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unRaid USB Drive: Is there a better option?
Hello All,
I am curious if there is a better option than using a USB drive? I have been only using unRaid since 10/13/2020 and I'm going through my 3rd USB drive failure... This will be 3 USB drives in 17 months..
I started off using a brand new (Samsung 64GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive Fit (MUF-64BB/AM)) and installed the trial version of unRaid to play around with it on my gaming PC. In the first 30 days i had an issue with the server not booting off the USB drive anymore randomly. So since i was happy with unRaid outside of that issue i ordered parts to build a dedicated unRaid server with a new USB drive. So i bought (SanDisk 32GB Cruzer Fit USB Flash Drive - SDCZ33-032G-G35) after asking for recommendations from the community and telling me a USB 2.0 drive was better to use than a 3.0 drive and many mentioned this drive was the one they used. Server was doing well for a few months, i was invested in unRaid at this point and out of the blue the USB drive stop booting again, but this was on completely different hardware than the first computer i tested unRaid on. I couldn't get the USB drive to format and allow me to install unraid on it again.. so started over with a brand new USB drive.. So i bought another USB drive listed from my old recommended suggestion post i asked and bought (SanDisk Ultra 16 GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive ‎SDCZ48-016G-U46) which was installed July of 2021. Now today, i am getting a banner that the drive is failing or corrupted and the server is down and none of my VMs or Dockers are running. This is the first time it failed and I'm getting an error with the server still running, so im assuming its another USB drive failure, but i cant just keep chucking USB drives at this every few months, this is getting really annoying.
Comments Section
There must be a reason why they failed. I think, your unraid is writing indefinitely a lot of logs or something into the usb.
Also, unraid needs a usb because of the unique id code number that usb flash drive only has... if im not mistaken for unraid to be installed.
I tend to agree, I'm using a crappy whitelabel usb drive which I probably got at an expo or something, has been running flawlessly for almost 7 years already.
Usb2.0 is preferred over 3.0 for thermal reasons, 3.0 drives can run pretty hot, but there must be a reason why your drives keep failing...
Space invader one made a video about comparing a few drives and Samsung were the best apparently....
The licence is attached to the drive so must have a usb drive I think for it to work
I used an old rancid 2GB Giveaway Keyring crap thats breaking apart. No problems yet. Faulty USB Port? How often do you restart your server? Any power outages? 🤔
What plugins do you have installed out of curiosity?
All the plugins i had running were ones recommended by spaceinvader..
CA Auto Update Applications
CA Backup / Restore Appdata
CA Cleanup Appdata
Community Applications
Dynamix Active Streams
Dynamix Auto Fan Control
Dynamix Cache Directories
Dynamix S3 Sleep
Dynamix SSD TRIM
Dynamix System Information
Dynamix System Statistics
Dynamix System Temperature
Fix Common Problems
My Servers
Nerd Tools
Parity Check Tuning
plexstreams
Preclear Disks
Tips and Tweaks
Unassigned Devices
Unassigned Devices Plus
User Scripts
Comment deleted by user
Sorry to hear that you are having so many problems with the USB drive. I’m not sure way though. Once the OS is running, it loads itself into memory. I’ve been running unRaid for about 3 years now with to same drive I started with. My drive is currently a USB 2.0 drive. Maybe try and find a good 2.0 drive and see if it lasts longer. Just my 2 cents.
USB 3.0 are a bit more prone to random failure than 2.0(often due to heat.) Try some USB 2.0 sandisk cruzer fits. Low profile and haven't had any issues with them.
You can use SD cards and a reader. There are some older forum threads saying unraid uses the card reader ID for the license, allowing for card swaps, but I don't know if that's still the case.
I've had a string of USB issues as well, and considered trying this.
Edit: that wiki link says you can still swap cards without getting a new license.