TrueNAS doesn't see more than one drive in a bay of 4.

[myplaybox]

Hello tech wizards...

 

I just installed TrueNAS SCALE on my Intel NUC (I used to run on a Ryzen but switched due to power consumption) and am trying to set it up.

Since the NUC only has one SATA port which I use for the boot drive I bought this dock from Sabrent and filled it with four drives.

I also tested the dock populated with all 4 drives in Windows. It recognised all 4 at the same time but TrueNAS doesn't seem to agree.

 

Not really sure where to go from here, hope anyone can help me out. Thanks in advance.

[Zando_]

ZFS is built for datacenters, it wants/needs full access to and control over the drives. It won't work with RAID controllers unless they're flashed to function as a basic HBA, no shock that it'd dislike a USB hub. Does the NUC have an M.2 NVMe slot? You can get an M.2 HBA with IIRC 4 or 6 SATA ports. 

[myplaybox]

The NUC does have an M.2 but it's a B-Key I believe so no Nvme. I got the product sheet right here.

It also says there is a PCIe expansion slot but I can't seem to see it. Maybe some special formfactor?

How would I go about powering the drives if I go the M.2 adapter route? I probably need an extra power supply aswell right?

[Levent]

That thing you installed is probably not supported driverwise in truenas.

[Zando_]

22 minutes ago, myplaybox said:

The NUC does have an M.2 but it's a B-Key I believe so no Nvme. I got the product sheet right here.

It also says there is a PCIe expansion slot but I can't seem to see it. Maybe some special formfactor?

How would I go about powering the drives if I go the M.2 adapter route? I probably need an extra power supply aswell right?

It's the 2nd M.2-ish connector behind the M.2 slot I believe: 

 

The spec sheet notes it's a "High-Speed Custom Solutions Connector (PCIe x4)". That connector looks like what you'd need for x4 PCIe. EDIT: actually re-looking, I think that is the SATA M.2 slot, the one below it looks like an M.2 slot for a wifi card? Unless that's integrated on the board. The custom PCIe connector may be on the other side of the board.  

 

You would need a separate PSU to run the drives, yeah.

 

I'd grab a USB 2.0 (not 3.0, needs to be a 2.0) thumb drive and give Unraid a shot. If you don't need the speed of ZFS - and I assume you don't, as you wouldn't get it over a USB hub to begin with - then Unraid should do what you need as far as NAS duties. It's set up for consumer drives, can handle mismated arrays, AFAIK it should be fine with USB hubs, and can do stuff like sleep the drives, which will help with power draw. ZFS keeps them spinning always, and will have issues if you stop it from doing that (drives drop from arrays). Honestly the drives spinning (assuming you are using HDDs) was probably most of the power draw you were seeing. Each drive is ~6-10W, so you're looking at up to 40W for 4 3.5" drives spinning constantly. 

[myplaybox]

Thanks for the help, Unraid didn't care for the weird dock and just read all the devices correctly.

Setting up the array now, have to rethink myself into Unraid since I have never used it but I will manage.

Also I forgot to mention I have two 5400 RPM disks and two 7200 RPM ones, but Unraid is very forgiving in case that helps someone out there.

[myplaybox]

I just wanna update anyone who saw this and want to recreate it.

DO NOT USE USB DOCKS/HUBS FOR UNRAID

 

I don't know why exactly but USB docks are handled weirdly and can change something (some ID or something).

It is a common problem a lot of people using docks have where the drives are recognised as something else after a reboot and the system is expecting the "old" drives.

Been a problem for years and there is no easy fix it seems. (according to unRAID forums)

 

For me, I will use an m2. HBA and hope that works out good since it is a direct SATA connection after all.