I don't like the idea of booting off of a USB flash drive, and my current NAS system has a RAID-1 array specifically made for the operating system. Is there a way to install and boot UnRAID from an internal hard drive?

 

Thanks!

I don't like the idea of booting off of a USB flash drive, and my current NAS system has a RAID-1 array specifically made for the operating system. Is there a way to install and boot UnRAID from an internal hard drive?

 

Thanks!

 

Yes, it can be done but you still need a the USB drive if you plan to run more than the free version of unRAID.

 

Any particular reason you don't like the idea of booting from the USB?

I don't like the idea of booting off of a USB flash drive, and my current NAS system has a RAID-1 array specifically made for the operating system. Is there a way to install and boot UnRAID from an internal hard drive?

 

Thanks!

yes, but the flash drive is still needed for the license file.    You can use any linux loader...  I used grub on one of my  older Intel Dual-Xeon CPU motherboards that does not have the ability to boot from USB.  

 

I put grub in the MBR on a CF flash card in an IDE adapter.  On one FAT partition I put bzroot and bzimage from the downloaded distribution, the remaining stage* files for grub, and pointed grub to them in its boot menu.  They boot, then mount the USB flash drive for the rest.

 

So.... get used to the flash drive, you cannot eliminate it just because you do not like to boot from it.  It is still needed for the other files on it.  the USB drive with the UNRAID label is expected to be there to be mounted, and when mounted, it is expected to be writable for the superblock and configuration files.

 

All of this is entirely non-standard, so if you are not already comfortable with boot loaders, odds are you'll not get too far.

 

Joe L.

Well, I run UnRaid from a Hard drive.  I only have two data drives in it for now.

 

I format the drive in FAT32, label it 'UNRAID'

 

Then use 'syslinux.exe -maf x:'  where x is drive letter in widoze.

 

I have transmission starting on this drive, and soon UnMenu too.  Joe L.

 

IF I go for more drives, then a Flash Drive will be necessary.

 

BUT,  startup times from a HD is awesom.

 

My Two cents....

The raid1 for the OS is FAR more important when the OS is windows.  When you can re-load and swap in a new flash drive in a matter of minutes, the whole reason for RAID1 for the OS is eliminated.  We don't worry if the flash drive dies... all we need is a copy of the "config" folder (or a list of which drives are assigned which slots in the array) and we can get back running.

As already mentioned if you only want to use the free version, you don't need to deal with a flash drive at all.

 

Joe L.

I would like to know the same thing, is there a walkthrough or tutorial on how to do it?

 

Reason for me is to install in ESXi and have easier config/booting.  Booting because it wouldn't need an additional bootloader to boot from a USB passthrough.  Config because only the key would be stored on the USB key, not the config, so getting the USB key passthrough to multiple unRAID guests mixed up wouldn't be as large of a deal.

I would like to know the same thing, is there a walkthrough or tutorial on how to do it?

 

Reason for me is to install in ESXi and have easier config/booting.  Booting because it wouldn't need an additional bootloader to boot from a USB passthrough.  Config because only the key would be stored on the USB key, not the config, so getting the USB key passthrough to multiple unRAID guests mixed up wouldn't be as large of a deal.

I believe that is NOT true. The superblock, user and drive configs are all written to it. Therefore,  if the wrong unRAID guest sees it, then it would have the wrong drive configuration and fail to start.

 

For this, I would just use plop.

 

@ Dale386.

technically, while unraid boots from the thumbdrive, it runs in ram. it only saves the config files to the USB so it can retain that information on reboot. those files only get updated when you change configurations if I am not mistaken.

 

Most other OS's, Windows especially, are constantly reading and writing to the HDD. that would put wear and tear on the OS drive especially things like the Pagefile file.

 

Also, if you're raid1 is off the motherboard (ich10r etc.), you will most likely find that it is a software raid and will not work with most OS's including unRAID.

If that is not the case, I would still hate to waste entire hard drives for an OS that is under 500 megs once expanded.

Well, I run UnRaid from a Hard drive.  I only have two data drives in it for now.

 

I format the drive in FAT32, label it 'UNRAID'

 

Then use 'syslinux.exe -maf x:'  where x is drive letter in widoze.

 

Is this all that is needed to install unRaid to an HDD? Can I simply proceed like I would if it was a flash drive? (exept from the f parameter for syslinux which I have to use for my usb stick anyway...  )

Well, I run UnRaid from a Hard drive.  I only have two data drives in it for now.

 

I format the drive in FAT32, label it 'UNRAID'

 

Then use 'syslinux.exe -maf x:'  where x is drive letter in widoze.

 

Is this all that is needed to install unRaid to an HDD? Can I simply proceed like I would if it was a flash drive? (exept from the f parameter for syslinux which I have to use for my usb stick anyway...  )

 

Okay, so that does not work... I formated the drive FAT, named it UNRAID and modified the make_bootable file to include the f parameter:

 

E:\syslinux -maf E:

GetDriveNumber: DeviceIoControl failed: wrong parameter.

Could not find device number for updating MBR; continuing...

 

I tried to boot from that but it didn't work. Any ideas how i can make that drive bootable?

any other idea on how to install unRAID on a regular HDD?

Well, I run UnRaid from a Hard drive.  I only have two data drives in it for now.

 

I format the drive in FAT32, label it 'UNRAID'

 

Then use 'syslinux.exe -maf x:'  where x is drive letter in widoze.

 

Is this all that is needed to install unRaid to an HDD? Can I simply proceed like I would if it was a flash drive? (exept from the f parameter for syslinux which I have to use for my usb stick anyway...  )

 

Okay, so that does not work... I formated the drive FAT, named it UNRAID and modified the make_bootable file to include the f parameter:

 

E:\syslinux -maf E:

GetDriveNumber: DeviceIoControl failed: wrong parameter.

Could not find device number for updating MBR; continuing...

 

I tried to boot from that but it didn't work. Any ideas how i can make that drive bootable?

You shouldn't get an error when you run the syslinux command it should just return.  Did you format the drive FAT or FAT32?  If you did FAT I would try FAT32.  Also verify that you have the correct device.  Are you sure E is the formated FAT32 drive you want to make an unRAID boot from?