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Add your first disk

BeamDisk finds the disks a server offers your Mac from the server’s address. You choose which to use and what to call them. Add Disk works in three steps: Server, Disks and Connect.

Before you start

Section titled “Before you start”
  • Your server has an iSCSI target with at least one disk (a LUN). Set up TrueNAS shows how.
  • The target allows this Mac’s initiator name. BeamDisk shows it at the top of Add Disk, under This Mac in the window’s sidebar, and in Settings → General, each with a button that copies it. Add it to the target’s allowed initiators on your server.
  • If the target uses CHAP, have its user and secret at hand.

Add the disk

Section titled “Add the disk”
  1. Click BeamDisk in the menu bar to open its window, then click Add Disk (⌘N).
  2. Enter your server’s Address, such as storage.local or 10.0.1.20. Leave Port at 3260 unless your server uses another.
  3. Choose Authentication. None: the server checks only this Mac’s initiator name. CHAP: enter the CHAP user and Secret your server expects. Mutual CHAP: also enter the server’s own user and secret under Verify the server too, so the server proves who it is.
  4. Click Find Disks. BeamDisk asks the server for its targets and lists every disk it offers this Mac, under its target, with its LUN number, size and sector size.
  5. Tick the disks you want. Give each a name (letters, numbers, - and _); BeamDisk suggests one from the target’s name. Leave Connect at login on to have the disk connect when you log in.
  6. Click Add 1 Disk (or Add 2 Disks, and so on). The last step shows each disk as it connects and attaches, then click Done.

Each disk is inspected before it appears in Finder. A disk with nothing on it yet reads Empty disk, with Format… beside it: see Format a new disk. A disk with a file system macOS reads opens in Finder like a drive plugged into the Mac.

Your first disk

Section titled “Your first disk”

The first time, BeamDisk isn’t connected yet, so the last step says Disks connect when you click Connect All. Click Done, then Connect on the Overview (or Connect All in the toolbar). The first time BeamDisk connects, it asks once to Allow BeamDisk to attach your disks: click Allow… and confirm. See Install BeamDisk.

Good to know

Section titled “Good to know”
  • Connect at login disks connect whenever BeamDisk opens. For that to happen when you log in, turn on Open at Login in Settings → General.
  • Secrets are stored in your Keychain, on this Mac only. A disk’s secret is removed when you remove the disk, unless another disk on the same target still uses it.
  • CHAP only where it’s needed. A target that lets this Mac in without CHAP is added without it, even if you entered CHAP details for the server. If you chose None and the server wants CHAP, Add Disk switches to CHAP and asks for the user and secret.
  • Disks already on this Mac are listed as Already added as their name, and can’t be added twice.
  • 4 KiB sectors. A disk with 4,096-byte sectors carries a note: 4 KiB sectors: opens read-only if it holds a Windows or Linux file system. See File systems.
  • Names must be different from every other disk’s name on this Mac, ignoring case. BeamDisk says so if two clash.
  • Missing a target? The server may not allow this Mac’s initiator name for it. If a target is listed but its disks aren’t, BeamDisk says why, in a note under the list.

If Find Disks can’t reach the server or finds nothing, the message under the form says why: see Add Disk can’t find my disks.

More disks from a server

Section titled “More disks from a server”

Once you’ve added disks from a server, Add Disk starts with it: choose the server and click Find Disks, and it’s asked with the details it was added with. Another server… opens the form for a new one. On a server’s page, Add Disk goes straight to that server’s disks, and Add… beside a disk there ticks it for you. See A server’s page.

Next

Section titled “Next”