..to install unRAID on a CD rom and boot up from that instead of a usb stick? just found out my MB does not support usb boot and i really don't want to shell out any more money for this project.

 

BTW i am new to linux

..to install unRAID on a CD rom and boot up from that instead of a usb stick? just found out my MB does not support usb boot and i really don't want to shell out any more money for this project.

 

Yes, it is possible.  UnRAID can boot from any disk or CD. 

For the Plus and Pro version, you still have to have a USB flash key pluged in, so after unRAID boots it can find the license file.

 

http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php?title=USB_Flash_Drive_Preparation#If_the_Flash_will_not_boot.2C_read_over_the_following_tips

 

You could also buy a CF (Compact Flash) to IDE adaptor, and this will emulate a old CF as a disk. Format the CF with a FAT16 file format, label the drive as 'UNRAID' all in upper case and excluding the quotation marks, use the syslinux utility with the -ma option, copy the unraid OS files onto it, and set your BIOS to boot from IDE.  This should work, no need for a CDROM freeing up a 5.25 bay and you should get a GUID from this too, to buy a licence. 

You could also buy a CF (Compact Flash) to IDE adaptor, and this will emulate a old CF as a disk. Format the CF with a FAT16 file format, label the drive as 'UNRAID' all in upper case and excluding the quotation marks, use the syslinux utility with the -ma option, copy the unraid OS files onto it, and set your BIOS to boot from IDE.  This should work, no need for a CDROM freeing up a 5.25 bay and you should get a GUID from this too, to buy a licence.  

 

Have you actually tried that?  Or are you making it up?  Will the guy discover that it can't be done, only after he spends money for that adapter?

 

 

No, it does work.  I believe Webootech has done it before and it works just fine.

if your computer isnt ancient (say athlon xp woul dbe ok) its possible to format a usb stick s a emulated hdd or floppy, and the bios will pick it up as one of them, not a usb device.

 

not qutie sure how to do it with syslinux boot but i use ultra iso in windows to make a usb drive emulate a hdd, even shows up in the hdd boot orde rtoo.

I've never used it for unraid's use, but it works for other Linux/UNIX-based OS's Barzija. The CF card is like any other USB drive really, just in a different form/socket, and when using a CF-to-IDE adaptor, PC's will read/write/see it as a any other IDE disk. In unraid's use, if you format it correctly, use the syslinux tool, place the unraid files onto it, have the drive labelled 'UNRAID', basically the same setup like you were doing for a USB drive, set the correct boot options in BIOS (in this case, first boot option would be boot from IDE), I shouldn't see why it wouldn't work at all.

BTW: These adapters start from $1 AUD from eBay and cost about $3 to $5 AUD in postage. I've bought these in the past and including delivery was $5 AUD in total. You would speed more these days on just on a coffee and muffin alone, so I don't think it is going to drive you broke trying this option either.

I've used these CF-to-IDE adapter for these kind of purposes before, and even for a Thin Client setup to give new life to old desktops and have a Thin-like OS (Linux mainly or even a trimmed down Windows install, like Windows XP for Legacy PC's) to boot from a CF card to have a workable PC just for net browsing, as a low-intensive server (like a file server), etc...

 

You could also buy a CF (Compact Flash) to IDE adaptor, and this will emulate a old CF as a disk. Format the CF with a FAT16 file format, label the drive as 'UNRAID' all in upper case and excluding the quotation marks, use the syslinux utility with the -ma option, copy the unraid OS files onto it, and set your BIOS to boot from IDE.  This should work, no need for a CDROM freeing up a 5.25 bay and you should get a GUID from this too, to buy a licence.  

 

Have you actually tried that?  Or are you making it up?  Will the guy discover that it can't be done, only after he spends money for that adapter?

 

 

No, it does work.  I believe Webootech has done it before and it works just fine.

 

That is very interesting! I have internal CF slot in my server. I tried that before but it didn't work. 

I'd be very interested in a link to Webootech's post to see how it is done.

 

terrastrife has a valid point too. I've heard of this (never actually tried it), but for some reason, some BIOSs see a USB drive plugged into the PC at startup as a disk, but won't have the option to boot from it, though it can still boot from it like a normal disk.

I'd say for this scenario, you'd still setup the USB drive like you'd normally set it up if it where going to boot from USB, and if you BIOS sees it like a disk, it should boot from it. Just to make it easier on yourself, their are occasions where simply updating the BIOS gives more/better options, so I'd try this first before anything else and you might be lucky to get a Boot from USB option, saving you some hassle.

 

if your computer isnt ancient (say athlon xp woul dbe ok) its possible to format a usb stick s a emulated hdd or floppy, and the bios will pick it up as one of them, not a usb device.

 

not qutie sure how to do it with syslinux boot but i use ultra iso in windows to make a usb drive emulate a hdd, even shows up in the hdd boot orde rtoo.

I've never used it for unraid's use

This is what I wanted to be clear.

 

I shouldn't see why it wouldn't work at all.

I never said it doesn't work at all.  It worked for the free version, and it didn't work for the Plus/Pro version.  I did a lot of work trying to make it work.

 

So, until I hear from somebody who's actually done it, the answer is: No, registering unRAID license with GUID from CF doesn't work.

 

If you have a USB port, but cannot boot from it, but can boot from a CF card, you can use this technique to boot from the CF card, labeled as anything but UNRAID, but find the unRAID label and .key file on a USB flash drive used only for the license file that is labeled as UNRAID, but not selected as the boot device.

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=3846.msg34151;topicseen#msg34151

(Since your MB does not allow you to boot from a USB drive, that second part should be easy, since it is not listed as a possible boot device, don't choose it  )

Barzija, I was only making the point that, Yes it should work on unraid as the procedure to get unraid working is like other small/minimal Linux OS's, in the sense that the setup is the same, ie: Formatting the drive with the correct FS to the OS's requirements, labeling it correctly, making the drive bootable, copying the required files and setting to correct boot options. So I was only making the point it should work.

 

That is very interesting! I have internal CF slot in my server. I tried that before but it didn't work.

I'd be very interested in a link to Webootech's post to see how it is done.

 

You mentioned (quoted above) about a CF slot onboard your mobo, not a CF-to-IDE adapter, perhaps your CF slot on your mobo has limitations? I remember in the past that even users with a USB drive couldn't register their USB drive's GUID and the fault lied with the actual mobo not reading the GUID correctly, so the fault wasn't even with the USB drive itself, just the mobo (I believe it was a particular Asus board and a BIOS update corrected this). Regarding the Plus a Pro licensing issue you incurred, well I can't comment why it didn't work for you either, but like I just mentioned, it might have to do with the CF slot on your board giving you grief on the GUID reading. If you see a valid GUID in the unraid web gui, I can't see why that GUID won't allow you to register it. Others on this forum seem to be using other options to install unraid on, like SD cards, etc...

 

Again Barzija, just an idea.

 

I've never used it for unraid's use

This is what I wanted to be clear.

 

I shouldn't see why it wouldn't work at all.

I never said it doesn't work at all.  It worked for the free version, and it didn't work for the Plus/Pro version.  I did a lot of work trying to make it work.

 

So, until I hear from somebody who's actually done it, the answer is: No, registering unRAID license with GUID from CF doesn't work.

 

Well there you go, I (and others) have learned something new today . You can run the unraid OS from a CF Card (proving my point), but you (and others) proved the point that you can't register the GUID of a CF card.

So basically if you're planning to use a registered Plus or Pro version, the way to do it is:

 

1). Setup and configure the CF card like you'd normally would for a USB drive

 

2). Have a USB drive inserted into a Port of the server for the purpose of a GUID

 

3). Configure the OS on the CF card to mount the USB drive upon startup of unraid's OS

 

4). Register the GUID of the USB drive, thus giving you a workable solution to using a CF card and a registered version.

 

That is the great thing on this forum, you give and take information . Thanks.

 

So, until I hear from somebody who's actually done it, the answer is: No, registering unRAID license with GUID from CF doesn't work.

In fact, I can safely make that statement stronger:

I am positive that registering unRAID license with GUID from CF doesn't work.  

At least not without some serious (and possibly illegal) reverse engineering.

 

Well there you go, we all learn something new today . You can run the unraid OS from a CF Card (proving my point), but you (and others) proved the point that you can't register the GUID of a CF card. So if your're planning to use a registered Plus or Pro version, though you can use a USB drive as a kind of Licence Dongle, using the GUID from a mounted USB drive, booting from the CF card to get this working.

Which brings us full circle to post #2 in this thread.   

UnRAID can boot from anywhere.  You need a USB flash key present for the Plus/Pro license.

 

So it seems purko. I was planning to use a free version of unraid on a real old PC which doesn't have a USB Bootable option, not requiring the GUID at all, thus avoided this whole licensing problem that Barzija had. It is handy thing to know, thanks.

To those who have quoted me.

 

1. You CAN boot from a CF card in an IDE -> CF adapter.

2. you CAN NOT register that device/CF card with a GUID for a license.

 

If required to assist with booting, follow the instructions in the thread for making the CF bootable with syslinux/bzimage/bzroot.

do not label it as unRAID.

 

Prepare a USB key in the normal manner.

Label the USB key as UNRAID.

Register the USB Key GUID for a license.

 

There will be a requirement of mounting the CF card and rsyncing the bzimage/bzroot/memtest files if you ever update the USB Key's files.

 

In fact there could be a daily job that mounts the CF and rsyncs the whole /boot tree to the mounted CF image then umounts it.

 

If this option is not appealing enough.

You can also use a second FAT partition on a cache drive.

 

Getting further into possibility. 

Using grub4dos, it is possible to boot from the reiserfs on your cache drive if the files are placed in a properly named/hidden directory.  This is more difficult to configure as it requires an initial version of linux/unraid running to format the cache drive. After that it will require rsyncing the /boot files and finally installing grub4dos.

 

If I remember correctly, someone booted from a floppy with PLOP, which then loaded the bzimage/bzroot from the USB Key.  I've also booted from a grub4dos floppy, which then accessed one the unRAID reiserfs volumes and booted bzimage/bzroot from there.

 

So there are many possibilities.

I was planning to use a free version of unraid on a real old PC which doesn't have a USB Bootable option, not requiring the GUID at all

In that case, simply label your boot disk "UNRAID" and unRAID will look for its config folder there. No need for USB flash disk in that case.

 

I was planning to use a free version of unraid on a real old PC which doesn't have a USB Bootable option, not requiring the GUID at all

In that case, simply label your boot disk "UNRAID" and unRAID will look for its config folder there. No need for USB flash disk in that case.

 

 

I've done this with success. An old IDE hard drive, formatted with fat32, bootable with syslinux and labeled as UNRAID.

The CF in an IDE adapter could work the same way with a free version.