...the title gives it all away already-

 

I've searched left and right, but I just can't seem to find any info on how to install unRAID on a USB stick via a Mac (OS X 10.6) - I doubt it's as easy as just copying the files over, right? What do I have to do inre the syslinux thing?

 

My server's almost assembled, and I'm eager to do a first boot into unRAID soon, so I'd be grateful for any hints.

Thanks!

Look for a Mac OS port of Syslinux, or run WinOS in a VM, or run a Linux Live CD, or run a FreeDos Boot CD.

I used Windows XP in VMware fusion. Nothing else I tried worked.

I've got an Ubuntu VM here, I'll give that a try---not sure if it can see my USB ports though.

Sounds a little complicated, I might have to ask again..

I've got an Ubuntu VM here, I'll give that a try---not sure if it can see my USB ports though.

Sounds a little complicated, I might have to ask again..

 

Paid for solutions like Parallels and VMWARE Fusion can allow for you to use USB devices on VMs. But free solutions like Virtualbox don't.

 

Not a big deal to me, as the license for VMWare was the second best value I have ever gotten with pay for software (second to Unraid of course!).

Not exactly true. The Windows VirtualBox does allow you to map and use USB devices into the Virtual.

I just did it with a XP VM too, worked fine.

 

EDIT - Well, it boots, but it's messed up...

I just tried my luck via XP running in Parallels... syslinux wouldn't run, but maybe I was doing something wrong - and now I'm on a trip for 12 days....grrr....

-thanks for all your help!

I feel like a fool posting again, but I can't for the life of me get syslinux to run to make my USB stick bootable. I tried it in Parallels/Windows XP, I tried it in on a Windows machine in XP, but no dice. There seems to be a black command line tool coming up for a quarter of a second, and then disappears again. Whatever I do, it just won't run for some reason (unless I'm doing something fundamentally wrong).

 

It's a shame, because I've got everything seemingly ready -server's built, USB stick sitting here, but I can't make it bootable. And I so want this thing to work....

Any input, forum?

I feel like a fool posting again, but I can't for the life of me get syslinux to run to make my USB stick bootable. I tried it in Parallels/Windows XP, I tried it in on a Windows machine in XP, but no dice. There seems to be a black command line tool coming up for a quarter of a second, and then disappears again. Whatever I do, it just won't run for some reason (unless I'm doing something fundamentally wrong).

 

It's a shame, because I've got everything seemingly ready -server's built, USB stick sitting here, but I can't make it bootable. And I so want this thing to work....

Any input, forum?

It sounds as if you are trying to click on the syslinux.exe without opening a command window first.

 

You must first open up an administrative DOS command window.  Then, in it, change directory to where you un-zipped the syslinux command.

example:  It you put the syslinux.exe at the root of your "C" drive, then type:

cd c:\

Then you can type

syslinux -ma x:

where x: is the drive letter of your drive letter of your flash drive.

Joe L.,

 

thanks for the hint! I think I got it bootable - at least, the command tool didn't give me an error, so I proceeded as instructed. Plugged in the stick into the server, bot bootin' yet, but I have yet to find a monitor to get into the bios.

Im on a mac myself mostly by choice. Spent DAYS trying. You need a PC to do the format using the reccomended method. You CANNOT get it to work on a mac. You CAN backup a working stick - but IT WONT RESTORE (Yea, I Know)

 

Basically, you need to get your hands on a PC or send it to someone to do the base install.

 

Ahhh - If yer building an UNRAID box - couldnt you use a spare HD and setup XP on it for the creation of the key??

I spent a week trying to do it on a mac - and im telling ya - QUIT TRYING IT DONT WORK !!! - Honest.

Send me an email if you want, id be happy to do this for you as i have several of any machine about OS wise including 5 or 10 MAC systems of all flavors.

 

<My Setup is 2 UNRAID NAS systems, 12TB and 18 TB each 12 drives on each. UNRAID ROCKS cept the USB key gen on a mac - NOT POSSIBLE - Please feel free to prove me wrong, but im tellin ya i spent WEEKS tryin for i gave up and thats just cause i wanted to do it on the mac (pc is a few feet away and i stubbornly tried and tried w many macs under 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 - Can IMAGE but can't write it back to a blank key !)>

damn.... sounds like we need a genius to get that process to work on a mac. Good thing there's enough people with Windows around, but still, it would be nice if we could do it from our machine. I still don't know if my stick is working, I had to send in the Mobo of my new build, onboard graphics appear to be non-fonctional.

Anyway, thanks for the heads-up!

I can't remember what I did to get my stick bootable, but I followed the instrux available from the download site and using Windows XP via boot camp was able to get it working with no problems.

 

HOWEVER, keep in mind that the stick you may be using might NOT be bootable on the mobo you selected.  I found that out when building a SuperMicro X8DTL-3F board for a Windows Server 2008 R2 build and needed to flash the BIOS due to overheating issues with the IOH chip, but couldn't get my 8GB Memorex stick to boot.  I had to go out and get a smaller 2GB at Best Buy and was able to get that stick to boot.

 

Just something to keep in mind if you are still experiencing issues trying to get that one USB stick to boot.