Questions about media severs - Page 2

douggmc · 07-20-2012, 19:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by srhoades

I like the idea of Open Media Vault. However what if I start running out of storage? Would I have to create a second RAID and copy it over, or can I easily extend the partition if I swap out the disks one by one on the existing array?

It depends on how you set it up initially. Since you mentioned RAID ... I'm assuming you will have done that initially. If you run out of space in the future, you can add additional drive(s) to your array and "grow" the array ... right from the webgui. It also has an LVM plugin, which would let you achieve the goal of "growing" your storage space. It might not be as polished as a ReadyNAS (yet) ... but it is free and open source

srhoades · 07-20-2012, 20:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by douggmc

So you downloaded the ISO, burnt it to a CD, and went the the install process .... but now upon first boot you are getting blank screen?

A few things to try:
1) I noticed you said DVD. The ISO is only about 260MB. Do you have any CDs you can burn to? I think I recall having a similar issue trying to burn an ISO that I think was intended for a CD, onto a DVD (I wouldn't think it would matter though).

2) Try re-downloading the ISO: http://sourceforge.net/projects/open...ult/files/0.3/ I've had corrupted ISOs before and it seemingly installs fine, but really something is goofed up. Actually ... I would do this first.

3) Instead of burning the ISO to CD, if you have a USB stick laying around ... you can instead write the image to that. This assumes your target machine can boot the install media from USB. I actually do this mostly nowadays. Instructions: http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawik...allation_media .... the cliff notes version: download unetbootin ( http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/ ) and use it to copy the image from the ISO to the USB stick (or if you are on a Mac or Linux machine just drop to the shell and use "dd" command).

4) Lastly, have you installed any other linux distro on your target machine before with success? You could download the base Debian ISO and see if that installs. This would rule out the compatibility question (i.e., if Debian installs, than OMV should too).

You misunderstand. It booted, created the partition on the install drive, installed the OS, everything. It then said it was finished and it was going to reboot. I removed the CD and it won't boot upon restart. I checked the boot order in the BIOS and it is correct.

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srhoades · 07-20-2012, 20:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drjones

Again, my bent on this is clear; I'm a ReadyNAS fan, for reasons I've already outlined.....that said, with my 6-bay, as you add drives, you are given the option in the GUI to expand the volume capacity or add dual-disk redundancy.

Could not possibly be more simple.....

I am aware of the XRAID technology that netgear uses but even the 4 bay is over $500. That is a big chunk of change.

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douggmc · 07-20-2012, 20:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by srhoades

You misunderstand. It booted, created the partition on the install drive, installed the OS, everything. It then said it was finished and it was going to reboot. I removed the CD and it won't boot upon restart. I checked the boot order in the BIOS and it is correct.

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I hear ya ... One would think that if the ISO was corrupted, the install would have failed at some point before completing (or maybe not even booted the CD/DVD). I've had similar experience as yours installing other distros where seemingly the install process worked fine, but would not subsequently boot.

Maybe you have tried it already .. don't know. But if interested in trying again, I would start with a redownload of the ISO and go from there.

Drjones · 07-20-2012, 20:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by srhoades

I am aware of the XRAID technology that netgear uses but even the 4 bay is over $500. That is a big chunk of change.

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I guess, but what's your time worth?

IndyGunFreak · 07-20-2012, 21:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by srhoades

You misunderstand. It booted, created the partition on the install drive, installed the OS, everything. It then said it was finished and it was going to reboot. I removed the CD and it won't boot upon restart. I checked the boot order in the BIOS and it is correct.

Outdoor Hub mobile, the outdoor information engine

I've ran into this before with OMV(and other linux distros).. do you have more than 1 drive currently in the system, or do you only have the "OS" drive.

At the end of the process when you choose to install grub, it defaults to "/dev/sda". So if for some reason your "OS drive" is not /dev/sda... then grub will likely not get installed, or will get installed to the wrong drive.

Easiest way to overcome this.. Boot the CD again and do a clean install again, when it comes time to partition the drive, make a note of the drive that you're installing to (/dev/sdX).

Continue the install process as normal, and when it comes time to install grub, choose "NO". It will then ask you to manually target where you want grub... put the drive path you recorded earlier in the install process (/dev/sdX)

Reboot, make sure your OMV drive is first in the boot sequence, and see if that fixes the problem.

srhoades · 07-21-2012, 10:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by IndyGunFreak

I've ran into this before with OMV(and other linux distros).. do you have more than 1 drive currently in the system, or do you only have the "OS" drive.

At the end of the process when you choose to install grub, it defaults to "/dev/sda". So if for some reason your "OS drive" is not /dev/sda... then grub will likely not get installed, or will get installed to the wrong drive.

Easiest way to overcome this.. Boot the CD again and do a clean install again, when it comes time to partition the drive, make a note of the drive that you're installing to (/dev/sdX).

Continue the install process as normal, and when it comes time to install grub, choose "NO". It will then ask you to manually target where you want grub... put the drive path you recorded earlier in the install process (/dev/sdX)

Reboot, make sure your OMV drive is first in the boot sequence, and see if that fixes the problem.

That is probably it. I did have a second drive installed to use a test drive for the actual NAS. I'll give this a go later today.

srhoades · 07-21-2012, 12:03

I ran the install again and it automatically installs GRUB to sda, it does not give an option to cancel to change that. Although iritating I will just move the SATA cables on the motherboard to make the drive I want to install the OS to as sda.

srhoades · 07-21-2012, 12:48

Success.

douggmc · 07-21-2012, 13:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by srhoades

Success.

Sweet!

srhoades · 07-21-2012, 16:50

A buddy of mine pointed me to XBMC

http://xbmc.org/

I like that you get the art covers and descriptions for the movies and I like that you can connect to an Apple TV. But then I would need another computer, or figure out how to get it running in a VM in my Windows box and talk to the Open Media Vault library.

IndyGunFreak · 07-21-2012, 18:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by srhoades

I ran the install again and it automatically installs GRUB to sda, it does not give an option to cancel to change that. Although iritating I will just move the SATA cables on the motherboard to make the drive I want to install the OS to as sda.

Did you choose "NO" when it asked to install the grub bootloader? If you would have, you would have gotten an option to type a path(/dev/sdX). "Yes" automatically installs to sda. The Debian installer has never installed grub "automatically"... even if there's only 1 drive in the system.

It sounds like my diagnosis was correct though... your "OS" drive was likely getting detected as sdb.. You didn't really have to switch the cables, you could have just unplugged the other drive's sata cable, ran the install, then plugged it back in.

Regardless, glad you got it all working. I was pretty sure that was the problem when you explained your problem.

srhoades · 07-21-2012, 20:09

It never asked if I wanted to install grub. It was part of the automated install process. This release just came out a few days ago do perhaps it changed from what you are accustomed to.

IndyGunFreak · 07-22-2012, 01:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by srhoades

It never asked if I wanted to install grub. It was part of the automated install process. This release just came out a few days ago do perhaps it changed from what you are accustomed to.

I just thought of something...

You probably chose "Text Auto" at the initial boot screen. That probably defaults to /dev/sda for grub w/o any questions. If you had chose "Text Install" it would have asked where to install grub. It's the same installer, but it does ask a couple more questions in the "text install" vs "text auto" installer.

I just checked in Vbox, with an ISO of the newest version, and was asked to install grub when I chose text install, but was not when I chose text auto.

Anyway, glad you got it all going. Add the 3rd party plugin repository, its got some good "3rd party" plugins.

IGF

mace85 · 08-05-2012, 21:27

If you have an old computer lying around, or use a desktop at home check out Plex (plexapp.com) the best part is it's free and streams to just about everything. I would use some type of NAS and store your media on that. I use a USB HD bay attached to my router (Airport Extreme) with a 2tb and 500GB Drive. My media is stored on the 2TB. Plex can also support your Netflix and Hulu feeds.

And I have used handbrake in the Past, I definitely like it!

mr.scott · 08-07-2012, 23:18

My main computer has plenty of drive space so it just runs the LG DNLA software that came with my tv.

IndyGunFreak · 08-08-2012, 16:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr.scott

My main computer has plenty of drive space so it just runs the LG DNLA software that came with my tv.

Well, if DLNA is the only thing you want to do, that works fine (assuming you have the software).

Using Linux, OMV, FreeNas, or whatever, gives you a lot more flexibility.

IGF