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Forum Discussion
RedwolfAntares
Mar 08, 2025Tutor
ReadyNAS 104 disk failure
Hello, I've got an old readyNAS 104 who was working like a charm. I've tried to recover a file in an old version and it goes bersek and freeze. Now my NAS is not working well when it starts. I ...
User-643278
Mar 08, 2025Aspirant
When my ReadyNAS NV+ v2 lost an array during disk replacement and showed the message "Device is offline" in the web interface, I found a way to recover all data from the disks.
To do this, you will need:
* a computer (PC) with Windows
* the ability to connect disks from ReadyNAS to PC
* free space with the size of the data to be recovered
* the program "ReclaiMe Free RAID Recovery"
* any of the popular "data recovery programs"; you may need to pay for a license here
* the PC's uninterrupted operation time - from several hours to several days; it is advisable to power it via UPS
Steps:
1. Turn off the PC
2. Connect all disks from ReadyNAS to PC, without using expansion cards such as RAID adapters
3. Turn on the PC and check in BIOS that all disks from ReadyNAS are visible
4. Important: configure the PC so that it never goes into sleep and/or hibernation. Before changing, save the information about the settings you are changing, in the form of screenshots or something similar.
5. Install the "ReclaiMe Free RAID Recovery" program on your PC
6. In accordance with the program's instructions, specify the ReadyNAS disks. Double-check that you have selected everything correctly.
7. "ReclaiMe Free RAID Recovery" will scan the disks for some time, this may take several hours.
8. As a result of the scan, you will receive the RAID parameters. Save these parameters as a screenshot, and as an export from the program. The program will contain instructions on how to set these parameters for other "recovery programs" (R-Studio, UFS, ZAR, ...) - save these instructions in separate files.
9. Run the "recovery program" (R-Studio, UFS, ZAR, ...), enter the parameters defined by "ReclaiMe Free RAID Recovery"
10. Scan the disks with the "recovery program". This may take from several hours to a day.
11. The scan will produce "scan information" - save it if the "recovery program" allows it.
12. Try to recover 2-5 small files whose contents you know; after recovery, check the contents. This is necessary to check if everything is done correctly. If the recovery time for these files is too long, and is comparable to the potential recovery time for all files, then you can interrupt the operation.
13. If possible, enable logging and / or periodic saving of the recovery status in the "recovery program"
14. Start the recovery. This will most likely be a long process. Periodically check that the computer is working and not turned off. It is possible that sometimes the computer will appear to be "frozen" - this may be normal, depending on the specific "recovery program"; it is best to read the manual for the "recovery program".
15. After recovery, check the contents of all files, or at least large and known files, if possible.
16. Reconfigure the computer to go to sleep and/or hibernate - as it was configured previously.
17. Remove "ReclaiMe Free RAID Recovery"
18. Turn off the computer. Disconnect the ReadyNAS drives from the computer.
If necessary, after restoring and checking the files, you can reset the ReadyNAS settings, delete all partitions from the ReadyNAS drives (by connecting them to a Windows computer), return the ReadyNAS drives to the ReadyNAS, and configure the RAID from scratch.
- StephenBMar 08, 2025Guru - Experienced User
User-643278 wrote:
When my ReadyNAS NV+ v2 lost an array during disk replacement and showed the message "Device is offline" in the web interface, I found a way to recover all data from the disks.
While RAID recovery software might be the right path, we don't have enough information on what is wrong at this point to tell. So it is premature to jump to this solution.
Also, the RN104 uses the BTRFS file system (unlike the NV+ v2). So the RAID recovery software needs to support BTRFS. FWIW, R-Studio doesn't. ZAR is discontinued, but the replacement for ZAR (Klennet Recovery) does say it supports BTRFS recovery.
Since you'd need a license anyway for RAID recovery using an OS-6 NAS, you might as well skip the free ReclaiMe analysis step, and just get a licensed copy of a package that supports BTRFS. Generally you can download the software before purchase, and see if the scan finds your files. Then purchase the license to do the actually recovery.
But there might be a simpler and less expensive option.
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