ReadyNAS Data Recovery - VMware recovery tool

Hi-

Just wanted to drop you a line and thank you for your support files for the ReadyNas Duo.
This is probably the worst piece of gear I've ever owned, and I own a lot of gear.

My DUO failed about 9 months ago and then after a USB Boot Recovery it started again...
A few days ago it crashed again. I wanted to transfer files and possibly throw this NetGear in the trash...
Basically I was getting the slow flashing blue with whirring fan that never resolves issue.
Ultimately, I think this is a problem with the device, not the drive.
NetGear support did reply with very basic steps that I'd already done, but couldn't really help.
So thanks for this forum everyone!

Note: I have not read the entire 9 page thread to see if this is duplicate info, but thought I would share.
I am also not personally into typing into terminals to get things done, but was able to follow the instructions from the original RAR file
(vito.vmw.Ubuntu9.rar) and I had to follow both READ ME files to get to near the end before having to come up with my own ending...
but with limited experience I was able to retrieve my files off the DUO.

As a MAC user, I ran into a few interesting things that I'd like to share but also it may help PC users....
I used a 1TB External USB drive, VM Fusion (which I already owned thankfully!) and an eSata to USB cable for the Duo.

After using the attached RAR file and instructions, I was able to get to the point where the original poster discussed attaching to Windows.
While I have a MAC running Snow Leopard and VMWare Fusion 4 with Windows 7 and RAR file's Ubuntu 9, I wasn't sure why I needed to leave Ubuntu 9 to copy these files.
It seemed unnecessary to involve OSX or WIN...i.e. Couldn't I just attach a drive to Ubuntu and copy the Duo to my USB drive?
Plus, I wasn't even sure I could use those instructions to run to virtual OS of WIN at the same time and attach one drive to one and the other drive to the other...
yeah...

So, I did the following...using the following additional commands...YMMV, but all of this was what finally worked for me.

Once the duo was mounted, I used this command to copy files from the duo to Ubuntu 9 Desktop as a test to check files right on the desktop:
cp -r duo/filefolder /home/readynas/Desktop
(where filefolder is the name of any folder on your Duo - These files came over locked but you can later remove them)

The files looked OK, so then I had to figure out how to mount the External USB drive.
I used this command to create a directory in Ubuntu to mount the external USB drive:
sudo mkdir /media/externalUSB
(where externalUSB was what I decided to call my external drive directory in Ubuntu)

After much experimentation, I found that I could mount the USB drive in read only on Ubuntu 9 but not write to it...
So, found the following code allowed me write access to my external drive:
mount -o force /dev/sdc2 /media/externalUSB
(where /dev/sdc2 was the name of the external drive in Ubuntu under System -> Admin -> Disk Utility)

Now with disc mounted, and write control, this command allowed me to copy the entire drive to my external USB drive:
cp -r duo /media/externalUSB

After a few hours...all of my files have copied safely to my new external USB drive and all was accomplished within VMWare running Ubuntu 9.

Also, as noted above, I found that when I copied the file folders previously in my test, it left locked folders on the desktop that could not be moved to the trash folder.
This command removed them:
rm -r /home/readynas/Desktop/filefolder

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I hope all of these notes help another person transfer files off their ReadyNas...

Thanks,
Rich @ Lunchbox Audio
lunchboxaudio.com