ReadyNAS NV+ stall during File System check at 19%

I can see the USB drive in file explorer on the PC, but am unable to access it.   It asks for the network credentials, but when I enter the admin password for the NAS it doesn't recognise it.  See attached image.

For ejecting the USB, I also thought there was an option in Frontview, but I don't see it.   I don't remember it being hard to find, but I'll look further.

ok - Found the eject for USB in Frontview.   It was straightforward after all:  > Volumes > USB Storage > then choose Disconnect from Options.   See attachment.

One thing to keep in mind is that the 2 TB size limit in your NAS also applies to USB drives.

FWIW, with the NV+ it is faster to back up over the network than it is to back up to a directly connected USB.  If you are making backups manually (or have an always-on PC), then you should consider connecting the drive to a PC, and using a PC backup utility like FreeFileSync to back up the NAS shares to the USB drive.  

This sounds more like a windows issue vs the nas.  Are you sure smb1 and smb2 are enabled on the computer?

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SamirD wrote:

This sounds more like a windows issue vs the nas.  Are you sure smb1 and smb2 are enabled on the computer?

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No need for smb2, but you do need the smb1 client enabled. However, not enabling it shouldn't result in a wrong password error.

arefem - likely you are already configured for user security mode on the NAS, but perhaps double check that you aren't set up for the older share security mode.

You could also try again using the Windows command line (net use). 

net use * /d /y
net use t: \\nas-ip-address\sharename /user:admin nas-admin-password

of course using the actual ip address, share name, and nas admin password.

The smb1 client was set, but I was unable to set SMB 1.0/CIFS Automatic Removal or SMB 1.0/CIFS Server.

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The Security Mode is set to Share.   Possibly this was the default when I reset the NAS.   When I change it to User, I get the following warning message:

Warning!
Changing security mode can cause unexpected permission problems with files created under the previous security setting.
When changing from the Share mode, you may not be able to access existing files until the admin or Administrator user manually change the file access control list (ACL) settings to allow access to the desired user and group accounts.

Click Apply to proceed with changing the security mode.

Is it safe to proceed with this?   Will I need to update settings elsewhere?

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I ran the Windows command line settings.   This worked for an existing media share on the NAS, but it failed for the USB drive, both when I accessed it as \\nas\usb_hdd_1 and using the IP address as \\nas-ip-address\usb_hdd_1 (see attachment).

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I was surprised to read that there was a 2TB limit to the USB drive.   I am currently below this, but I can see that I will have to manage backups carefully, If I go beyond that.  Maybe I will have to buy a second NAS!   My understanding was that the scheduled backups only saved modified or new files.   Is that the way FreeFileSync via a PC would work?

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arefem wrote:

The Security Mode is set to Share.   Possibly this was the default when I reset the NAS.   When I change it to User, I get the following warning message:

 

Warning!
Changing security mode can cause unexpected permission problems with files created under the previous security setting.
When changing from the Share mode, you may not be able to access existing files until the admin or Administrator user manually change the file access control list (ACL) settings to allow access to the desired user and group accounts.

Click Apply to proceed with changing the security mode.

 

Is it safe to proceed with this?   Will I need to update settings elsewhere?

Netgear deprecated Share security years ago, because it stopped working reliable.  There might be a need to adjust file permissions for your shares - that would be done on the "advanced" tab in the share settings.  But first switch to user, and see if that access is needed.

Once you do switch, you either need to use the NAS admin credentials, or create a new NAS user account (and use those credentials instead).

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arefem wrote:

The smb1 client was set, but I was unable to set SMB 1.0/CIFS Automatic Removal or SMB 1.0/CIFS Server.

 

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Not a problem.  The client is all you need.  Automatic removal actually isn't what you want - it disables the client silently if you stop using it for a while.  And you don't need the server to access the NAS.

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arefem wrote:

 

I was surprised to read that there was a 2TB limit to the USB drive.   I am currently below this, but I can see that I will have to manage backups carefully, If I go beyond that.  

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Just to clarify - the 2 TB limit is the max disk size.  It doesn't matter if the USB drive is empty or full.  

Netgear discontinued your NAS back in 2011 - back when 3 TB drives were still new tech.  The hardware architecture goes back to 2005 or so, so it predates even 1 TB drives. 

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arefem wrote:

My understanding was that the scheduled backups only saved modified or new files.   Is that the way FreeFileSync via a PC would work?

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Yes, it can do incremental backups.  There are other similar tools out there - Robocopy being one that is built into Windows.  But Robocopy is a command line tool, so FreeFileSync is probably simpler for you.

Note I use Acronis TrueImage myself to back up my PCs.  My NAS backups are NAS-to-NAS - so I don't actually use FreeFileSync.

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arefem wrote:

Maybe I will have to buy a second NAS! 

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Given the age of your NAS, it is something you should consider.  My own NV+ is a secondary backup.  I'll keep it running as long as it works, but I won't invest in any repairs (power supply, etc).

If you go down that path, you'll need to look at other vendors, as it is apparent to most of us that Netgear is quiet-quitting the NAS business.

A few things to report:-

I have updated the security mode to User. I didn’t want to do that until I had backed up the current contents of the NAS, as I have started adding new music to it. I used FreeFileSync to update one of my backup discs, and that worked well.

Amazingly (I think), my brother has managed to recover the information from the original NAS disks. I’m pretty sure this took a great deal of work which I don’t claim to fully understand. However, what I believe he did was make a copy of each of the disks, mount them into a virtual machine, and then somehow recover the files. These are now all on one backup disk. He did identify that there were corrupt sectors on two of the disks, so some information may be missing. He provided a list of suspect folders, but luckily, as far as I can see they all coincide with folders I already have on my original backup.

My next step was to copy across to the NAS any files which I have not already added from my out of date backup. Again I used FreeFileSync to identify and copy the missing files. I was able to copy to the NAS using the PC, but with the Mac I ran into a permissions problem which prevented me writing to the NAS (after security mode had been updated to User). After a lot of trial and error connecting and disconnecting volumes on the Mac, I was eventually able to add the NAS media share as a volume on the Mac which I could write to. I’m not exactly sure what I did differently to get this to work.🤔

FreeFileSync is updating the NAS at the moment, and if that is successful I will be back with a working ReadyNAS with all data restored. Many thanks to all for the assistance.

Since updating security mode to User, I haven’t yet tried creating a backup job to a USB drive. I’ll try that next, though I am less concerned about that now that I’ve seen FreeFileSync in action. It looks as though it should be possible to create scheduled backup jobs.

Longer term, If I were to look at another NAS what would be the best options? Back in 2007 the choice seemed to be mainly between ReadyNAS and Buffalo, but now there is a bewildering choice.

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arefem wrote:

Longer term, If I were to look at another NAS what would be the best options? Back in 2007 the choice seemed to be mainly between ReadyNAS and Buffalo, but now there is a bewildering choice.

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Personally I'd start with

• Synology
• Qnap
• Asustor

I'd also consider getting a thunderbolt enclosure and just connect it to an always-on PC.

Great to hear you were not only able to backup, but able to restore from the original nas drives. 🙂

One thing I would do though before you're done is to compare all the files bit-by-bit.  There's a couple of different options for that--windiff by microsoft which is pretty decent but can crash on large compares, and winmerge which has the ability to compare 3x sources at the same time.

As far as a replacement, if you're only looking for something to be a NAS and nothing more, to be honest I would pick up a used readynas as it will be cheap and familiar.  The newer nas units, especially by the bigger brands, want to do much more than just be a nas, so they're a lot more complicated imo.  I have several units from synology and qnap and the older ones running dsm 6 are still fast on older hardware as a straight nas, but you can tell they are having to do a lot more in the background (whatever it is doing), just to keep itself up as a nas.