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

[vizi0n]

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

[harveje]

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

[harveje]

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

[arganox]

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

[stephenw10]

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

Steve

[arganox]

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  ::)

[stephenw10]

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

Steve

[kobzar]

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

[fibrewire]

@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.

[stephenw10]

Hard to argue with $2.  ;)

[DeLorean]

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

[kobzar]

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.

[DeLorean]

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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[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!

[DeLorean]

@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

[stephenw10]

Nice.  :D

[kobzar]

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.

[Fmslick]

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 :)

[stephenw10]

The lcdproc package should run pretty reliably in 2.3.4 with whatever option screens you selected.

To get the NIC LEDs working as expected you need the modified drivers that set the LED registers correctly. However I've seen some reports of them not running nicely in 2.3.X. YMMV.

Steve

[Fmslick]

@stephenw10:

The lcdproc package should run pretty reliably in 2.3.4 with whatever option screens you selected.

To get the NIC LEDs working as expected you need the modified drivers that set the LED registers correctly. However I've seen some reports of them not running nicely in 2.3.X. YMMV.

Steve

yeah I will have to work on the LCD a bit and I think I am one of them who is going to have the LED's not run nicely :/ I did modified the drivers and they are still the same. Guess ill have to look into this a bit more.  ::)

EDIT/ADD TO:
So I got my IDE drive and installed it, I will make a new post later on to update on the progress