Running FreeNAS on a USB stick

 

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This topic contains 4 replies, has 3 voices, and was last updated by Joey Joey 7 years, 11 months ago.

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  • #1600

    PC Genie
    Member

    I’ve followed instructions I’ve found on the internet and on YouTube, but I cannot get this to work. When I’m saying “Running FreeNAS on a USB stick”, I mean to run it on a USB stick as a primary hard drive, not to install FreeNAS from a USB stick onto a computer hard drive. Please understand the distinction that I’m asking.

    I mean to use the USB stick as a hard drive, because the FreeNAS operating system is very small and to run it from a hard drive is a huge waste of space.
    Can anyone help me?

  • #1601
    Rojo
    Rojo
    Moderator

    Hello PC Genie,

    First you will have to make that USB bootable, follow this link for instructions:
    https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj200124%28v=ws.11%29.aspx

    Then you have to choose it to boot from it, follow this link for instructions:
    http://lifehacker.com/5991848/how-to-boot-from-a-cd-or-usb-drive-on-any-pc

    I hope this is all you need,

    Rojo

  • #1602

    PC Genie
    Member

    Unfortunately you didn’t understand my request. Please re-read it.

  • #1603
    Rojo
    Rojo
    Moderator

    Yea, I don’t think I understand what you are asking for.
    You could create a small partition in your hard drive dedicate to what you want as well.

  • #1605
    Joey
    Joey
    Moderator

    Hi PC Genie. Here is what you need to do…

    Step 1 – Download FreeNAS to your PC http://freenas.org/download-freenas-release/
    Step 2 – Download UNetbootin to your PC https://unetbootin.github.io/
    Step 3 – Run UNetbootin. Select the “Diskimage” option. Follow the instructions you see on the UNetbootin page.
    **** From there, just plug in your USB drive into a PC that is turned off. Then power it up. The PC must be set to boot from a USB drive, or else it will always fail ****

    Please Note: Sometimes UNetbootin does not work with some operating systems like FreeNAS. If it does not work with the FreeNAS version you are using then switch to a different program that is similar to UNetbootin. Here are 2 different programs that do the same thing.
    http://live.learnfree.eu/en/
    http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/

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