[Help] Ended up with TOS Spread Across 3 HDDs - Should I Just Give Up ?

[PeteC]

Hi Folks
In an attempt to reconfigure my F4-424 Pro so that TOS was on SSD 1 and Hyper Cache on SSD 2. I did a factory reset (I use the term “Factory Reset” loosely as there does seem to be a few slightly differing procedures citculating), and then started reinstallation all over again.
During installation I saw the screen that allows you to define which SSD/HDD you wish to include for TOS. Trouble was that it appeared for about 1 second, certainly not long enough for me to choose.

Once installation had completed Control Panel / Disks / Disk reports the following
HDD1 10Tb (System)
HDD 2 10Tb (System)
HDD 3 6Tb (System)
HDD 4 6Tb (Normal)
NVMe 1 1Tb (Normal)
NVMe 2 1Tb (Normal)

Yes, I started with TOS on HDDs 1 & 2 and after several attempts spread over 3 days, I’ve managed to make things worse ending up with it on 3 different drives !
So what are the real world risks of leaving it “as is”, transferring data back on to the NAS, everything is backed up on a multitude of disks (16Tb) so a NAS failure wouldn’t be that critical, just very time consuming, as I find that what should be a simple procedure of a factory reset / reinstall a very stressful and convoluted exercise as nothing seems to go smoothly

Pete

[Gremlin]

I think the reason the disk selection dialogue is only seen briefly is that the o/s is already installed.
Re-installation does not "clean-out" an old installation - at least, from the disks on which it is not required*.
Upgrading from TOS 5.1 - which already has the o/s on multiple raid partitions - does not change that either. It seems to me that the only way to clean out an old installation is to clean out the old system partitions manually. Since one is cleaning out the 'in-use' o/s, that leads to needing to perform disk operations on another system. Not to be recommended to the 'regular' user.
My usual choice is to secure erase each drive involved - which means deleting data entirely. Other actions are possible but fall into, what I would term, as "experimental".

* Note that such an idea would require breaking raid arrays, which complicates things even further.

[PeteC]

Thanks for getting back to mem how would you recomend cleaning the drives I assume deleting the partitions ism't enough but shou;d they also be formated and if so would that be Ext4

[Gremlin]

Really depends on your experience with manipulating drives ....
I have found just deleting partitions to be a little unreliable. Sometimes "stuff" gets left behind.
The most reliable method is a complete 'secure erase' where a series of 'zeros' and/or 'ones' are written to all sectors in one or more passes. Some software refers to this as "wipe" but (imo) not all "wipes" are created equal. Secure erase can take a long time per drive.

One thing I have tried with some success is to:
1. Delete all partitions
2. Convert GPT to MBR
3. Convert MBR to GPT
Points 2+3 have the effect of (quickly) re-writing the boot sectors and TOS would create GPT anyway.
[I use MiniTool Partition Wizard where you can queue operations and execute them in one go.]
You do not need to do any other formatting and (imo) best to let TOS take care of that.

[PeteC]

Another couple of days trying everything other than the undocumented RESET button in the motherboard, heaven knows what that does, can't be anything to do with a Factory Reset or they would tell you, Wouldn't they?
Anyway, I've tried everything possible to perform a full Factory Reset and including:

TOS Desktop> Control Panel>Restore to Factory Default which should be the easiest and most reliable method.
TerraMaster’s Recommended Procedure (Both Methods A & B
Gremlins Suggested Method (Thanks Gremlin)
I've tried Different Browsers (Chrome & Firefox)
Deleted Partitions Using Different Partition Managers (Windows 11 & EaseUS Paragon)
I've cleared Browser caches to a point where I can do it blind folded

Nothing works, OS always ends up on the HDDs and I never get the option to select an SSD

What I haven't tried, but would appreciate any comments or suggestions is to start again with a reduced amount of hardware before adding the rest once a successful initialization has been completed.
My current build comprises of 2*10Tb drives (HDD & HDD2) 2*6Tb drives (HDD 3 & 4) plus 2*1Tb drives (SSD 1 & 2)
Would it be worth starting with 1 completely new SSD and 2 New HDD's (I have 2 * 6Tb spare drives) and carrying out a completely new initialization, then if that works, add one of the used SSD;s into slot 2 for Hyper Cache followed by adding 2 of the original "Used” HDD's. Thinking being, that Initialization with all new hardware is the equivalent of a full factory reset, Or is it just possible that there could still be some legacy data written to the firmware of the unit from the first Initialization attempt?

Any Thoughts? Just trying to limit any additional expenditure, i.e. Good Money After Bad.

Pete

[Gremlin]

Nothing works, OS always ends up on the HDDs and I never get the option to select an SSD

I'm pretty sure nothing gets left "in firmware". The "undocumented reset" might just be a bios reset or similar. Not all boards have it and/or some don't have a pin-hole to access it.

I have an idea I know where it "goes wrong" but I can't perform the operations myself to provide screenshots as my devices are "fully occupied" on other stuff.

At a point early on in the initialization/installation there will be a dialogue presented that has 2 buttons in lower right corner. The left-hand of these is (or was*) labelled "Esc". Now, that does not mean you can press the keyboard "esc" key . CLICK on "Esc" Button and that should take you to the continuation of the manual install. Otherwise it goes through the default. There should also be, during process, options to "download bootloader" which I usually choose to be surer I have the most (??) up-to-date and/or "correct" (??) version.

*I have mentioned this (poor identification) in a previous post, but I don't think it has changed.
Just working from memory - and that may be defective

[crisisacting]

Another couple of days trying everything other than the undocumented RESET button in the motherboard, heaven knows what that does, can't be anything to do with a Factory Reset or they would tell you, Wouldn't they?

Because the TNAS ×86 series are simply a PC with an embedded low thermal SoC, that reset button is just a power cycling of the existing setup.

There's only a software Reset to Defaults, because TOS builds are installed onto added drives, not on the TNAS out of box; the internal USB initboot drive is simply a minimal boot environment with a wizard to install TOS onto added drives.

Nothing works, OS always ends up on the HDDs and I never get the option to select an SSD … Would it be worth starting with 1 completely new SSD and 2 New HDD's (I have 2 * 6Tb spare drives) and carrying out a completely new initialization, then if that works, add one of the used SSD;s into slot 2 for Hyper Cache followed by adding 2 of the original "Used” HDD's. …

Must have missed this thread previously.

Yes, boot your TNAS installed with only the single fresh/Secure Erased NVMe drive onto which you'd like for the system to reside.

Once that's setup & within TOS (don't add users yet & disable all file/network services if any activate), add those other mechanical drives to build the storage pool, using whichever standard you'd like, from what's available within TOS.

Add the cache SSD afterwards (still without users & services) & configure it as such within TOS.

It should be the way you've asked at this point:

• NVMe as system

• Mechanical drives as storage pool

• Other SSD as cache

Now setup your users, activate file/network services & adjust to your preferences, as required.

If using docker, VirtualBox, or any available community apps, set these up accordingly.

[PeteC]

Nothing works, OS always ends up on the HDDs and I never get the option to select an SSD

I'm pretty sure nothing gets left "in firmware". The "undocumented reset" might just be a bios reset or similar. Not all boards have it and/or some don't have a pin-hole to access it.

I have an idea I know where it "goes wrong" but I can't perform the operations myself to provide screenshots as my devices are "fully occupied" on other stuff.

At a point early on in the initialization/installation there will be a dialogue presented that has 2 buttons in lower right corner. The left-hand of these is (or was*) labelled "Esc". Now, that does not mean you can press the keyboard "esc" key . CLICK on "Esc" Button and that should take you to the continuation of the manual install. Otherwise it goes through the default. There should also be, during process, options to "download bootloader" which I usually choose to be surer I have the most (??) up-to-date and/or "correct" (??) version.

*I have mentioned this (poor identification) in a previous post, but I don't think it has changed.
Just working from memory - and that may be defective

Thanks Gremlin

Please accept a virtual beer, you were correct I'd misinterpreted the ESC button on the bottom right during initializaion
Hours, no days wasted but never mind It's up and running

Once Again BIG THANKS

Pete

[Gremlin]

Virtually consumed