speed

Max Current: 200mA

USB Device ID: VID = 154B PID = 0015

Serial Number: 6E7A1E08026F

Device Vendor: PNY

Device Name: USB 2.0 FD

Device Revision: 0110

Manufacturer: PNY

Product Model: USB 2.0 FD

Product Revision: PMAP

Controller Vendor: Phison

Controller Part-Number: PS2251-31(PS2231) - F/W 01.08.10 [2007-07-11]

Flash ID code: 98D585A56A12 - Toshiba TH58NVG4D4CTG00 [MLC-2K]

Tools on web: http://dl.mydigit.net/special/up/phison.html

Possible Flash Part-Number

----------------------------

[1CE]TH58NVG4D4CTG00(70nm)

[2CE]TH58NVG5D4CTG20(70nm)

Flash ID mapping table

----------------------------

[Channel 0] [Channel 1]

@Lolight I just stumbled across your thread here: https://forums.unraid.net/topic/196990-mlc-based-consumer-usb-flash-drives-2007-2012/#comment-1608708

The first drive you review on Feb 18 is almost the exact same as what I have, the PNY Optima Pro Attache 4G.

The interesting variations are yours says made in China, my packaging says "assembled in USA".

Only very slightly earlier Flash ID code, but chipgenius thinks mine is 70nm instead of your 56nm.

And the VID/PID differ, too. Yours 0930/6545 mine 154B/0015.

FlashDriveInfoExtractor seems to have the same data:

Volume: D:

Controller: Phison PS2231

Possible Memory Chip(s):

Toshiba TH58NVG5D4CTG20

Toshiba TH58NVG4D4CTG00

Memory Type: MLC

Flash ID: 98D585A5 6A12

Chip F/W: 01.08.10

Firmware Date: 2007-07-11

VID: 154B

PID: 0015

Manufacturer: PNY

Product: USB 2.0 FD

Query Vendor ID: PNY

Query Product ID: USB 2.0 FD

Query Product Revision: PMAP

Physical Disk Capacity: 4127195136 Bytes

Windows Disk Capacity: 4118790144 Bytes

Internal Tags: 2QYP-SZ24

File System: FAT32

Relative Offset: 16 KB

USB Version: 2.00

Declared Power: 200 mA

ContMeas ID: 28CB-01-00

Microsoft Windows 10 x64 Build 26200

PNY used to have an actual page to verify S/N here: www.pny.com/authenticate

It now shows a 404.

With the drive plugged in You can try this program. https://www.hwinfo.com

(Used by NASA)

You can check if it gives You the same serial number.

2 hours ago, NewDay said:

The USB arrived. No useful info on package: copyright 2007 and product id: 91005813F-4GB-U

Is there any other info I can obtain to help out?

An excellent find!

Did you buy it last Friday? 🙂

I think it was the only 4GB Optima Pro that remained unsold on eBay for the last month or so.

Both drives utilize the Phison PS2231 controller and identical firmware, but they differ in their Toshiba MLC NAND nodes.

USA Model (91005813F-4GB-U) -- 70nm NAND (TH58NVG5D4CTG20) with 2KB pages.

This node offers a theoretical advantage in random/small writes and superior long-term data retention due to larger physical cell size.

China Model (91005813F-4GB-C) -- 56nm NAND (TC58NVG5D1DTG20) with 4KB pages.

This node is theoretically more efficient for sequential writes, as it processes twice the data per program cycle.

In an Unraid boot environment, performance differences are expected to be negligible, likely within a 1–3 MB/s range.

The drives report different IDs (154B:0015 vs. 0930:6545) due to separate manufacturing and supply chain modes.

VID 154B (PNY): This drive was assembled at PNY’s New Jersey facility.

The factory received populated PCBs likely of the same exact origin as in the Chinese drive and performed final assembly, including soldering the USB connector.

Consequently, the controller was programmed with PNY’s native Vendor ID.

VID 0930 (Toshiba): This is a white-labeled (rebranded) Toshiba OEM build.

PNY likely contracted a Chinese facility already mass-producing Toshiba-branded drives -- VID 0930 is exclusive to Toshiba.

PID 6545 identifies the Toshiba TransMemory series.

To maintain production efficiency, PNY utilized the existing at that assembly line Toshiba firmware configuration rather than re-flashing to PNY identifiers.

In short, the different VID and PID reflect supply-chain logistics, not meaningful differences in component quality, core performance or long-term reliability for Unraid use. Both are excellent boot devices.

If you have a chance sometime, would you mind running a quick H2testw write/read test on your drive and sharing the speeds?

I’d love to see how the 70nm version performs compared to the 56nm one.

Also would you mind if I posted your drive’s full component output in the existing thread right under my China drive output (for easy comparison)?

I can edit my original post to keep everything neatly together.

Let me know if that’s okay with you.

Edited April 7Apr 7 by Lolight

Lots of great info there @Lolight Thanks. Feel free to post that data. Reformat okay.

• New drive loaded with a new backup

• Booted fine

• Purchased license

• Unraid will not accept license, cannot start array

• Unraid connect shows what to do: copy URL, paste in tools>registration. Popup says license installed. No change.

Syslog last three lines:

emhttpd: error: get_key_info, 741: Invalid argument (22): stat: /boot/config/Unleashed.key

emhttpd: Unregistered Trial - invalid key (EGUID)

emhttpd: Unregistered Unleashed - invalid key (EGUID)

I've opened a support ticket. Probably need to manually modify that "/boot/config" file. Since I won't know what I'd be doing, my luck I would brick the system. 😄

Can either of these be run while the usb is actively the boot drive?

• With the drive plugged in You can try this program. https://www.hwinfo.com

• running a quick H2testw write/read test
  

The EGUID error is a key file placement issue.

Your syslog confirms you purchased an Unleashed license -- so the file should be named Unleashed.key inside the /boot/config folder on the drive.

With the drive accessible from another computer navigate to that folder and verify the file is present and correctly named.

If it's missing, download it directly from account.unraid.net and place it there manually.

Support will tell you the same thing -- straightforward fix once the file is confirmed present.

HWiNFO won't add anything beyond what ChipGenius and Flash Drive Information Extractor have already provided -- it only shows VID, PID and serial number with no visibility into the controller or NAND.

Nothing useful there.

On H2testw -- Windows only, and only worth running if you're planning to redo your Unraid installation afterwards.

The test fills the entire drive with data which will overwrite your OS files, configuration and license key completely.

Since your drive is now set up and working there's no practical way to run the speed test without destroying what's on it.

Edited April 7Apr 7 by Lolight

@Lolight thank you for all your time and advice.

Unfortunately Unleashed.key IS in the /boot/config folder. I used Midnight Commander on the server to look for it.

But Trial.key is also still in the /boot/config folder. Could that be confusing unraid?

1 hour ago, NewDay said:

But Trial.key is also still in the /boot/config folder. Could that be confusing unraid?

It should not, but deleting it will not cause a problem.

Unfortunately if it is nothing obvious you are going to have to continue to contact support and work with them to get it resolved.

5 minutes ago, itimpi said:

It should not, but deleting it will not cause a problem.

I would copy the Trial.key file somewhere before deleting it. Just in case....

4 hours ago, NewDay said:

But Trial.key is also still in the /boot/config folder. Could that be confusing unraid?

Don't know all details.

The official Unraid documentation specifically states "Ensure only one key file exists in the config folder".

https://docs.unraid.net/unraid-os/system-administration/maintain-and-update/changing-the-flash-device/

9 hours ago, ConnerVT said:

I would copy the Trial.key file somewhere before deleting it. Just in case....

Always a good idea, thanks @ConnerVT . I do have the backup I made the current flash with, too.

6 hours ago, Lolight said:

Don't know all details.

The official Unraid documentation specifically states "Ensure only one key file exists in the config folder".

https://docs.unraid.net/unraid-os/system-administration/maintain-and-update/changing-the-flash-device/

Sure enough, step 8 of replacement method. I moved it out of the folder. That by itself did not resolve the issue.

So I looked closer at that 'registration' page. One of the orange bars is what I used to purchase the license. But another bar is 'replace key".

I followed those steps and can report successful completion of my license issue. It allowed me to start the array and all appears normal. Dockers were all stopped but it allowed me to start them.

Thank you for your help and patience @Lolight