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Forum Discussion
ReadyNAS Data Recovery - VMware recovery tool
Description
This topic contains links to linux VMware images (Debian / Ubuntu) that have been modified to enable you to access your ReadyNAS duo HDDs from any machine with a USB plug and a SATA to USB cable.
Advantages:
* VMware player be downloaded freely
* Can run in both existing linux / MS Windows (XP,Vista etc) operating system without any further modification
Disadvantages:
* Requires a SATA to USB cable
* Mac users will need to find another program to run the VMware files
Background
At some point your ReadyNAS Duo unit is going to stop working (which hopefully will be long and far into in the future) and there may be a point where you'll need to rely on your external backups.
While it's a good strategy to ensure you (and your family / clients) have a good disaster recovery process (having external off-site backups, checking the backups, knowing how to restore from backups etc), in some cases the backups might not work or the backups aren't available to you.
Due to the architecture of the ReadyNAS Duo (more specifically the 16KB blocksize of the partitions), you cannot simply pull out the hard disks, place them into a standard windows / linux pc, then copy all your files across to another computer or storage device.
Unfortunately there are no windows drivers that can properly access the drives and the process to configure a linux pc is complex (see viewtopic.php?f=25&t=24861&hilit=16+blocksize for further background on this)
The following VMware images contain all required patches to read your HDDs in linux just by entering a few terminal commands.
VMplayer Link
To get started, you will need to download a version of VMplayer for your operating system Win/Linux (Mac not directly supported yet), this can be found
http://www.vmware.com/products/player/
VMware Linux Image with Ext2Fuse
acmtn Debian release - tested ok, reports are that it works fine except for files greater than 4GB)
http://www.readynas.com/contributed/dek ... ebian5.zip
acmtn VM login info (username/password): root/rootadmin, vmuser/vmuser1
(please read the forums for more details on how to use this vmware )
_vito Ubuntu release - currently being tested, enables you to use the HDDs directly plugged into your pc without the need for a SATA to usb cable.
http://www.readynas.com/contributed/dek ... buntu9.rar
Details on this alternative vmware can be found on this post (you'll need to review the instructions carefully):
viewtopic.php?p=203653#p203653
dekkit Debian release - tested, a number of issues.
my initial attempt that helped start this thread has been found to have quite a few issues and may not work for you, but can be found here if you would like to try:
http://www.readynas.com/contributed/dekkit/VMwareDebian5.0%20-%20ext2Fuse.rar
dekkit VM login info: User: vmplanet pass: vmplanet.net
the acmtn version at this stage appears to be getting more reliable results for users. Unfortunately, I have not had time improve on my original dekkit release due to time constraints but if you would like to try please post your results.
Dekkit release Notes:
* You will need 8GB of free disk space once you have uncompressed the image
* You will still need to execute some of the terminal commands to mount the drive (take precaution so you don't accidently blow away your data)
* This VMware can access other windows file shares and can also be configured to host windows shares (see the docs for debian for more info on this)
* To uncompress the file use WinRar: http://download.cnet.com/WinRAR-32-bit/ ... 07677.html or for non-windows platforms try: http://www.rarlab.com/download.htm
* This image is a work in progress (WIP) so please post all errrors !!!!!.
Dekkit release Usage- this may apply to the other versions (eg acmtn
Login to the OS
Access the terminal and enter the following once the HDD has been attached (take note that your /dev/c may differ):
modprobe fuse
vgscan
vgchange -ay c
mkdir /mnt/lvm
ext2fuse /dev/c/c /mnt/lvm
there is a delay in output but then ..
"/dev/c/c is to be mounted at /mnt/lvm
fuse-ext2 initialized for device: /dev/c/c
block size is 16384"
Dekkit Release Acknowledgements
The original VMware image was found http://www.vmplanet.net/node/85 (before the various patches were applied - so feel free to drop them a donation), if you can improve this image by way of a script to make it even easier to use for us 'non-linux users' then please do so and share it back with the rest of us
This topic contains links to linux VMware images (Debian / Ubuntu) that have been modified to enable you to access your ReadyNAS duo HDDs from any machine with a USB plug and a SATA to USB cable.
Advantages:
* VMware player be downloaded freely
* Can run in both existing linux / MS Windows (XP,Vista etc) operating system without any further modification
Disadvantages:
* Requires a SATA to USB cable
* Mac users will need to find another program to run the VMware files
Background
At some point your ReadyNAS Duo unit is going to stop working (which hopefully will be long and far into in the future) and there may be a point where you'll need to rely on your external backups.
While it's a good strategy to ensure you (and your family / clients) have a good disaster recovery process (having external off-site backups, checking the backups, knowing how to restore from backups etc), in some cases the backups might not work or the backups aren't available to you.
Due to the architecture of the ReadyNAS Duo (more specifically the 16KB blocksize of the partitions), you cannot simply pull out the hard disks, place them into a standard windows / linux pc, then copy all your files across to another computer or storage device.
Unfortunately there are no windows drivers that can properly access the drives and the process to configure a linux pc is complex (see viewtopic.php?f=25&t=24861&hilit=16+blocksize for further background on this)
The following VMware images contain all required patches to read your HDDs in linux just by entering a few terminal commands.
VMplayer Link
To get started, you will need to download a version of VMplayer for your operating system Win/Linux (Mac not directly supported yet), this can be found
http://www.vmware.com/products/player/
VMware Linux Image with Ext2Fuse
acmtn Debian release - tested ok, reports are that it works fine except for files greater than 4GB)
http://www.readynas.com/contributed/dek ... ebian5.zip
acmtn VM login info (username/password): root/rootadmin, vmuser/vmuser1
(please read the forums for more details on how to use this vmware )
_vito Ubuntu release - currently being tested, enables you to use the HDDs directly plugged into your pc without the need for a SATA to usb cable.
http://www.readynas.com/contributed/dek ... buntu9.rar
Details on this alternative vmware can be found on this post (you'll need to review the instructions carefully):
viewtopic.php?p=203653#p203653
dekkit Debian release - tested, a number of issues.
my initial attempt that helped start this thread has been found to have quite a few issues and may not work for you, but can be found here if you would like to try:
http://www.readynas.com/contributed/dekkit/VMwareDebian5.0%20-%20ext2Fuse.rar
dekkit VM login info: User: vmplanet pass: vmplanet.net
the acmtn version at this stage appears to be getting more reliable results for users. Unfortunately, I have not had time improve on my original dekkit release due to time constraints but if you would like to try please post your results.
Dekkit release Notes:
* You will need 8GB of free disk space once you have uncompressed the image
* You will still need to execute some of the terminal commands to mount the drive (take precaution so you don't accidently blow away your data)
* This VMware can access other windows file shares and can also be configured to host windows shares (see the docs for debian for more info on this)
* To uncompress the file use WinRar: http://download.cnet.com/WinRAR-32-bit/ ... 07677.html or for non-windows platforms try: http://www.rarlab.com/download.htm
* This image is a work in progress (WIP) so please post all errrors !!!!!.
Dekkit release Usage- this may apply to the other versions (eg acmtn
Login to the OS
Access the terminal and enter the following once the HDD has been attached (take note that your /dev/c may differ):
modprobe fuse
vgscan
vgchange -ay c
mkdir /mnt/lvm
ext2fuse /dev/c/c /mnt/lvm
there is a delay in output but then ..
"/dev/c/c is to be mounted at /mnt/lvm
fuse-ext2 initialized for device: /dev/c/c
block size is 16384"
Dekkit Release Acknowledgements
The original VMware image was found http://www.vmplanet.net/node/85 (before the various patches were applied - so feel free to drop them a donation), if you can improve this image by way of a script to make it even easier to use for us 'non-linux users' then please do so and share it back with the rest of us
187 Replies
Replies have been turned off for this discussion
- You could use EXT3 (does not have 4GB limitation that FAT32 has) not FAT32. An EXT3 drive should be able to be plugged into a USB port on the ReadyNAS once you have it up and running again.
- Well, I'm assuming at this point that in order to get the ReadyNas Duo up and running again I will have to do a full factory reset and thus blank the data. I figure the quickest and easiest option for Windows users using the VMware method to access 4+GB size files would be to FTP them to a local server, unless someone compiles an image with NTFS write supported.
- First off many thanks to dekkit (and all other contributers) to the linux VM that can access the ReadyNAS du disk over USB.
As a newbe to ReadyNAS Ive had some "issues" that make me nervouse of trusting it completely. (see my post Duo Adding 2nd disk Fails. Reinit with both disks OK ?)
I installed the VM and it can see and access files on disk1 over a USB disk docking station.
But when I swap disk 2 in to the docking station vgscan does not detect it. (both disks 1.5TB Seagate Barracuda x-raid)
Any guidance?
Also see reference to accessing HDD internally from a VM but have not found an actual "how too" Any link would be welcome
Again thanks to all contributors! - Hi BoyQuiet, its been a great to see the ReadyNAS community come together on this....and yes a detailed how-to-guide / video example is probably in order but unfortunately requires time but is on my to do list (unless someone else does it first!?!).
I'll eventually get around to editing the first post on this forum again to help make this clearer but some things to note (that have been mentioned elsewhere around here)
Things to note:
# Only the 1st disk of the duo will work in the VMware (usually in the 1st bay in a 2xbay duo).
Because of the way the RAID works in the duo, the second disk is considered the parity disk (apparently when you yank out the first disk, it will write the partition table to the 2nd disk - or something to this effect - and the duo will kick on). To view the contents of the 2nd disk, you'll need to use something like R-tools to scan and index the partitions on the 2nd disk.
# When you run the VMware, you'll need to run 2 x terminal windows. (which it sounds like you've done)
..the 1st will mount the ReadyNAS duo filesystem and will appear to 'hang' (with info about the size of the disk)
you then need the 2nd to access the files
# Accessing readynas drives plugged into your motherboard requires the _vito vmware version. You may need to google using VMware with internal hdds to ensure you configure _vito's image to meet your drive size. Please report any progress / success.
:)
Dek dekkit wrote: Hi BoyQuiet, its been a great to see the ReadyNAS community come together on this....and yes a detailed how-to-guide / video example is probably in order but unfortunately requires time but is on my to do list (unless someone else does it first!?!).
I'll eventually get around to editing the first post on this forum again to help make this clearer but some things to note (that have been mentioned elsewhere around here)
Things to note:
# Only the 1st disk of the duo will work in the VMware (usually in the 1st bay in a 2xbay duo).
Because of the way the RAID works in the duo, the second disk is considered the parity disk (apparently when you yank out the first disk, it will write the partition table to the 2nd disk - or something to this effect - and the duo will kick on). To view the contents of the 2nd disk, you'll need to use something like R-tools to scan and index the partitions on the 2nd disk.
# When you run the VMware, you'll need to run 2 x terminal windows. (which it sounds like you've done)
..the 1st will mount the ReadyNAS duo filesystem and will appear to 'hang' (with info about the size of the disk)
you then need the 2nd to access the files
# Accessing readynas drives plugged into your motherboard requires the _vito vmware version. You may need to google using VMware with internal hdds to ensure you configure _vito's image to meet your drive size. Please report any progress / success.
:)
Dek
Sorry but I have no idea what _vito is :-( and my googling skills have not helped.
Tried starting the Duo with just the second disk in (simulated disk1 failure) and the Duo just blinked at me for ever ...
So now thinking of using raid-0 on both disks and backing up one to the other. At least that way the VM would be able to read either one if the other failed. I could loose the date since the last backup but the upsides seem worth it to me.
1. take either disk out when going away for any length of time.
2. not worry that inserting a new disk will loose all my data (looks like this happened in some posts)
3. I can use your VM to recover data from either drive.
I know it looks all wrong but may just work for me.- The vito vmware version can be found in the first post of this forum :). I've copied the same link below
http://www.readynas.com/contributed/dek ... buntu9.rar
I haven't tried it myself, but worth a look if you need to try it with the hdds plugged directly into your motherboard.
Interesting that your system didn't kick over on a disk 1 failure. Where you using x-raid? dekkit wrote: The vito vmware version can be found in the first post of this forum :). I've copied the same link below
http://www.readynas.com/contributed/dek ... buntu9.rar
I haven't tried it myself, but worth a look if you need to try it with the hdds plugged directly into your motherboard.
Interesting that your system didn't kick over on a disk 1 failure. Where you using x-raid?
Thanks for the link - snowblind from reading the screen all day!
Yes it was x-raid. I x-checked that disks were in sync after power cycle. And powered down before removing the disk.
Will keep you posted on progress.
Thanks agin.- Pls help !!
I'm getting this error:
modprobe fuse
vgscan
found volume group “vmw.debian5” using…
vgchange -ay vmw.debian5
6 logical volume(s) in volume groupe “vmw.debian5” now active
mkdir /mnt/lvm
ext2fuse /dev/vmw.debian5/vmw.debian5 /mnt/lvm
/dev/vmw.debian5/ vmw.debian5 is to be mounted at /mnt/lvm
fuse-ext2fs: No such file or directory while trying to open /dev/vmw.debian5/ vmw.debian5
What am I doing wrong or what can I do now ? - I have mounted the drive from a ReadyNAS Duo on a Ubuntu VMWare image using an external USB enclosure. I can see the c/home directory which only contains an admin directory but I do not see any shares. Is it still possible that my shares exist on the drive and can be accessed? I have used R-Studio to recover some files but without filenames. The filenames are replaced with numbers by R-Studio. I can see the c/home and c/home/admin folder in R-studio and I don't see any shares there either. In R-Studio the block size for the partition is reported as 4KB. The ReadyNAS is about a year old I think. Is it likely that this is a block size issue and I need to use one of the VMWare images with fuse to recover the files or does the fact that I'm able to mount and view the directories mean the shares are not there? Thanks in advance. - Scott
- I don't do this very often, but it is time to say a BIIIG "Thanky you" !!!
Your VM saved my a** today.... so thanx again.
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