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A few questions; usb sticks, nanoboot and logfiles external.


HHawk

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Hi guys,

 

I am a very happy user of XPEnology for my custom build NAS :smile:

...I like it way better than FreeNAS, which I have used for over 3 years or so! So much more user friendly.

 

Anyways, my machine is running nicely, however I want to replace the USB stick I am currently using. The reason for this, is that the current USB stick is a bit to large (in dimensions), so I cannot put my machine tight to the wall. Now without losing any settings whatsoever (or programs) how do I continue? Can I just make an 1-on-1 copy of the USB stick without problems? And what about size (in GB) and speed (MB/s) are recommended for a USB stick?

 

Furthermore; I am running currently Nanoboot-5.0.3.1 DSM 5.0-4493 (x64) and I have a noticed there is a newer version: 5.0.3.2. Is this simple to upgrade, without losing settings or installed programs?

 

Also I noticed my machine doesn't hibernate very well (= not at all). Now I did some reading and apparently in order to get your machine to hibernate correctly, you need to place logfiles from Sabnzbd, Couchpotato, Sickbeard on a 2nd USB stick, so the harddisks can hibernate. Is this true? And do I need to do anything else? Currently I just turn my machine off when I don't use it for several hours to safe money on the electrical bill.

 

Sorry for all the questions, but I hope someone can answer them or most at least. Thank you in advance and all help is very appreciated.

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Hi guys,

 

I am a very happy user of XPEnology for my custom build NAS :smile:

...I like it way better than FreeNAS, which I have used for over 3 years or so! So much more user friendly.

 

Anyways, my machine is running nicely, however I want to replace the USB stick I am currently using. The reason for this, is that the current USB stick is a bit to large (in dimensions), so I cannot put my machine tight to the wall. Now without losing any settings whatsoever (or programs) how do I continue? Can I just make an 1-on-1 copy of the USB stick without problems? And what about size (in GB) and speed (MB/s) are recommended for a USB stick?

You can just clone it and boot from it. Speed of USB is not important as it only used for booting. Current size is 16MB, but I would use 256MB or large for future assurance. My preferred USB is Cruser Fit, the smallest you can get is 4GB, but its only $$5-7

 

Furthermore; I am running currently Nanoboot-5.0.3.1 DSM 5.0-4493 (x64) and I have a noticed there is a newer version: 5.0.3.2. Is this simple to upgrade, without losing settings or installed programs?

Just replace the image and boot. It will run unnoticed.

 

Also I noticed my machine doesn't hibernate very well (= not at all). Now I did some reading and apparently in order to get your machine to hibernate correctly, you need to place logfiles from Sabnzbd, Couchpotato, Sickbeard on a 2nd USB stick, so the harddisks can hibernate. Is this true? And do I need to do anything else? Currently I just turn my machine off when I don't use it for several hours to safe money on the electrical bill.

 

Sorry for all the questions, but I hope someone can answer them or most at least. Thank you in advance and all help is very appreciated.

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Thank you very much for the clear answers! Highly appreciated. :smile:

 

One final thing; for the logfiles (from sabnzbd, couchpotato, sickbeard, etc) what size / speed USB stick is recommended.

 

I am currently looking for the USB sticks from Kingston (DataTraveler microDuo). The smallest one is 16 GB and the biggest one is 64 GB. The reason I am looking at these is that are really small in dimensions. Good / decent speeds and are pretty affordable overhere.

 

Thank you once again.

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Thank you very much for the clear answers! Highly appreciated. :smile:

 

One final thing; for the logfiles (from sabnzbd, couchpotato, sickbeard, etc) what size / speed USB stick is recommended.

I am not sure how to answer it even more clear. NOTHING is written to USB. Its just a bootloader.

Logs, Apps and data all are written to harddrives.

 

I am currently looking for the USB sticks from Kingston (DataTraveler microDuo). The smallest one is 16 GB and the biggest one is 64 GB. The reason I am looking at these is that are really small in dimensions. Good / decent speeds and are pretty affordable overhere.

 

Thank you once again.

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I think there's still a gap in understanding here. The USB is NEVER written to, so the amount of free space you keep on it is irrelevant.

 

Thats weird. When I select to store my log-files on a (2nd) USB stick, it actually does write the log files on it. So maybe indeed a misunderstanding.

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There is definitely some misunderstanding here :smile:

 

First: USB stick is for booting, questions about this are already answered. (stick can be very small, will never be written to, etc.).

 

But your second questions is about hibernation. To make sure your system can hibernate, the disks need to be idle. If you write a lot of logfiles regularly to the disks, they never become idle, so the system will never hibernate.

To solve this, you can move those logfiles to a USB stick. I'm not sure if it's a good idea to use the same USB stick you use for booting.

Easiest is to use a second USB stick for this. This can also be small, but 64MB might be too small. I think 1 GB should be enough for logfiles of SABnzbd, Sickbeard and CouchPotato.

Just try and see if that solves the hibernation problem.

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There is definitely some misunderstanding here :smile:

 

First: USB stick is for booting, questions about this are already answered. (stick can be very small, will never be written to, etc.).

 

But your second questions is about hibernation. To make sure your system can hibernate, the disks need to be idle. If you write a lot of logfiles regularly to the disks, they never become idle, so the system will never hibernate.

To solve this, you can move those logfiles to a USB stick. I'm not sure if it's a good idea to use the same USB stick you use for booting.

Easiest is to use a second USB stick for this. This can also be small, but 64MB might be too small. I think 1 GB should be enough for logfiles of SABnzbd, Sickbeard and CouchPotato.

Just try and see if that solves the hibernation problem.

 

Thank you, this is what I meant.

And I did mention a 2nd USB stick, which will be 64 GB which will ONLY be used for the logfiles, as I mentioned.

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  • 2 months later...

...[cut]...

You can just clone it and boot from it. Speed of USB is not important as it only used for booting. Current size is 16MB, but I would use 256MB or large for future assurance. My preferred USB is Cruser Fit, the smallest you can get is 4GB, but its only $$5-7

 

which is the easiest and safest way to clone it?

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Thanks.

Is it possible to use the extra space on my usb key for other stuff? Create an additional partition for something else...i don't know what...

and further more...is it possible to hide the primary boot partition (where nanoboot is) in dsm but keeping visible the secondo partition?

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Thanks.

Is it possible to use the extra space on my usb key for other stuff? Create an additional partition for something else...i don't know what... Not easily. Partitioning is for the real harddrives, not for USB flash.

and further more...is it possible to hide the primary boot partition (where nanoboot is) in dsm but keeping visible the secondo partition?Not worth it. Just use cheap small USB for boot and forget about it.

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