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    Watchguard X750e running pfSense on a SATA hard drive easily with about $10 mods

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    • V
      vizi0n
      last edited by

      @DeLorean:

      Try with the Bios 8.1 , then you have ACPI for Cpu temp readings
      and the CF card or Hard drive will be recognized automatically by the Bios without manual settings.

      Strangely it works fine on mine with b7. Maybe something else comes into play somewhere. Any difference between ACPI from B7 and B8.1?

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      • H
        harveje
        last edited by

        Actually I think I had 6 loaded, because I did not have a 7 file in by bios folder.
        And I was not sure 8.1 took because it just went back to the prompt

        The drive I have fits great and even has foam padding around it from the old application. I'll post a pic tonight.

        I am beyond tickled.
        Is there an easy way to load up the fan controller and lcd fix? Would a full backup import those items?
        I think every upgrade wipes them out.

        Thanks again

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        • V
          vizi0n
          last edited by

          For the fans I use the script described here (option A) : https://www.hexhound.com/quiet-the-fan-on-your-pfsense-watchguard-firewall/

          It allows you to set a threshold temperature and the fan adjusts automatically

          For the LCD fix, what do you mean? I'm using lcdproc-dev and it works fine on my box, and when you backup your settings it should automatically reinstall the packages when you restore from a backup. At least, it did on mine

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          • H
            harveje
            last edited by

            Yep, that's where I got my info last time, got to watch that vi command line tho…
            I finally had to copy everything into a txt doc then copy and paste into pf

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            • H
              harveje
              last edited by

              Well the ide drive fit and works so well I'm just going to use it and make a copy on a sata drive for a backup.
              Updating the Bios was the key factor. Boot up time is way faster too.
              Thanks to All

              pfs-ide.JPG
              pfs-ide.JPG_thumb

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              • A
                arganox
                last edited by

                Hi all,

                Sorry for resurrecting this thread but I figured it would be nice to keep the info together.
                I did perform this mod and all is running and booting ok.

                Though I did notice some strange errors in the logs when the devices is running:

                
                (ada0:ata0:0:0:0): READ_DMA. ACB: c8 00 97 9d 6f 49 00 00 00 00 80 00
                (ada0:ata0:0:0:0): CAM status: ATA Status Error
                (ada0:ata0:0:0:0): ATA status: 51 (DRDY SERV ERR), error: 84 (ICRC ABRT )
                (ada0:ata0:0:0:0): RES: 51 84 c6 9d 6f 09 09 00 00 50 00
                (ada0:ata0:0:0:0): Retrying command
                
                

                BIOS (v8) settings:
                IDE master is set to HDD
                Both IDE channel and Access mode are on auto

                IDE primary Master PIO and UDMA are set to Auto
                IDE HDD Block mode and IDE DMA transfer access are enabled

                I think the later two settings are posing these issues though not sure.
                Could anyone tell me how to fix this? or give me some pointers?

                Regards,

                Arganox

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                • stephenw10S
                  stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                  last edited by

                  That's using a SATA drive with an adapter or an old IDE drive?

                  Steve

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                  • A
                    arganox
                    last edited by

                    Steve,

                    Thanks for the reply.

                    I did indeed use a SATA drive with the same connectors as Vizi0n did.
                    Forgot to mention that tiny detail  ::)

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                    • stephenw10S
                      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                      last edited by

                      Hmm, I would guess that's some quirk of the adapter maybe. Assuming the drive itself is good.

                      Steve

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                      • K
                        kobzar
                        last edited by

                        Wery thanks for this manual.
                        I was repeat it in myself. And now all is fine.

                        WatchGuard x750e + 2GB + SATA-IDE 320GB

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                        • F
                          fibrewire
                          last edited by

                          @vizi0n:

                          @fibrewire:

                          You could have just gone with a Microdrive  :)

                          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microdrive

                          http://www.ebay.com/itm/230860368181

                          Yes I could, but due to the rarity, and possibility of cheap chinese knockoff, I prefer going the regular hard drive way. And it was cheaper to get 2 adapters for less than $10 vs getting a microdrive for $15-20 since I already had the hard drive. The turnaround is also quicker if I ever need to replace it.

                          I just wanted to add that 14 months later, the Microdrive swap has worked really well and is completely idiot-proof. I have a stack of drives on my desk here from that initial buy I made in December 2015 and they are all working great. Probably why Apple elected to use them in their line of iPods so many years ago. They are definitely not counterfeit, there are millions of them ready to go into a landfill and at $2/each its a headache-free way to get hard disk performance into a Watchguard appliance. Super low-power too, if the power goes out and the Watchguard appliance needs to run on a UPS.

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                          • stephenw10S
                            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                            last edited by

                            Hard to argue with $2.  ;)

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                            • D
                              DeLorean
                              last edited by

                              You can use a 2.5" Sata SSD connected to a Sata controller card,
                              thats connected with a PCI-E 1x flex riser cable to the PCI-E 4x slot on the motherboard.
                              The differents in navigating speed trough the web UI is like day and night compared to a embedded version run from CF.
                              I have a x750e thats converted like this, and runs great.

                              Grtz
                              DeLorean

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                              • K
                                kobzar
                                last edited by

                                I was do it!
                                But i have a few different moments.
                                First, after install i doesn't normally booted. pfsense 2.3.3
                                I was stuck after LAN interfaces is initialized.
                                So, i going to boot promt, insert
                                set console="comconsole"
                                boot

                                After this i setup my network interfaces and next reboot was fine.
                                I use 320 Sata drive with two partition / and swap without any problem.
                                Thanks for the manual.

                                WatchGuard x750e + 2GB + SATA-IDE 320GB

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                                • D
                                  DeLorean
                                  last edited by

                                  The x750e with 32Gb SSD connected to a Sata Controller card conversion that i made a few months ago.

                                  Grtz
                                  DeLorean

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                                  • V
                                    vizi0n
                                    last edited by

                                    @DeLorean:

                                    The x750e with 32Gb SSD connected to a Sata Controller card conversion that i made a few months ago.

                                    Grtz
                                    DeLorean

                                    That is a very nice mod!

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • D
                                      DeLorean
                                      last edited by

                                      @vizi0n:

                                      @DeLorean:

                                      The x750e with 32Gb SSD connected to a Sata Controller card conversion that i made a few months ago.

                                      Grtz
                                      DeLorean

                                      That is a very nice mod!

                                      Thank you.
                                      It was a bit of struggle to get everything together on 1 plexi plate.
                                      When de power connector is disconnected from the SSD, and after removing the 2 red backplates,
                                      the total conversion can then be slide out.

                                      Grtz
                                      DeLorean

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                                      • stephenw10S
                                        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                        last edited by

                                        Nice.  :D

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                                        • K
                                          kobzar
                                          last edited by

                                          In last time a have e error on this board.
                                          Some one have the same issue?
                                          https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=128143.msg706598#msg706598
                                          I can't diagnose problem to resolve this mistake.

                                          WatchGuard x750e + 2GB + SATA-IDE 320GB

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                                          • F
                                            Fmslick
                                            last edited by

                                            I am so happy to find this and that I am not the only one still using this hahaha!!

                                            I just got some COLO on the low low and I have a x550e (post is for a x750e so i'm a lower class :P ) w/16GB flash card in there now but I just got my 160GB IDE H.D.D. that will be install later on this week. However I am having an issue this the LED indicator lights and display, the indicator lights only come on for activity (I guess that is cool) however the display will only show cpu load. I used this https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/PfSense_on_Watchguard_Firebox#Overview and some other things here on the forum from googling but no luck.

                                            2.3.4-RELEASE (i386) - NANO
                                            built on Wed May 03 15:22:11 CDT 2017

                                            @DeLorean your mod is top of the line :)

                                            19095440_1792212197461425_2140738194708077408_o.jpg
                                            19095440_1792212197461425_2140738194708077408_o.jpg_thumb

                                            We all start same where

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