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Forum Discussion
Failing ReadyNAS Ultra 4 Plus
I noticed one morning my NAS had powered down and couldn't turn it back on. After turning the power off to it completely and waiting a couple of minutes, it turned back on. Strangely it then turns off by itself sometimes after a few minutes, sometimes after 15 minutes.
I've taken the PSU out and tested the voltage outputs on the pins and it seems ok. I'm going to get a spare PSU and modify the pins to see if it works any better. In the meantime does anyone have suspicions as to what's failing on the NAS? When I look at the logs after each reboot (if I can get that far) there's nothing indicating the reason why it shutdown. Temps look fine also.
Additionally, since I can't get a hold of a spare chassis (none on eBay), how do I get data off the disks? They're working fine. Do I need to connect all 4 drives into a PC and then get the data? I'd prefer to use Windows and hear ReclaiMe works?
9 Replies
Sounds like a possible PSU or motherboard issue, especially with random shutdowns and no logs. For data recovery, you’ll likely need to connect all drives to a PC and use a tool like ReclaiMe to rebuild the array. Has anyone confirmed if this model uses a standard RAID layout?
Yeah I replied to StephenB but it didn't post for some reason. Anyway thanks for the help. At this stage won't need to use WSL but will keep it in mind if the chassis dies on me in the future.
I've put everything back in but have used a modified standard ATX PSU until a replacement Flex ATX. Going get a Seasonic SS-250SU that's hopefully a bit more solid and modify the pinouts.
make sure you seal the gap where the PC power cord goes in so that the chassis fan works properly to pull air over the drives.
The OEM PSU had a clear plastic thing that sat between the PSU and the chassis, does that do anything meaningful? I currently have everything re-assembled but with the ATX cord sticking out through the cut-out where the PC power cord used to go.
That plastic air dam is critical in making sure the airflow gets into the power supply since the original has no PSU fan. So are some of the additional holes in the top cover. Unless you buy a supply that has a fan mounted on the end opposite the power cord socket, you need to do something to make sure there is sufficient PSU airflow. A fan on the other end has nowhere to blow and does nothing. With many, the best thing to do is swap the top cover and air dam with the original and disconnect the fan. Some aluminum tape can be used to keep the air dam in place.
Ok great thanks for the info. The Seasonic has a fan adjacent to the power socket so should be fine. If I disconnect it due to noise etc I'll make sure to have the air dam in place.
Somehow, my previous reply isn't showing up:
With that symptom, the power supply is the most likely cause, specifically the +5VSB (5 volt standby) power the powers the on/off circuit. Unfortunately, the +5VSB is not monitored by most ReadyNAS, so there would be no indication of an issue in the logs. Testing without a load, especially for an issue that takes a while to show itself (likely due to heating up) is not reliable. So I think you are on the right track.
You can buy a pre-modified supply on eBay for not much more than a standard one if you decide to replace it. If you just want to use the PC supply to power it long enough to recover the data, make sure you seal the gap where the PC power cord goes in so that the chassis fan works properly to pull air over the drives.
I converted the firmware to OS6. I'm intrigued by the WSL option. How do I get the HDDs to show up?
So far I've modified a PC PSU and it looks like the NAS is staying on (without the HDDs installed). I'll leave it overnight to check it's still on and then will power down and put the HDDs back in. I don't need to do anything special here? Just put them back in and it'll recognise the drives? I've numbered them as per the slots they were taken out from.I converted the firmware to OS6.
Ok. Then you could use a Pro-6 chassis, but you would need to convert it to OS-6 before migrating the drives.
Or get any OS-6 NAS with enough bays (x86 chassis would be best, but an arm chassis should also work)
I converted the firmware to OS6. I'm intrigued by the WSL option. How do I get the HDDs to show up?
You first need to make sure btrfs and mdadm are installed
There is a guide here that works:
- ls //https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/wsl2-mount-disk
After this step you need to assemble the RAID groups with mdadm, and then mount the volume to a convenient mount point.
Is the NAS running 4.2.x firmware? Or did you convert it to run OS-6?
Additionally, since I can't get a hold of a spare chassis (none on eBay), how do I get data off the disks? They're working fine. Do I need to connect all 4 drives into a PC and then get the data? I'd prefer to use Windows and hear ReclaiMe works?
The disks can be mounted in a Linux PC for free (that would include a windows PC running WSL, or a Windows PC booted up temporarily from a Linux boot disk).
Also, you don't need a identical model chassis. An RNDP6000 (ReadyNAS Pro 6) would work, as would an x86 OS-6 system. Though details depend on what firmware the NAS is running now.
ReclaiMe works, but if you are running 4.2.x firmware then there are less expensive options.
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