Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2017 21:56:23 -0700 From: David Christensen <dpchrist@holgerdanske.com> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Is it possible to create ZFS tank on USB media ? Message-ID: <7070c1c3-c7a6-e46b-6b00-008a368e2760@holgerdanske.com> In-Reply-To: <VI1PR02MB12007D681F50A59EBB58CA9EF6060@VI1PR02MB1200.eurprd02.prod.outlook.com> References: <VI1PR02MB12004B1D8A87B3E247FC1A66F6040@VI1PR02MB1200.eurprd02.prod.outlook.com> <e2f76fb0-05e0-5a53-1730-a5a64291c407@holgerdanske.com> <VI1PR02MB120024156110981D6A3B4C80F6060@VI1PR02MB1200.eurprd02.prod.outlook.com> <VI1PR02MB12007D681F50A59EBB58CA9EF6060@VI1PR02MB1200.eurprd02.prod.outlook.com>
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On 04/17/2017 12:34 PM, Manish Jain wrote: > Being new to ZFS, I wonder if is possible to create ZFS root on > removable media like a USB pen drive ? One of my favorite tricks is to use the Debian GNU/Linux installer to install to a (BIOS, MBR) 16 GB USB 3.0 flash drive -- for use as a poor-man's SSD for low-end machines, as a "portable" desktop, as a "rescue/repair/test" live image, etc. I have a couple USB flash drives with Debian 7; I need to try it with Debian 8. It's been a couple of years since I tried installing FreeBSD onto a USB flash drive using the FreeBSD installer. The last time I tried, apparently such was not supported. Various readers of this mailing list suggested various techniques for installing by hand, but I was then, and still would be now, looking for an OOTB KISS solution. > Logically, it sounds pretty cool - and a convenient way of migrating > with just a single MBR slice available : > > a) create a ZFS tank on USB > b) rsync your installation to ztank > c) boot from USB > d) create a second tank : this time on the slice that originally was UFS > e) rsync ztank to ztank2 > > Is that too weird ? Impossible ? Thanks for shedding any light. I don't know enough FreeBSD or ZFS to comment. > (As already mentioned in a post I just made to f-q, my MBR slice index > corruption has been taken care of - by - of all people - Microsoft, : - ) > > I used Windows to create a new slice, a Windows reshuffled the slice > indexes to pack them in the normal order). I still prefer and recommend one OS per system disk. The USB flash drive trick is ideal for computers with space for only one drive, such as laptops. David
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