Just to let you know about a very cool product which can be put inside the case, attached directly to the USB fan header on the motherboard: http://delock.com/produkte/gruppen/flash+speicher/Delock_USB20_Flash_Modul_2GB_Vertikal_54152.html

That would be great if it also included the normal usb connector for the initial loading..

That is pretty cool starcat. I sacrificed a old USB header from the front of an old computer case to (which essentially was just a USB socket soldered onto a circuit board and the board had a cable that goes to the mobo's USB header). See thread link below:

 

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=2031.msg54703#msg54703

 

As illustrated on my pictures (that reminds me, I need to update them as I've changed the mobo since then), I mounted this circuit board onto a addon card bracket to make it look professional. I didn't like the idea of just using cable to secure this onto the case, but this Delock USB2.0 Flash Module 2GB module would be great, no cables, messing around and a direct connection to the mobo USB header pins. I which I knew about it 6 months ago . Good find.

That would be great if it also included the normal usb connector for the initial loading..

 

Well just boot a demo unRAID from an old 256K normal stick and from there load your actual version on that one and reboot :-)

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=2031.msg54703#msg54703

 

As illustrated on my pictures (that reminds me, I need to update them as I've changed the mobo since then), I mounted this circuit board onto a addon card bracket to make it look professional. I didn't like the idea of just using cable to secure this onto the case, but this Delock USB2.0 Flash Module 2GB module would be great, no cables, messing around and a direct connection to the mobo USB header pins. I which I knew about it 6 months ago . Good find.

 

Yeap. Supermicro mainboards have an internal standard USB connector but a lot of other boards don't so this is a perfect solution. Perhaps also as additional storage if any internal headers remain unused!?

if you dont want to butcher an old case,

that website sells little adapters to go from heaper pins to port too.

 

http://delock.com/produkte/gruppen/USB+Adapter

 

now to find a reseller.

Yeah your right starcat, and some Intel mobo's have a direct USB socket mounted upright directly onto the mobo too. I was almost swayed into buying an Intel board for this feature, but an extra $60 ~ $70 AUD purely just for this feature (and more money to buy an Intel CPU too) seemed a bit too much, thus why I made my own kit.

For the USB assembly, the old case was going to the tip, so no worries on that part and I used just the single card bracket from my existing case. With a little bit of engineering (actually two holes drilled ) and that was that. But I like this Delock USB2 drive, it looks professional and can be transferred onto any mobo. I for sure would of bought it I knew before.

 

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=2031.msg54703#msg54703

 

As illustrated on my pictures (that reminds me, I need to update them as I've changed the mobo since then), I mounted this circuit board onto a addon card bracket to make it look professional. I didn't like the idea of just using cable to secure this onto the case, but this Delock USB2.0 Flash Module 2GB module would be great, no cables, messing around and a direct connection to the mobo USB header pins. I which I knew about it 6 months ago . Good find.

 

Yeap. Supermicro mainboards have an internal standard USB connector but a lot of other boards don't so this is a perfect solution. Perhaps also as additional storage if any internal headers remain unused!?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812200474&cm_re=startech_usb-_-12-200-474-_-Product

That is cool too Jomp. Albeit a much cheaper alternative. 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812200474&cm_re=startech_usb-_-12-200-474-_-Product

 

That's great!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812200474&cm_re=startech_usb-_-12-200-474-_-Product

 

This is old (and good), but depending on the mainboard you won't be able to use that *if* there are other connectors near that USB fan header. In my case those are not feasable.

Guys, seen this: http://www.nzxt.com/new/product_detail.php?series=12&id=44

i can forsee a problem with this.

 

some motehrboards init usb befor eor after expansion slots.

 

for example, on my board usb on the rear io panel is detected before add in cards, but the ones from the pin outs are detected after. with the hdd list only being 8 long or so, it pushes the usb device hidden and out of the available hdd boot order.

 

starcat: thats just a usb hub.

Yeap, just an USB hub, thought someone might find it useful :-)

My question is as follows.  Lets say I stop the array, shutdown the system, plug one of these into my mobo and then plug in an empty X GIG flash drive into the adapter.  What is going to happen when I start the array.  I suspect as a minimum that the 2 SATA drives that made up the array are going to get reassigned.  Currently assignments are sda=flash, sdb=parity, sdc=disk1, sdd = clear but un assigned, sde=clear but unassigned.  Now what happens to the array? will the system boot from the original flash (sda) then put the ext flash as sdb, make parity sdc, and disk1 sdd?  If it does will unraid figure it all out or will it decide it needs to reconstruct the array?

 

I was thinking of using the second flash as a small permanent disk drive so I won't have to have the go script re-install all of the packages or willI still need to do that

 

Sounds iffy to me

My question is as follows.  Lets say I stop the array, shutdown the system, plug one of these into my mobo and then plug in an empty X GIG flash drive into the adapter.  What is going to happen when I start the array.  I suspect as a minimum that the 2 SATA drives that made up the array are going to get reassigned.  Currently assignments are sda=flash, sdb=parity, sdc=disk1, sdd = clear but un assigned, sde=clear but unassigned.  Now what happens to the array? will the system boot from the original flash (sda) then put the ext flash as sdb, make parity sdc, and disk1 sdd?  If it does will unraid figure it all out or will it decide it needs to reconstruct the array?

 

I was thinking of using the second flash as a small permanent disk drive so I won't have to have the go script re-install all of the packages or willI still need to do that

 

Sounds iffy to me

unRAID does not use the specific device assignment when assigning drives on the devices page.  It uses the hardware controller IDs.  Those will not change when you add in a new USB drive.

 

You'll be fine.

 

It is exactly for that reason it determines the flash drive used for unRAID by the volume label of "UNRAID" rather than it being a specific /dev/sdX device. 

 

Joe L.

 

 

Here is what I use:

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/USB-5-PIN-HEADER-TO-FEMALE-USB-A-SOCKET-CABLE_W0QQitemZ330420609808QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Computing_CablesConnectors_RL?hash=item4cee9a6310

 

@$6 and works really well. Keeps the USB safely tucked away inside the case.

I keep the flash drive on one of the back connectors on the mobo in thack of the case.  It sticks out less than the power plugs and the case is going into a rack so I am not concerned.

 

I was planning to add a large (8-16 G) flash drive internally and perhaps use it as permanent storage for the Linux OS.  I am not firm on that idea and would welcome opinions comments as I am fairly new to Linux.

I keep the flash drive on one of the back connectors on the mobo in thack of the case.  It sticks out less than the power plugs and the case is going into a rack so I am not concerned.

 

I was planning to add a large (8-16 G) flash drive internally and perhaps use it as permanent storage for the Linux OS.  I am not firm on that idea and would welcome opinions comments as I am fairly new to Linux.

2 factors are involved.

 

To boot with syslinux, most flash drives will need to be formatted as FAT or FAT32.  There is a limit on the size of a FAT file-system.  An 8 or 16 Gig flash drive is not going to be usable. 

A 1 or 2 gig flash drive is all you need.  unRAID fits easily in a 128Meg flash drive (if you can even get one that small)  Even with lots of add-ons, it will easily fit in a 1Gig flash drive.

 

Joe L.

I was planning to add a large (8-16 G) flash drive internally and perhaps use it as permanent storage for the Linux OS.  I am not firm on that idea and would welcome opinions comments as I am fairly new to Linux.

 

Are you referring to a full slackware install on a seperate disk which you plan to dual boot? If so try looking through these:

 

http://www.linux-live.org/

 

http://www.tux.org/pub/tux/robotti/looplinux/rip/mkusb.txt

 

You may also find useful resources at

 

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/ 

 

Me I'd just stick a HDD in there and install slackware to that. 

I was not planning to use the extra in-case flash drive as either a boot drive, or a FAT drive but rather a Linux drive (EXT2 I think) so that linux stuff (unRaid add-ons perhaps) can use it as permanent storage.

I was not planning to use the extra in-case flash drive as either a boot drive, or a FAT drive but rather a Linux drive (EXT2 I think) so that linux stuff (unRaid add-ons perhaps) can use it as permanent storage.

That's very different... Yes, you can use the drive you described for an ext2 file-system.

I was not planning to use the extra in-case flash drive as either a boot drive, or a FAT drive but rather a Linux drive (EXT2 I think) so that linux stuff (unRaid add-ons perhaps) can use it as permanent storage.

That's very different... Yes, you can use the drive you described for an ext2 file-system.

That extra flash drive would be the perfect place to mirror your syslog.

 

Purko, that is the kind of thing I was thinking of using it for.  I need to do some research on how to do that.  Any pointers? Is there a general Linux provision to mirror things?

Purko, that is the kind of thing I was thinking of using it for.  I need to do some research on how to do that.  Any pointers? Is there a general Linux provision to mirror things?

 

Your wish is my command:

 

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=5623.0

 

Just make sure to change the place were the stuff is stored so it is on the correct flash drive.