We travelled to Sri Lanka in January and February 2025, and I can finally say:
The photographs are done!
Don’t want to read all the technical waffle? No problem. You can jump straight to the Andysworld! Holiday Photograph Album and select Qatar & Sri Lanka, and/or visit YouTube to watch lots of clips, I rendered into a 32 minute video, just in case your tempted to visit Sri Lanka!
Youtube video is here –
After more than a year of sitting on the original collection, sorting through photographs, removing the rubbish, organising everything, converting file formats, writing scripts and re-coding the website album, the Sri Lanka 2025 photographs are finally ready and published on Andysworld!
And it turns out that getting a holiday photo album published is considerably more complicated than simply clicking the “Upload” button.
1,500+ Photographs and Videos
When we came home from Sri Lanka, we had managed to accumulate more than 1,500 photographs and videos.
And all of them were taken using just two phones:
iPhone 8
iPhone 13 Pro Max
No SLR.
No DSLR.
No expensive lenses.
No professional photography equipment.
Just two iPhones.
And between them, they managed to capture more than 1,500 photographs and videos during our Sri Lankan adventure.
Looking back through them, I’m genuinely impressed by just how good some of the photographs are.
Of course, not all of them made the final cut.
In fact, the original collection of more than 1,500 eventually became a much more manageable collection of around 1,000 photographs to work through.
First Stop – iCloud
The first challenge was simply getting everything together.
The photographs had been taken on two different iPhones and stored in iCloud, so the first job was to download the complete collection.
From there, everything was moved onto our Synology NAS, giving us a proper local copy of the photographs and videos.
That gave us somewhere sensible to work from and, importantly, somewhere to keep the original collection safely stored.
Synology Photos
Once everything was on the NAS, the photographs were loaded into Synology Photos.
This is where the serious sorting began.
Lindsey worked through the collection and organised the photographs by location, while at the same time identifying the photographs that simply weren’t worth keeping.
And there were plenty of those.
Duplicates
Blurry photographs
Accidental photographs
People blinking
People looking the wrong way
Photographs that were almost identical
Photographs where we still don’t know why we took them
And then there was the wildlife.
If an elephant moves its trunk slightly, that’s obviously a completely different photograph.
Apparently.
At one point we had an impressive collection of photographs of essentially the same elephant.
Eventually, the great Sri Lankan photograph cull was complete.
What remained was our definitive collection.
Then I Had To Download Them Again!
With the final collection selected, the photographs were downloaded from the Synology onto a PC for the final preparation.
And this is where things got a little more technical.
The iPhones had produced photographs in HEIC format.
For Andysworld, I wanted standard JPG files.
So the next step was:
HEIC -> JPG
But that wasn’t enough.
I also wanted a consistent file naming convention.
That meant dealing with the various possible file extensions:
.HEIC
.JPEG
.jpeg
.JPG
.jpg
Everything needed to end up as:
.jpg
And the filenames themselves needed to be lowercase.
So something like:
SriLanka-IMG_1234.JPEG
became:
srilanka-img_1234.jpg
PowerShell and Python To The Rescue
There was absolutely no way I was going to manually rename hundreds of photographs.
That’s what scripting is for.
I used a combination of PowerShell and Python to automate the repetitive parts of the process.
The scripts handled the file preparation, including:
Converting HEIC photographs to JPG
Renaming JPEG files
Standardising file extensions
Converting filenames to lowercase
Applying a consistent naming convention
Preparing the final collection for the website
It’s a simple rule:
If you have to do something hundreds of times, write a script.
And Finally – Andysworld
With the photographs finally sorted, culled, converted and renamed, there was one final job.
Build the album.
These photographs aren’t simply being dumped into a generic photo-sharing service.
They’re being added to the custom album system on Andysworld.
That meant going back into the code and creating the Sri Lanka 2025 album.
The photographs had to be incorporated into the various locations, the album structure had to be created, and the website code had to be updated.
Then came the testing.
Check the thumbnails
Check the full-size photographs
Check the navigation
Check the location structure
Check the album layout
Check everything works on different devices
And finally…
Upload everything to Andysworld.
Why Go To All This Trouble?
Why not just upload the photographs to Facebook, Google Photos or one of the many other photo-sharing services?
Because that’s not really what I wanted.
These are our memories of a fantastic trip, and I wanted to create a proper photographic record that we could come back to in the future.
The Synology gives us the local archive.
Synology Photos gives us the organisation and sorting.
Lindsey helped turn more than 1,500 photographs into a definitive collection.
PowerShell and Python dealt with the repetitive technical work.
And Andysworld gives me complete control over the final album.
It was considerably more work than simply uploading a few photographs.
But it’s also considerably more satisfying.
18 Months Later…
The trip itself lasted a few weeks.
The photographs took seconds to capture.
Getting them ready for publication took considerably longer.
But finally, 18 months later, the job is done.
More than 1,500 photographs and videos have been downloaded, sorted, culled, organised, converted and processed.
The rubbish has gone.
The good photographs have survived.
The filenames are lowercase.
The HEIC files have become JPGs.
The custom album has been coded.
And the finished collection is now sitting on Andysworld.
So, after all this time…
Welcome Back To Sri Lanka!
The Sri Lanka 2025 photographs are finally ready.
And yes, somewhere in that collection there are still probably more photographs of elephants than anyone really needs.
But that’s what holidays are all about.
Memories, photographs, stories…
…and occasionally taking the same photograph twenty times because the elephant moved its trunk.
Sri Lanka 2025 – finally finished, finally published, and finally ready to enjoy.
Welcome to our Sri Lanka 2025 photo album on Andysworld!
I know, I know. Five months is a long time between posts, but I’ve been keeping myself rather busy behind the scenes. So, when I finally sat down to write something, I thought I’d pick a topic that’s a little more… topical.
And what could possibly be more topical than Fortnite Sprites?
Yep — those little things.
Got to catch them all!
If you’ve played Fortnite recently, you’ll know that Sprites have become another little part of the Fortnite experience. They’re small, they’re cute, they’re useful… and, inevitably, you start wanting to catch them all.
It reminds me of Pokémon.
You’ve got to catch them all!
Only this time, rather than wandering around the Pokémon world throwing Poké Balls at everything that moves, you’re running around Fortnite looking for Sprites.
And, of course, once you find one, you can’t just leave it there.
You have to catch it.
Why am I talking about Fortnite?
Well, partly because it’s something completely different from my usual posts.
Those who know me will know that most of my blog posts tend to involve VMware, Proxmox, OpenNebula, Linux, networking, storage, scripting or some other form of infrastructure that inevitably involves staring at a terminal window.
Sometimes it’s nice to write about something that doesn’t involve a command prompt.
And let’s be honest — Fortnite is fun.
There’s something strangely satisfying about exploring the map, finding things you weren’t necessarily looking for and discovering another Sprite along the way.
Five months later…
It’s actually made me realise just how quickly time disappears.
Five months ago I was writing my previous blog post, and since then there’s been a whole load of projects, changes, experiments and general IT madness going on.
I’ve still got plenty of technical subjects I’d like to write about, particularly some of the work I’ve been doing around infrastructure automation and self-service.
But for now…
I’m going hunting.
Sprites, here I come.
? Got to catch them all!
And perhaps, after another five-month gap, I’ll even write another blog post before Christmas. ?
Social Media Hyped – Rubbish – Don’t Waste Your Money
So here’s the thing…
Amazon UK refused to publish this review — the exact one below — after I returned the product for a refund.
Apparently it “does not meet community guidelines.”
You can make your own mind up…
My rejected Amazon review:
So I was intrigued — so many TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube reviews — which I assume are clickbait and monetised.
It’s called Ooo No — because that’s what you say when you’ve wasted your money.
All these reviews on Amazon must be bots — because I genuinely don’t understand how this gets rated so highly.
Value for money? Waste of money.
Why is this even needed? You still have to pair it with your phone via Bluetooth and run the app! So why not just use Waze, Google Maps, Apple Maps, or even an old-school TomTom with the PocketGPS database — far cheaper and far more accurate.
In use, it warns far too early about cameras, isn’t accurate, and even warns about cameras on the wrong side of the road.
Yes, it’s community-driven — but there’s clearly very little verification of camera positions.
I’ve used it over ~700 miles across villages, towns and cities:
False warnings
Cameras flagged where none exist
Misses common mobile camera locations (compared to PocketGPS)
Incorrect speed limits
I would give this zero stars if I could.
Final comment: £50 paid — complete waste of money.
Just use your phone. If it’s in a hands-free dock, run Waze — don’t waste your cash.
Minisforum MS-A2 HOW TO: Fix the Failed to Update CPU#0 Microcode PSOD with ESXi 8.0.3i ESXi 8.0u3i
HOW TO: Fix “Failed to update CPU#0 microcode” PSOD on ESXi 8.0.3i (Minisforum MS-A2)
In this guide from Hancock’s VMware Half Hour, I demonstrate how to fix the Purple Screen of Death (PSOD) error:
“Failed to update CPU#0 microcode”
This issue occurs when installing or booting VMware ESXi 8.0 Update 3i (ESXi 8.0.3i)
on the Minisforum MS-A2 mini workstation.
ESXi 8.0.3i, released on 2 March 2026, includes security fixes for CVE-2025-15467, an OpenSSL vulnerability. If you are running ESXi and have not
patched yet, you should update as soon as possible.
However, this update also includes new AMD CPU microcode updates, which currently
appear to trigger a PSOD during boot on the Minisforum MS-A2 platform.
The Problem
When booting the ESXi 8.0.3i installer (for example from Ventoy) on the
Minisforum MS-A2, the system may fail during boot with the following PSOD message:
The system has found a problem on your machine and cannot continue.
Failed to update CPU#0 microcode
This prevents ESXi from completing the boot process or installer launch.
Why This Happens
The ESXi 8.0.3i update includes newer AMD microcode updates intended to improve
security and stability. Unfortunately, these updates currently appear to be incompatible with the MS-A2 platform, which results in the microcode update failing
during boot.
When the microcode update fails, ESXi halts the boot process and displays the PSOD.
The Workaround
Until VMware releases a permanent fix, the issue can be worked around by using a kernel boot option during ESXi startup.
Steps to Fix
Boot the ESXi 8.0.3i installer.
When the ESXi boot screen appears, press Shift + O.
This opens the ESXi boot options.
Add the required kernel option shown in the video.
Press Enter to continue booting.
With the boot option applied, ESXi should boot successfully on the Minisforum MS-A2.
Video Walkthrough
Watch the full walkthrough below where I demonstrate the issue and apply the workaround.
What You Will Learn
What changed in ESXi 8.0.3i
Why AMD microcode updates trigger a PSOD
How to reproduce the issue during boot
The Shift + O ESXi boot workaround
How to confirm the fix works successfully
Credits
Huge thanks to members of the VMware community who investigated and documented this issue:
Stephen Wagner
Patrick Kernstock
vAndu
Martin Gustafsson
Their research and testing helped identify the workaround shown in this video.
HOW TO: Create a Custom VCF 9.0 VMware ESXi 9.0 ISO with Realtek Driver (PowerCLI)
Author: Andy – Andysworld.org.uk
Good news for homelab enthusiasts! We finally have a working Realtek network driver for ESXi 9.0. In this guide, I’ll show you step-by-step how to create a customised VMware ESXi 9.0 ISO for VCF 9.0 with the Realtek driver injected (slipstreamed) using PowerShell 7 and VMware PowerCLI.
Why This Matters
If you’re running ESXi in a homelab environment using consumer hardware, Mini PCs, or whitebox builds, Realtek NIC support has historically been a challenge. With the latest Realtek driver available, we can now build a custom ESXi 9.0 ISO that works perfectly in lab environments.
This process allows you to:
Inject the Realtek driver into the ESXi 9.0 image profile
Create a bootable ISO installer
Export an offline ZIP bundle
Important Disclaimer
ESXi 9.0 depot files require a valid Broadcom contract. I do not distribute depot files, customised ISOs, or any Broadcom software. Please obtain required files through official channels.
You should now have both a customised ISO and ZIP bundle ready for deployment in your homelab.
Method 2 – Scripted Approach
If you prefer automation, you can use a PowerShell script to perform the entire process in one go. The script automates:
Loading depot files
Cloning image profiles
Injecting the Realtek driver
Exporting ISO and ZIP bundles
This method is ideal for repeat builds or lab rebuilds.
Who Is This For?
Homelab enthusiasts
VMware learners
Mini PC / Whitebox ESXi users
VCF 9.0 lab deployments
This guide is intended for lab and educational use only, not production environments.
Final Thoughts
Creating a custom ESXi image is a valuable skill for anyone running a VMware homelab. With the Realtek driver now available for ESXi 9.0, lab builders can continue using affordable hardware while staying current with VMware releases.
If you found this guide helpful, check out more VMware content here at Andysworld.org.uk.
In this post, we’re going to walk through how to create a customised VMware ESXi 8.0 ISO with the Realtek network driver injected. This is particularly useful for homelab users running ESXi on consumer or whitebox hardware where Realtek NICs are common.
With the release of the ESXi 8.0 Realtek Driver Fling, Realtek-based systems can once again be used for lab and learning environments without unsupported hacks.
What You Will Learn
What ESXi depot files and image profiles are
How to inject (slipstream) the Realtek driver into ESXi 8.0
How to build a custom ESXi ISO and ZIP bundle
Manual and scripted methods using PowerShell
Prerequisites
Before starting, ensure you have the following:
PowerShell 7 (required)
VMware PowerCLI (or VMware Cloud Foundation PowerCLI)
Python 3.12
ESXi 8.0 depot ZIP file
Realtek Driver Fling ZIP file
Note: ESXi 8.0.3e and 8.0.3f depot files are publicly available. Later versions such as 8.0.3g and 8.0.3h require a valid Broadcom support contract. I do not distribute depot files or customised ISOs.
If you prefer automation, a PowerShell script called Hancocks-VMware-Half-Hour-ESXi-Customizer1.ps1 is available from GitHub and automates the entire process.
As shown in the video, even scripts can break — troubleshooting is part of the learning process.
Installation and Verification
Boot your ESXi host using the custom ISO
Complete the ESXi installation
Verify that the Realtek NIC is detected during install
If the driver has been injected correctly, the Realtek network adapter will be visible and usable within ESXi.
Important Notes
I do not provide ESXi depot files
I do not provide customised ESXi ISOs
I have no rights to distribute Broadcom software
This guide is intended for lab and homelab use only
Final Thoughts
This is a major step forward for the homelab community. With the Realtek Driver Fling, ESXi 8.0 is once again a viable option on affordable hardware.
Thanks for reading, and as always — happy virtualising!
Minisforum MS-A2: How to Install the New Realtek Driver on VMware ESXi 9.0
Running VMware ESXi 9.0 on the Minisforum MS-A2 is a fantastic option for homelabs and edge deployments, but out of the box you may notice that not all Realtek network interfaces are detected.
In this guide, based on my latest episode of Hancock’s VMware Half Hour, I walk through installing the new Broadcom-compiled Realtek driver (available as an official Broadcom Fling) to unlock additional NIC support.
What This Guide Covers
Why Realtek NICs are limited by default on ESXi 9.0
Where to download the official Broadcom Fling driver
Installing the driver using esxcli
Rebooting safely and verifying NIC availability
Supported Realtek Network Adapters
The driver demonstrated in this guide supports the following Realtek PCIe devices:
RTL8111 – 1GbE
RTL8125 – 2.5GbE
RTL8126 – 5GbE
RTL8127 – 10GbE
Driver Installation Command
Once the driver ZIP has been copied to your ESXi datastore and the host is in maintenance mode, install it using:
After installation, a reboot is required for the new network interfaces to become available.
Video Chapters
00:00 - Start
00:03 - Welcome to Hancock's VMware Half Hour
00:37 - Todays video - HOW TO Install Realtek driver on ESXi 9.0
00:55 - Broadcom Released the Realtek Driver fling in November 2025
01:55 - Minisforum MS-A2 - VCF 9.0 Homelab of the Year 2025 !
02:26 - Available as a Broadcom Fling - Tech Preview - not for production
02:55 - I'm not a fan of Realtek let it be known!
03:11 - Go to Broadcom Fling Portal site to download - https://support.broadcom.com/group/ecx/productdownloads?subfamily=Flings&freeDownloads=true
03:22 - Download the driver don't forget to Accept the Agreement!
03:51 - Enable SSH on Host, and use WinSCP to copy to local datastore
04:31 - Whoops Zoom is broke again!
05:07 - Connect to host using SSH
05:22 - Use lspci to show PCI devices in the host
06:05 - Use grep - lspci | grep Realtek
07:01 - Install the driver using esxcli software component apply -d /VMware-Re-Driver_1.101.00-5vmw.800.1.0.20613240.zip
07:59 - A reboot is required, reboot the server
08:36 - Reboot server
09:20 - The reason for the 10th Outake !
10:01 - Login to ESXi 9.0 using HTML Client
10:51 - Realtek driver is installed and network interfaces are available for use
11:07 - HenryChan1973 this video is for you!
12:23 - Thanks for Watching
Final Thoughts
This Broadcom Fling makes ESXi 8.0 far more usable on modern mini PCs like the Minisforum MS-A2, especially for homelabbers who rely on multi-gig Realtek networking.
Huge thanks to Henrychan1973 for their contribution and support.
If this guide helped you, consider subscribing on YouTube and checking out more VMware content on the blog.
Minisforum MS-A2: How to Install the New Realtek Driver on VMware ESXi 8.0
Running VMware ESXi 8.0 on the Minisforum MS-A2 is a fantastic option for homelabs and edge deployments, but out of the box you may notice that not all Realtek network interfaces are detected.
In this guide, based on my latest episode of Hancock’s VMware Half Hour, I walk through installing the new Broadcom-compiled Realtek driver (available as an official Broadcom Fling) to unlock additional NIC support.
What This Guide Covers
Why Realtek NICs are limited by default on ESXi 8.0
Where to download the official Broadcom Fling driver
Installing the driver using esxcli
Rebooting safely and verifying NIC availability
Supported Realtek Network Adapters
The driver demonstrated in this guide supports the following Realtek PCIe devices:
RTL8111 – 1GbE
RTL8125 – 2.5GbE
RTL8126 – 5GbE
RTL8127 – 10GbE
Driver Installation Command
Once the driver ZIP has been copied to your ESXi datastore and the host is in maintenance mode, install it using:
After installation, a reboot is required for the new network interfaces to become available.
Video Chapters
00:00 - Intro
00:06 - Welcome to Hancock's VMware Half Hour
00:31 - Today’s Video – Minisforum MS-A2
01:01 - Installing the ESXi Realtek Driver for ESXi 8.0
01:16 - Shoutout to member Henrychan1973!
02:03 - HTML Client view of network interfaces
03:00 - Broadcom engineering compiled a driver for ESXi 8.0
04:00 - Driver is available as a Broadcom Fling
05:00 - Download the driver from Broadcom Fling portal
05:44 - WinSCP – Copy driver ZIP to ESXi datastore
06:14 - Put host into maintenance mode
07:11 - Only three interfaces supported out of the box on MS-A2
07:16 - Start an SSH session using PuTTY
07:34 - Using lspci | grep Realtek
08:22 - Supported Realtek PCIe devices
08:35 - Installing the driver using esxcli
09:59 - Whoops! Typo!
10:37 - Can you spot it?
11:08 - Driver installed – reboot required
11:27 - Nano KVM issue accepting root password?
11:41 - Reboot via the GUI
12:30 - MS-A2 restarting
13:42 - Driver installed and Realtek interfaces available
14:54 - Thanks to Henrychan1973!
15:15 - Thanks for watching
Final Thoughts
This Broadcom Fling makes ESXi 8.0 far more usable on modern mini PCs like the Minisforum MS-A2, especially for homelabbers who rely on multi-gig Realtek networking.
Huge thanks to Henrychan1973 !!!
If this guide helped you, consider subscribing on YouTube and checking out more VMware content on the blog.
In Part 9 of the DIY UnRAID NAS series, we finally tackle one of the most requested upgrades — NVMe cache expansion.
This episode covers upgrading the UnRAID cache pool using Samsung 990 PRO 4TB NVMe SSDs,
walking through the hardware changes, UnRAID configuration, and the impact on performance.
What’s covered in Part 9
Removing NVMe devices from PCI passthrough
Rebooting and validating UnRAID hardware changes
Why UnRAID is used instead of vSAN in the homelab
Upgrading and rebalancing the NVMe cache pool
Btrfs RAID1 behaviour and live rebalance
Firmware considerations for Samsung 990 PRO NVMe drives
Why NVMe Matters in UnRAID
NVMe cache drives dramatically improve Docker, VM, and application performance in UnRAID.
With fast PCIe 4.0 NVMe devices, write amplification is reduced, cache flushes are faster,
and overall system responsiveness improves — especially under mixed workloads.
Unlike enterprise storage platforms, UnRAID allows flexible cache pool configurations,
making it ideal for homelab experimentation without vendor lock-in.
As always, thanks for watching, and if you’ve got questions about NVMe cache pools,
Btrfs behaviour, or UnRAID design decisions, drop them in the comments.
DIY UNRAID NAS Part 8: Preparing the Zero-Downtime NVMe Upgrade
Welcome back to Hancock’s VMware Half Hour and to Part 8 of the DIY UNRAID NAS build series.
In this episode, I walk through the planning and preparation for a zero-downtime NVMe cache
upgrade on my homelab UNRAID NAS, running on an Intel NUC 11 Extreme.
The goal of this two-part upgrade is to move from a single 512 GB XPG NVMe cache device
to a pair of Samsung 990 PRO 4 TB NVMe SSDs, ending up with a high capacity Btrfs RAID 1
cache pool for VMs, Docker, and PCIe passthrough workloads. Part 8 focuses on the design,
constraints, and first hardware changes. Part 9 completes the migration and final Btrfs rebalance.
Video: DIY UNRAID NAS Part 8
You can watch the full episode on YouTube here:
DIY UNRAID NAS – Part 8: Preparing the Zero-Downtime NVMe Upgrade
What This Episode Covers
Part 8 is all about understanding the current environment, identifying limitations in UNRAID,
and laying the groundwork for a non-destructive storage upgrade. In the video, I cover:
How my UNRAID array and cache devices are currently configured.
The future hardware specifications for the homelab UNRAID NAS.
Plans for using enterprise U.2 NVMe devices in future expansions.
Why we cannot simply create another cache pool in UNRAID to solve this.
A staged plan to replace the old 512 GB XPG NVMe with 4 TB Samsung 990 PRO drives.
How to safely stop Docker and virtual machines before making hardware changes.
Using PCIe passthrough (VMDirectPath I/O) to present NVMe devices directly to a Windows 11 VM.
Updating Samsung 990 PRO firmware from within the passthrough VM using Samsung Magician.
Confirming that all Samsung NVMe drives are genuine and authenticated.
Reviewing the NVMe slot layout in the Intel NUC 11 Extreme (2 x Gen 3 and 2 x Gen 4).
Chapter Breakdown
Here is the chapter list from the video for quick navigation:
00:00 – Intro
00:05 – Welcome to Hancock’s VMware Half Hour
00:47 – This is Part 8 DIY UNRAID NAS
01:21 – Explanation of UNRAID and how I have set up UNRAID
04:20 – Explanation of UNRAID array and cache devices
04:51 – Future specifications for homelab UNRAID NAS
05:54 – Future use of enterprise NVMe U.2 device
09:42 – I have a cunning plan says Andy
12:02 – We cannot create another cache pool
12:56 – Stop Docker and VMs
13:10 – Shutdown ESXi on UNRAID
13:28 – Shutdown Windows 11 on UNRAID
14:22 – New NVMe installed, old XPG removed
15:16 – PCIe passthrough demonstration configuration for UNRAID VMs
17:14 – Restart NAS
17:29 – NVMe devices are enabled for PCI passthrough
18:11 – VMware VM Direct I/O (PCI passthrough) explained
18:46 – Configure Windows 11 VM for PCI passthrough
20:00 – Samsung Magician advising firmware update available
20:48 – Update firmware of Samsung 990 PRO from Windows 11
23:14 – Confirmation that all Samsung NVMe are authenticated
26:22 – NVMe slots in Intel NUC 11 Extreme are 2 x Gen 3 and 2 x Gen 4
27:06 – Remove NVMe devices from Windows 11 VM
The Cunning Plan: A Staged, Non-Destructive NVMe Upgrade
The key challenge in this build is upgrading from a 512 GB NVMe cache to larger 4 TB devices
without wiping the array or losing data. Because UNRAID cannot create an additional cache pool
in this configuration, we need a staged process.
In Part 8, I outline and begin the following upgrade path:
Review the current UNRAID array and cache configuration.
Plan the future target: dual 4 TB NVMe Btrfs RAID 1 cache pool.
Shut down Docker and VM services cleanly.
Power down the NAS and remove the old XPG NVMe.
Install the first Samsung 990 PRO 4 TB NVMe drive.
Boot the system and confirm the new NVMe is detected.
Use PCIe passthrough to present the NVMe to a Windows 11 VM for firmware checks and updates.
Update NVMe firmware using Samsung Magician and validate that the drive is genuine.
The actual Btrfs pool expansion and final dual-drive RAID 1 configuration are completed
in Part 9, where the second 4 TB NVMe is installed and the cache pool is fully migrated.
PCIe Passthrough and Firmware Updates
A significant part of the episode is dedicated to demonstrating PCIe passthrough
(VMDirectPath I/O) from VMware ESXi into UNRAID and then into a Windows 11 virtual machine.
This allows the Samsung 990 PRO NVMe to be exposed directly to Windows for:
Running Samsung Magician.
Checking for and applying firmware updates.
Verifying drive health and authenticity.
This approach is particularly useful in homelab environments where the hardware is
permanently installed in a server chassis, but you still want to access vendor tools
without moving drives between physical machines.
Intel NUC 11 Extreme NVMe Layout
Towards the end of the video, I review the NVMe slot layout inside the Intel NUC 11 Extreme.
This platform provides:
2 x PCIe Gen 4 NVMe slots.
2 x PCIe Gen 3 NVMe slots.
Understanding which slots are Gen 3 and which are Gen 4 is critical when deciding where to place
high performance NVMe devices such as the Samsung 990 PRO, especially when planning for
future workloads and potential enterprise U.2 NVMe expansion.
What Comes Next in Part 9
Part 8 ends with the new 4 TB NVMe installed, firmware updated, and the environment ready
for the next stage. In Part 9, I complete the migration by:
Replacing the remaining 512 GB cache device with a second 4 TB Samsung 990 PRO.
Rebuilding the Btrfs cache pool as a dual-drive RAID 1 configuration.
Verifying capacity, redundancy, and performance.
If you are interested in UNRAID, NVMe-based cache pools, or nested VMware and PCIe
passthrough in a small form factor system like the Intel NUC 11 Extreme, this two-part
upgrade is a practical, real-world example of how to approach it safely.
Related Content
DIY UNRAID NAS build playlist on Hancock’s VMware Half Hour (YouTube).
Previous parts in the series covering hardware assembly, base UNRAID configuration, and initial NVMe installation.
Upcoming parts focusing on performance testing, further storage expansion, and homelab workloads.
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