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    SOLVED: USB M.2 SSD for use with SWAP

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
    42 Posts 2 Posters 3.0k Views
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    • stephenw10S
      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
      last edited by

      To be clear I have no idea if that would work! 😉 If I had such an adapter I would try it out of curiosity.

      JonathanLeeJ 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • JonathanLeeJ
        JonathanLee @stephenw10
        last edited by JonathanLee

        @stephenw10 there is some posts about SSD not working in that slot for 1100 but they are using minipcie drives, is it only usb2.0 speed on the mpcie or faster? Thanks for the reply. I am excited but it would have to have a cable because it would be to long in a 2100. It’s one lane, would it only top out at Single Direction: 2.5 Gbps/200MBps
        Dual Direction: 5 Gbps/400MBps

        That is where the 5gbps usb0 is at I am thinking on start up logs

        Make sure to upvote

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        • JonathanLeeJ
          JonathanLee @stephenw10
          last edited by JonathanLee

          @stephenw10

          Sintech M.2 (NGFF) nVME SSD to Mini PCIe Adapter with 20cm Cable

          I am going to try it with the Intel Optane for swap. It should make use of the usb0 bus technically that is what it is. As long as the drive is connected and has power it should see it. Maybe not boot from it but be able to gpart it and activate it. I have the m key drive so maybe I can get access to 5gbps

          Make sure to upvote

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          • stephenw10S
            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
            last edited by

            All SSDs I've seen that fit the mPCIe format are mSATA it that socket is not wired for mSATA. It's PCIe only. So theoretically an NVMe drive in that format would be seen on the PCIe bus. As would an m.2 drive in a PCI adapter. Theoretically!

            In reality I've never seen an NVMe drive in aarch64 and have no way to test it. But I'd expect it to work.

            JonathanLeeJ 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 1
            • JonathanLeeJ
              JonathanLee @stephenw10
              last edited by

              @stephenw10 getting it to fit will be a challenge, with the cable I should be able to add nonconductive tape on the bottom of it and Velcro it, the other straight adapters would be too long it would hit the back, and the 90 degree one would work but put the drive directly over the cpu and memory with the added heat that would cause issues. I am thinking about velcroing it to the top side where it is close to the vented area, adding a heat sink or something to it.

              Make sure to upvote

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              • JonathanLeeJ
                JonathanLee @stephenw10
                last edited by

                @stephenw10 It works !!!

                Amazing!!!

                e9bd6dc9-4c76-4423-a1a8-7e3e93424d0d-image.png

                Screenshot 2024-12-22 at 20.22.49.png
                (nda0: nvme version 1.3 x1 (max x2) lanes PCIe Gen2 (max Gen3) link)

                I still do not know how to access the optane side of this as you can see it only sees 238 the other 16 is not shown is it automatically assigned?

                Make sure to upvote

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                • JonathanLeeJ
                  JonathanLee
                  last edited by

                  Screenshot 2024-12-22 at 20.27.41.png

                  nvme

                  Screenshot 2024-12-22 at 20.29.03.png

                  geom -t

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                  • JonathanLeeJ
                    JonathanLee
                    last edited by

                    Screenshot 2024-12-22 at 20.30.59.png

                    (pciconf -vI)

                    Make sure to upvote

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                    • JonathanLeeJ
                      JonathanLee
                      last edited by

                      Screenshot 2024-12-22 at 20.31.54.png

                      It is seeing it what one is the optane memory vs the ssd part of it ? I think it is nvme0ns1

                      Make sure to upvote

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                      • JonathanLeeJ
                        JonathanLee
                        last edited by

                        Screenshot 2024-12-22 at 20.34.12.png

                        This has to be it nvme0ns1 shows 244 its 256GB SSD and 16GB Optane

                        Make sure to upvote

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                        • stephenw10S
                          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                          last edited by

                          Nice. So that's in a USB enclosure of some sort?

                          JonathanLeeJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • JonathanLeeJ
                            JonathanLee @stephenw10
                            last edited by JonathanLee

                            @stephenw10 thanks for the reply and recommendations. yes but do I have to use specific NVMecontroler commands now to reformat it or is that automatic ? I was reading that it shows up with the n infront of the da0. Again I do not know how to access the Optane side of this. I have never played with NVMe commands before I found some on the FreeBSD forum

                            Shell Output - nvmecontrol identify nvme0
                            Controller Capabilities/Features
                            ================================
                            Vendor ID:                   8086
                            Subsystem Vendor ID:         8086
                            Serial Number:               BTTE9510086T256D-1
                            Model Number:                INTEL HBRPEKNX0101AH
                            Firmware Version:            HPS1
                            Recommended Arb Burst:       6
                            IEEE OUI Identifier:         5c d2 e4
                            Multi-Path I/O Capabilities: Not Supported
                            Max Data Transfer Size:      131072 bytes
                            Sanitize Crypto Erase:       Supported
                            Sanitize Block Erase:        Supported
                            Sanitize Overwrite:          Not Supported
                            Sanitize NDI:                Not Supported
                            Sanitize NODMMAS:            Undefined
                            Controller ID:               0x0001
                            Version:                     1.3.0
                            
                            Admin Command Set Attributes
                            ============================
                            Security Send/Receive:       Not Supported
                            Format NVM:                  Supported
                            Firmware Activate/Download:  Supported
                            Namespace Management:        Not Supported
                            Device Self-test:            Supported
                            Directives:                  Not Supported
                            NVMe-MI Send/Receive:        Not Supported
                            Virtualization Management:   Not Supported
                            Doorbell Buffer Config:      Not Supported
                            Get LBA Status:              Not Supported
                            Sanitize:                    crypto, block,
                            Abort Command Limit:         4
                            Async Event Request Limit:   8
                            Number of Firmware Slots:    2
                            Firmware Slot 1 Read-Only:   No
                            Per-Namespace SMART Log:     Yes
                            Error Log Page Entries:      256
                            Number of Power States:      5
                            Total NVM Capacity:          0 bytes
                            Unallocated NVM Capacity:    0 bytes
                            Firmware Update Granularity: 00 (Not Reported)
                            Host Buffer Preferred Size:  0 bytes
                            Host Buffer Minimum Size:    0 bytes
                            
                            NVM Command Set Attributes
                            ==========================
                            Submission Queue Entry Size
                              Max:                       64
                              Min:                       64
                            Completion Queue Entry Size
                              Max:                       16
                              Min:                       16
                            Number of Namespaces:        1
                            Compare Command:             Supported
                            Write Uncorrectable Command: Supported
                            Dataset Management Command:  Supported
                            Write Zeroes Command:        Supported
                            Save Features:               Supported
                            Reservations:                Not Supported
                            Timestamp feature:           Supported
                            Verify feature:              Not Supported
                            Fused Operation Support:     Not Supported
                            Format NVM Attributes:       Crypto Erase, Per-NS Erase, Per-NS Format
                            Volatile Write Cache:        Present
                            
                            NVM Subsystem Name:          nqn.2019-51.com.intel:nvm-subsystem-sn-btte9510086t256d-1
                            

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                            • stephenw10S
                              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                              last edited by

                              Shouldn't be any special commands required.

                              ndaX is how I expect any NVMe drive to appear.

                              The interesting thing would be to see how the PCIe device appears as presumably it's a different PCIe bus/controller connected via USB.

                              JonathanLeeJ 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 1
                              • JonathanLeeJ
                                JonathanLee @stephenw10
                                last edited by

                                @stephenw10
                                IMG_1536.png

                                Is this what you are looking for ?

                                Make sure to upvote

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                                • JonathanLeeJ
                                  JonathanLee @stephenw10
                                  last edited by JonathanLee

                                  @stephenw10 it’s no longer on usb it’s over the mPCIE adapter to M.2 it works without the usb ports

                                  IMG_1537.png

                                  Make sure to upvote

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                                  • stephenw10S
                                    stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                    last edited by

                                    Ah, that's interesting. Nice! What pfSense version is that in?

                                    JonathanLeeJ 4 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • JonathanLeeJ
                                      JonathanLee @stephenw10
                                      last edited by JonathanLee

                                      @stephenw10 the everything bagel version 23.05. SG-2100-MAX the model that has the SafeXcel chip. Thank you for the recommendations. Merry Christmas

                                      Make sure to upvote

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                      • JonathanLeeJ
                                        JonathanLee @stephenw10
                                        last edited by

                                        @stephenw10 Intel told me when I asked on the community forum that it’s no longer supported to ask on the community forum. Maybe I am on the wrong forum.

                                        https://community.intel.com/t5/Intel-Optane-Solid-State-Drives/Optane-H10-16GB-256SSD/m-p/1651781/emcs_t/S2h8ZW1haWx8dG9waWNfc3Vic2NyaXB0aW9ufE01MUw4VFQ2UDlJVTgxfDE2NTE3ODF8U1VCU0NSSVBUSU9OU3xoSw#M3190

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                                        • JonathanLeeJ
                                          JonathanLee @stephenw10
                                          last edited by JonathanLee

                                          @stephenw10

                                          Supplies mPCIe to M.2 NVMe adapter, Intel Optane Memory NVMe drive, Velcro, Mylar tape to protect area below pins etc.

                                          Velco the assembly close to the lights. What do you think? it was that or place it directly onto of the network ports.

                                          I just had to be careful routing the cable after.

                                          IMG_1562.jpg

                                          when closed the drive does not touch anything it is close but it works I have the mylar tape as a safety precaution. The original 2100 does not have any heatsinks so I think it should be ok I know the NVMe drives get hot it concerns me again my onboard ram has heat sinks also.

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                                          • JonathanLeeJ
                                            JonathanLee @stephenw10
                                            last edited by

                                            @stephenw10 Is there a way to add a fan internally that you know of? I see some pins next to the CPU but I can't find any documentation about it. I was thinking about adding an external USB fan. I just feel like the added heat could cause issues.

                                            Make sure to upvote

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