Hello All - I have an RN528 that is less than 5 years old. I have lost all power to the unit except for the ethernet port LEDs in the back (they still flash). The internal fans do not run, the drives do not spin-up, there is no front display, and none of the HDD LEDs light up. Netgear is refusing to assist in resolving this issue, so I am writing the hardware off as a loss. My immediate concern is the data stored on the drives. Are there any suggestions out there as to how to recover the data? I have no reason to believe that the drives are bad. They are all less than 3 years old and have had little use, and they were showing in good health before the unit stopped turning on. The NAS is configured in X-raid mode. I am thinking that I just need to replace the power supply (if that is possible). If not I am open to other suggestions. I would greatly appreciate your thoughts and suggestions.v/rMick

nasmmx wrote: Netgear is refusing to assist in resolving this issue, so I am writing the hardware off as a loss. My immediate concern is the data stored on the drives. Are there any suggestions out there as to how to recover the data? I have no reason to believe that the drives are bad. They are all less than 3 years old and have had little use, and they were showing in good health before the unit stopped turning on. The NAS is configured in X-raid mode. I am thinking that I just need to replace the power supply (if that is possible). If not I am open to other suggestions. Netgear's data recovery service might be an option if you can reach it - but everyone here who has attempted that in recent months hasn't been able to get it. The hardware warranty on the RN528 is 5 years in the US, so it would be useful to follow up with AnishaA with the serial number, so she can look into why Netgear is refusing a warranty replacement. One possibility is that you do need to purchase it from an authorized reseller. Another is that the warranty doesn't cover used equipment. If you can have a way to mount the disks in a Linux system (or a PC that you can boot up from linux using a USB drive), then you can mount the array manually and off-load the data. 8-bay USB-C enclosures are in the $300-$400 range on Amazon (US). It is possible to replace the power supply, and it does sound like that is a likely cause. I'm tagging Sandshark to get his thoughts.

There may be an option to purchase a replacement supply, but not from Netgear. They have never sold parts. That's why I'm asking about the specifics of the supply -- I may be able to identify one. That you see nothing but the Ethernet activity LEDs at power-on likely means the power-on circuit isn't the issue. But it's not definitive.

As far as using another NAS, you would need to purchased used, as all models are end-of-life. You wouldn't need to exactly match the model. RN316,RN426,RN426,RN516,RN526,RN528,RN626,RN628 would all work (the RN316 and RN516 being the oldest models). A Pro 6 or Ultra 6 (older still) could also be used, but you would need to convert it to run OS-6 first. Some used NAS aren't fully functional, so it is important to test them before migrating your disks. I suggest doing a factory install on a single test disk, and then booting up the NAS with that disk in each slot. nasmmx wrote: The fundamental question being; if I install the HDDs into a USB enclosure and connect it to a LINUX system will it be able to read the drives that were configured as a single X-RAID? Do I need some special software such as TrueNAS? XRAID is an application package built on top of mdadm and btrfs that simplifies RAID and volume management. mdadm are both standard linux tools, and can be easily installed on any current linux system. A standard linux system with mdadm and btrfs installed can mount assemble the array and mount the volume. We can give you the commands needed once you get to that point. It would take a bit of investigation, particularly if you vertically expanded the volume in the past (starting with smaller disks, and then replacing them with larger). Did you do that, or is the array using the original disk sizes?

nasmmx wrote: I did perform a vertical expansion about a year ago. One of the original HDD was old and starting to fail, so I replaced it with a larger drive and I also added 2 new drives to previously empty bays. It the 3 new drives were all the same larger size, then you will have two RAID groups in the data volume (plus RAID groups for the OS partition and swap) These are each set up in matching partitions on the disks. partition 1: md0 (OS partition) partition 2: md1 (swap) partition 3: md127 (part of data volume, on all disks) partition 4: md126 (part of data volume, on the largest disks) You can see the partition details using cat /proc/partitions Basic commands to assemble the RAID groups for the data volume are mdadm --assemble /dev/md127 /dev/sda3 /dev/sdb3 ... mdadm --assemble /dev/md126 /dev/sda4 ... using the appropriate disk names you see in the system you are using (sda, etc). The order of the disks in these commands doesn't matter - the ordering info is in the superblocks stored on each disk partition. Then you can concatenate the two raid groups and mount the volume using btrfs device scan mount -t btrfs /dev/md127 /data You can of course substitute any convenient mount point for /data These commands assume the RAID groups and volumes weren't somehow damaged by the failure.

Hello nasmmx , And welcome to the NETGEAR Community! 🙂 Could you please tell me the last configuration you pushed into the NAS while it was working we suggest you try once with changing the power cable. And please mention the serial number of the device you are using. Incase your hardware warranty is expired Netgear offers paid data recovery services you can create a support case and opt for data recovery. Have a lovely day, Anisha ANetgear Team

Data Recovery on a RN528 with X-Raid configuration

17 Replies

Replies have been turned off for this discussion

StephenB
Guru - Experienced User
Aug 09, 2023
nasmmx wrote:

Netgear is refusing to assist in resolving this issue, so I am writing the hardware off as a loss. My immediate concern is the data stored on the drives. Are there any suggestions out there as to how to recover the data? I have no reason to believe that the drives are bad. They are all less than 3 years old and have had little use, and they were showing in good health before the unit stopped turning on. The NAS is configured in X-raid mode. I am thinking that I just need to replace the power supply (if that is possible). If not I am open to other suggestions.

Netgear's data recovery service might be an option if you can reach it - but everyone here who has attempted that in recent months hasn't been able to get it.

The hardware warranty on the RN528 is 5 years in the US, so it would be useful to follow up with AnishaA with the serial number, so she can look into why Netgear is refusing a warranty replacement. One possibility is that you do need to purchase it from an authorized reseller. Another is that the warranty doesn't cover used equipment.

If you can have a way to mount the disks in a Linux system (or a PC that you can boot up from linux using a USB drive), then you can mount the array manually and off-load the data. 8-bay USB-C enclosures are in the $300-$400 range on Amazon (US).

It is possible to replace the power supply, and it does sound like that is a likely cause. I'm tagging Sandshark to get his thoughts.
- nasmmx
  Aspirant
  Aug 19, 2023
  Hello StephenB.
  I appreciate your input above, and your assistance in helping me find a solution.
  
  StephenB wrote:
  
  If you can have a way to mount the disks in a Linux system (or a PC that you can boot up from linux using a USB drive), then you can mount the array manually and off-load the data.
  
  I have been doing a lot of reading but I still have many questions that I have been unable to resolve.
  
  The fundamental question being; if I install the HDDs into a USB enclosure and connect it to a LINUX system will it be able to read the drives that were configured as a single X-RAID? Do I need some special software such as TrueNAS?
  
  I have found a lot of information on how to build a NAS, but nothing on how to recover the DATA from an X-RAID setup. I am very hesitant to blindly experiment, as for all I know this may be a one shot deal, and I may corrupt the configuration if I do this wrong.
  
  Netgear is not providing me any assistance, so this is my only chance to save this data. I would greatly appreciate your feedback as to any other considerations that may be needed to actually read the data.
  
  Thank you for your time.
  - StephenB
    Guru - Experienced User
    Aug 20, 2023
    As far as using another NAS, you would need to purchased used, as all models are end-of-life.
    
    You wouldn't need to exactly match the model. RN316,RN426,RN426,RN516,RN526,RN528,RN626,RN628 would all work (the RN316 and RN516 being the oldest models).
    
    A Pro 6 or Ultra 6 (older still) could also be used, but you would need to convert it to run OS-6 first.
    
    Some used NAS aren't fully functional, so it is important to test them before migrating your disks. I suggest doing a factory install on a single test disk, and then booting up the NAS with that disk in each slot.
    
    nasmmx wrote:
    
    The fundamental question being; if I install the HDDs into a USB enclosure and connect it to a LINUX system will it be able to read the drives that were configured as a single X-RAID? Do I need some special software such as TrueNAS?
    
    XRAID is an application package built on top of mdadm and btrfs that simplifies RAID and volume management. mdadm are both standard linux tools, and can be easily installed on any current linux system.
    
    A standard linux system with mdadm and btrfs installed can mount assemble the array and mount the volume. We can give you the commands needed once you get to that point.
    
    It would take a bit of investigation, particularly if you vertically expanded the volume in the past (starting with smaller disks, and then replacing them with larger). Did you do that, or is the array using the original disk sizes?
- nasmmx
  Aspirant
  Aug 10, 2023
  Hello Stephen - Thank you for the reply.
  
  I responded to Anisha with the SN, but I am not holding my breath on the warranty. Netgear requires a copy of my receipt and I have little hope of finding it since I bought the unit in 2019.
  
  I do not have a Linux system, but I am intrigued by the suggestion. I would like to look into the option a little further, so if you have any suggestions on sources I might read to provide some details, I would be very grateful.
  
  Thank you again for the reply and for forwarding this to Sandshark.
  
  I have some hope that I may be able to salvage this wreck.
  
  All the Best,
  Mick
- schumaku
  Guru - Experienced User
  Aug 09, 2023
  StephenB wrote:
  
  nasmmx wrote:
  
  Netgear is refusing to assist in resolving this issue, so I am writing the hardware off as a loss. My immediate concern is the data stored on the drives. Are there any suggestions out there as to how to recover the data? I have no reason to believe that the drives are bad. They are all less than 3 years old and have had little use, and they were showing in good health before the unit stopped turning on. The NAS is configured in X-raid mode. I am thinking that I just need to replace the power supply (if that is possible). If not I am open to other suggestions.
  
  The hardware warranty on the RN528 is 5 years in the US, so it would be useful to follow up with AnishaA with the serial number, so she can look into why Netgear is refusing a warranty replacement. One possibility is that you do need to purchase it from an authorized reseller. Another is that the warranty doesn't cover used equipment.
  
  The first point every Netgear customers is always the https://my.Netgear.com/ portal.
  
  The warranty status is perfectly visible here.
AnishaA
NETGEAR Employee Retired
Aug 09, 2023
Hello nasmmx ,

And welcome to the NETGEAR Community! 🙂

Could you please tell me the last configuration you pushed into the NAS while it was working we suggest you try once with changing the power cable.

And please mention the serial number of the device you are using.

Incase your hardware warranty is expired Netgear offers paid data recovery services you can create a support case and opt for data recovery.

Have a lovely day,
Anisha A
Netgear Team
- nasmmx
  Aspirant
  Aug 10, 2023
  Hello Anisha - Thank you for replying to my inquiry.
  
  I am interpreting the question 'Could you please tell me the last configuration you pushed into the NAS' to mean what is the latest OS software version. I think I had updated to 6.10.9 in June, and the system was working fine up until a week ago when it just would not power on one day. My apologies if this is not what you meant.
  
  I have tried other power cords, but there was no improvement.
  
  The SN is 4VB374E30000E. The unit is still within warranty until May of 24, but Netgear will not honor the warranty as I am not able to find the receipt. I registered the product at the time of purchase and thought that I had included a copy of the receipt, but Netgear states otherwise. So warranty options are not in the cards for this issue.
  
  Thank you for your time.
  - AnishaA
    NETGEAR Employee Retired
    Aug 10, 2023
    Hello nasmmx ,
    
    Thank you for providing the SN, Since your ReadyNAS needs a replacement and it has a suspected purchase date, without an invoice Netgear will not proceed.
    
    Have a lovely day,
    Anisha A
    Netgear Team