I was really trying hard to work around the limitations!
I was really impressed by the app store and the ability for apps to run in the web GUI, and it has promise, but there is one glaring omission that makes it unusable for me. I need to be able to see the ZimaCube as a mountable storage device on my Mac. Create RAIDs from the drives, format and mount on my desktop, and then have the best of both worlds … local and “cloud” storage, along with cloud based services!
From the responses I have received online and in the forum, this does not look possible and thus it will not work out. SMB is the only way to connect it to my MacOS system, and that was slow and glitchy and not acceptable.
Does ANYONE willing to buy the ZimaCube from me that wants this solution? I still have all the original packaging and will pack it up tonight. It comes with the optional 10gb PCIe card that can be put into the ZimaCube (not done - never opened). It is in pristine (NEW) condition, only the drive bays were pulled out to put drives in.
I backed the project via Kickstarter for US$617.75 (HK$ 4,824).
While you are waiting to see if someone will buy this from you. I have a few questions.
The Zimacube is primarily a NAS (Network Attached Storage), but from what I’ve been reading it sounds like you are trying to use it as both a DAS (Direct Attached Storage) and a NAS ? Is this accurate?
I’m just trying to think of any devices which will work as both. Even devices which happen to do “both” use Thunderbolt 4 to Thunderbolt 4 as a mock Network connection so sharing would still continue to be using SAMBA/SMB across a network.
TBT, ZimaOS is very immature and basic in so far as NAS’s operating systems are concerned.
Have you tried using TrueNAS Scale? (note scale not core) on it? Yes it will still be via SAMBA/SMB and not native AFP, buit in my mixed Windows, Linux, OS/X environment TrueNAS scale works extremely well for me, using the Zimacube as a NAS.
Even with my MBP connected to WiFi I get stable transfer speeds well over 500Mbit without any problems.
I have decided to keep my old Synology 918+ as my primary NAS and Backup target.
I will use the ZimaCube as a device for experimentation and testing. At least for me, the ZimaCube has potential as a platform for hacking, but not as a NAS that just works or as a device that I trust will protect my important data.
My use case is probably unusual; I have 10s of TBs of data stored remotely that I keep a copy of locally. If I lose the local data it is no big deal… it will just make my ISP very grumpy as I saturate my download link downloading the data.
OK, I would love to pick your brains on TrueNAS. I have downloaded the TrueNAS Scale software. I am going to continue to read and learn about this, what settings and how did you install it?
Can you use both ZimaOS and TrueNAS at the same time?
OK, from what I have read, this is a whole OS, so I am thinking you are running this on a separate computer with attached storage? I did see ZVM on Zima … have not read much about this yet, could you run it as a VM? Still digging…
Ack! I created a bootable flash drive using balenaEtcher of TrueNAS Scale (just downlaoded).
But I can not get the ZimaCube to boot from the flash drive. GRUB gives SLOT A and SLOT B, I have tried both… and it just boots into ZimaOS.
TrueNAS Scale is a full Operating system, it replaces the ZimaOS.
When you first power on your Zimacube, hit F11 a few times, this should bring up the boot menu and give you an option to boot off the USB drive. This should bring you to the installer. If you see a line at the boot menu with your USB Drive and UEFI that is the option you want to use for the Zimacube as it uses UEFI boot.
This is actually pretty good general tutorial for installing and getting started with TrueNAS Scale.
Someone else made a tutorial for installing it as well here: It’s a little outdated, but still relevant. Replace where it says TrueNAS Core with TrueNAS Scale.
don’t overthink it, download the installer, image it to usb install an play, worst that can happen is you re-intall it again and again as you change mind
so far i have tested mine with truenas, proxmox, zimaos, xpenology, i guess i should try unriad next uses truenas scale not core, and no you can’t have multiple OSs -and remember you can always re-install zimaos if you desire at any time!
have fun, sounds like you found good guides
once you know what you want then you can do final install and start puting lots of data on it!
Based on your description, you may need a device between NAS and DAS, ZimaCube may be able to do this. After you install ZimaClient on Mac or WIndows, the software will automatically select the fastest connection solution. If there is a thunderbolt cable connection, the software will use it. It should be noted that although it is shown as a bridge device, in this case the transmission speed can reach thunderbolt speed. @jewettg
I have not seen the boot issue when it comes etcher not making a good boot disk like you are describing. When I have an image that won’t seem to write correctly, I typically use dd on linux or rufus on Windows which usually offers, of available, dd mode write.
What conclusion did you come to? I just got mine for the same reason, and am now realizing I spent a grand on a paperweight. I just need mine to mount on my Mac like regular hard drives.
I’ve not found this to work very well yet. I have mine connected both via thunderbolt and via my network. It almost always defaults to the LAN connection versus thunderbolt. I was told to actually disconnect it from the LAN and try, but the thunderbolt connection is still so unstable I’ve really not been able to use it directly. It was also suggested to not even use the Zimaclient and connect to SMB, but I found that to still be unstable.
uses truenas scale not core, and no you can’t have multiple OSs -and remember you can always re-install zimaos if you desire at any time!