Successful upgrade from FreeNAS to NAS4Free

[PC_Hater]

I decided it was time to do the upgrade on the server I use for holding the flac and mp3 files for my Sonos hifi system.
It took 4 attempts to get the upgrade done, and I had to change the BIOS settings so it could find the SD drive to startup from. Why did that change? Who knows.

Points to note:-
1) the webgui upgrade doesn't work when going from FreeNAS to NAS4Free.
2) login to your FreeNAS system using the webgui and save each page as an html file so you have something to refer back to.
3) I did save the original FreeNAS config file as recommended in some of the posts here just in case I needed it. I didn't need it.
4) I found the only way I could do the install was to use the Live CD in an external USB CD drive and just do a new embedded install to the 4GB SD drive.
5) when you have logged into the webgui on your new NAS4Free server you will find the info you saved earlier very useful - but be aware that 'extra' info will be needed to set things up properly.
6) The only service I use is SMB/CIFS. As stated in other posts here I had to use the NT1 setting to allow anonymous connection as 'guest'.

The server is a cheap Foxconn barebones box with the Intel Atom cpu running at 1.6GHz, 1GB of RAM, a 4GB SD to boot from and a 7200rpm 200GB laptop hard drive formatted as UFS for the data. There is no swap partition, it is not needed. The data rate for audio is only just over 1.5MB per second so the hard drive is throttled back to run slowly and quietly. The CPU graph in the webgui barely registers, I have never seen it as high as 2%. Only 300MB or so of the RAM is used. Under FreeNAS the server would stop but not power down when sent the shutdown command from the webgui. I blamed the Foxconn BIOS for that. Wrong! With NAS4Free shutdown means shutdown and the system powers off. So far the cpu and hard drive temperatures are lower too.

System Spec:-
NAS4Free Version: 9.1.0.1 - Sandstorm (revision 573)
Platform: x86-embedded on Intel Atom CPU N270 @1.60GHz
System: FOXCONN QBOX Bios: 080015 05/13/2009
RAM: 1GB
system drive: 4GB SD
data drive ada0: Hitachi Travelstor 220GB formatted as UFS (GPT and Soft Updates)

(edited to add system spec as required by forum rules)

[al562]

Hi PC_Hater,

Welcome to the forum and thank you for explaining your upgrade process . When you create a new topic, please remember to post information as required by the Forum Rules & Guidelines. Using the report generator is easy and documents your system in a standard way that makes for easy comparison.

Glad to know your server is up and running well after the upgrade, I am sure your experience will help others thinking of doing something similar.
I have a few comments:

I had to change the BIOS settings so it could find the SD drive to startup from. Why did that change? Who knows.

The way devices are enumerated by FreeBSD v.9 changed and this may require BIOS update or change in settings.

1) the webgui upgrade doesn't work when going from FreeNAS to NAS4Free.

Correct, this is documented in the upgrade FAQs, etc.

2) login to your FreeNAS system using the webgui and save each page as an html file so you have something to refer back to.

This is very good advice which more people should follow, it was very smart of you to do this.

3) I did save the original FreeNAS config file . . . . I didn't need it.

Most people do not need it, but it is smart to have just in case.

4) I found the only way I could do the install was to use the Live CD in an external USB CD drive

Also documented in the upgrade FAQs. As an alternative, you could also have used the LiveUSB to do the upgrade.

Regards,
Al

[PC_Hater]

The LiveUSB would not play nicely - hence the four attempts and the use of the Live CD!