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I'm think I'm in big trouble with my 10 (or so) year old RNDP600E
Netgear/ReadyNAS Pros,
I think I'm in big trouble and was hoping someone can point me in the right direction. I have an old ReadyNAS that has 5 occupied bays.. 1-3 each have 1TB drives that I installed back when I bought the unit... Bays 4-5 each have a 4TB WD RED nas drive.
About 2 months ago, I started getting errors on startup that Drive #3 was growing in the "Reallocated Sector Count" and told me it might be a good idea to replace. So I ordered a 3TB WD RED drive and when received it, turned off the NAS, took out the old #3 drive, swapped in the new 3TB model, closed it up, turned it on and waited.. I THOUGHT that it would just do it's re-mixing/syncing and I'd be in business again, but that's not what happened...
The system came back with disk #3 showing "Spare" and disk #5 DEAD. So I figured maybe I should just go back to where I was.. I put the 1TB back into #3 spot, then put the new drive in #6, but things are all kinds of messed up.
The front of the NAS says life support, and I can't see any volumes mount.
The CRITICAL data on the NAS is backed up, but I have many TBs of "useful" videos and the like that I'd like to keep if at all possible. I took the 4TB "DEAD" drive out and hooked it up to my PC with the WD tools program, but it didn't even "see" it.. (thinks it's 0kb).
Does anyone have any idea how I might proceed?
18 Replies
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Sorry - I think the model is - ReadyNASRNDP6000 (no "E") - it was from around 2011 I think??
javelindesign wrote:
I took the 4TB "DEAD" drive out and hooked it up to my PC with the WD tools program, but it didn't even "see" it.. (thinks it's 0kb).
Do you mean Lifeguard?
If you are using an old USB 2.0/SATA adapter in the PC, it's possible that it doesn't support 4 TB drives. Though this is consistent with the 4 TB drive failing during the stress of the resync.
javelindesign wrote:
The system came back with disk #3 showing "Spare" and disk #5 DEAD. So I figured maybe I should just go back to where I was.. I put the 1TB back into #3 spot, then put the new drive in #6, but things are all kinds of messed up.
Did you do this with the NAS powered down? (you should have).
javelindesign wrote:
So I ordered a 3TB WD RED drive and when received it, turned off the NAS, took out the old #3 drive, swapped in the new 3TB model, closed it up, turned it on and waited..
As an aside here - you should have ordered 4 TB (or 1 TB). You can't add a new intermediate size to the array (more accurately, the NAS would have to treat the 3 TB drive as a 1 TB drive). With XRAID, you can replace a disk with the same size, or with a drive that is at least as large as the biggest disk in the array.
javelindesign wrote:
The CRITICAL data on the NAS is backed up, but I have many TBs of "useful" videos and the like that I'd like to keep if at all possible.
The safest way to proceed is to contact Netgear paid support (via my.netgear.com). They will likely require a data recovery contract, which is expensive. https://kb.netgear.com/69/ReadyNAS-Data-Recovery-Diagnostics-Scope-of-Service
There are some other data recovery services out there - I have no experience with any of them, so I have no recommendation to make. Terms vary - some only charge if they can recover some data.
If you can connect all the disks to a PC, you could also purchase R-Studio software and try that. https://www.r-studio.com/ RStudio is less expensive than a data recovery service, but if you also need to purchase a disk enclosure to connect the 5 disks, you will likely end up at a similar cost point.
Note that the more experimenting you do, the more difficult data recovery would actually be. But if the data recovery options are too expensive, you could gamble on a more risky approach.
For instance, power down the NAS, and then try cloning the original 1 TB drive to another 1 TB drive - using software that does sector by sector cloning. Clonezilla is one option. Then put in the cloned disk with the other originals (no new disk), and try powering up.
At this point you could boot up the system using the boot-menu option to skip the file system check. My guess is that the volume still won't mount, but there is a chance that it will.
If you already know how to use ssh, you could alternatively boot up in tech support mode, and attempt to forcibly mount the RAID array. If you don't, then it's probably best not to try to learn it now.
Steven,
Thank you SO much for your guidance.. Please see below with ***
StephenB wrote:
javelindesign wrote:I took the 4TB "DEAD" drive out and hooked it up to my PC with the WD tools program, but it didn't even "see" it.. (thinks it's 0kb).
Do you mean Lifeguard?
***- Yes.. Lifeguard
If you are using an old USB 2.0/SATA adapter in the PC, it's possible that it doesn't support 4 TB drives. Though this is consistent with the 4 TB drive failing during the stress of the resync.
*** - That's probably the issue.. I'm using an older sort of "swiss army knife" external bare hard drive adapter thing with USB2 interface. Do you think it would be worth while getting a newer version? Do you really think it could find/correct an issue with the drive in your experience?
javelindesign wrote:The system came back with disk #3 showing "Spare" and disk #5 DEAD. So I figured maybe I should just go back to where I was.. I put the 1TB back into #3 spot, then put the new drive in #6, but things are all kinds of messed up.
Did you do this with the NAS powered down? (you should have).
*** - I swapped out the drives when everything was shut down, but early on, the system got stuck at 92% boot (it was there for 2 days), so I turned it off and restarted (could have added to my problems)
javelindesign wrote:So I ordered a 3TB WD RED drive and when received it, turned off the NAS, took out the old #3 drive, swapped in the new 3TB model, closed it up, turned it on and waited..
As an aside here - you should have ordered 4 TB (or 1 TB). You can't add a new intermediate size to the array (more accurately, the NAS would have to treat the 3 TB drive as a 1 TB drive). With XRAID, you can replace a disk with the same size, or with a drive that is at least as large as the biggest disk in the array.
*** - Thanks.. i didn't know that.. I actually do have a 3rd 4TB, and a 3TB, but sounds like if I use 3 4TBs and 1 3TB you're saying the system will really just see 4+4+3+3?
javelindesign wrote:The CRITICAL data on the NAS is backed up, but I have many TBs of "useful" videos and the like that I'd like to keep if at all possible.
The safest way to proceed is to contact Netgear paid support (via my.netgear.com). They will likely require a data recovery contract, which is expensive. https://kb.netgear.com/69/ReadyNAS-Data-Recovery-Diagnostics-Scope-of-Service
There are some other data recovery services out there - I have no experience with any of them, so I have no recommendation to make. Terms vary - some only charge if they can recover some data.
If you can connect all the disks to a PC, you could also purchase R-Studio software and try that. https://www.r-studio.com/ RStudio is less expensive than a data recovery service, but if you also need to purchase a disk enclosure to connect the 5 disks, you will likely end up at a similar cost point.
*** - I think at this point, I don't want to put several hundred dollars into recorving data that would just "be nice" to recover...
Note that the more experimenting you do, the more difficult data recovery would actually be. But if the data recovery options are too expensive, you could gamble on a more risky approach.
For instance, power down the NAS, and then try cloning the original 1 TB drive to another 1 TB drive - using software that does sector by sector cloning. Clonezilla is one option. Then put in the cloned disk with the other originals (no new disk), and try powering up.
At this point you could boot up the system using the boot-menu option to skip the file system check. My guess is that the volume still won't mount, but there is a chance that it will.
If you already know how to use ssh, you could alternatively boot up in tech support mode, and attempt to forcibly mount the RAID array. If you don't, then it's probably best not to try to learn it now.
**** - GENERAL QUESTION *** - My issued really seem to be caused from confusion from the file system/data right? If I put in my most recent drives and did a facorty reset (or whatever it's called) from the BOOT menu, do you think this would function like new again (with no data obviously)? It's a 10 year old or so NAS, and I know there are much more modern versions available, but this old ReadyNAS still does fundamentally what I need it to do.
**** - GENERAL QUESTION NUMBER 2 *** - This last go around I used X-Raid or whatever. If I have the option (and I'm not sure I do) to use RAID5 or something, would I be able to take all the drives out of this NAS and move them to another NAS (even another BRAND) of NAS as use them as is? Is RAID5 the same and interchangeable between manufacturers?
Thanks!
Jay
javelindesign wrote:
*** - That's probably the issue.. I'm using an older sort of "swiss army knife" external bare hard drive adapter thing with USB2 interface. Do you think it would be worth while getting a newer version? Do you really think it could find/correct an issue with the drive in your experience?
I got a new adapter when I ran into this myself. I do confirm disk issues with Lifeguard, and also like to check new disks before I install them.
But I don't try to fix the issues. I've found that once a disk begins to fail, it just gets worse over time. So when I see rising counts I just replace the disk. If it's under warranty, I exchange it - but usually use the recertified replacement somewhere less critical.
javelindesign wrote:
*** - Thanks.. i didn't know that.. I actually do have a 3rd 4TB, and a 3TB, but sounds like if I use 3 4TBs and 1 3TB you're saying the system will really just see 4+4+3+3?
No. The capacity rule for XRAID is to "sum the disks and subtract the largest". So 3x4TB+3TB would give you 11 TB (10 TiB).
But there are constraints on expansion. If you started fresh with a factory default, you could have 2x1 TB + 3 TB + 2x4 TB in the array. But you start with 3x1 TB and 2x4 TB, you can't expand by replacing one of the 1 TB drives with a 3 TB drive. We can give a more complete explanation on this, but it isn't directly linked to your current issue.
javelindesign wrote:
**** - GENERAL QUESTION *** - My issued really seem to be caused from confusion from the file system/data right? If I put in my most recent drives and did a facorty reset (or whatever it's called) from the BOOT menu, do you think this would function like new again (with no data obviously)? It's a 10 year old or so NAS, and I know there are much more modern versions available, but this old ReadyNAS still does fundamentally what I need it to do.
Yes, assuming healthy disks. FWIW, my own Pro-6 is still in use (though it's possible yours might be the pro pioneer or pro business edition model, which is a bit older hardware than mine).
You could also convert it to run current OS-6 firmware if you like, though I suggest upgrading the memory if you want to do that. The upgrade requires a factory reset, so it wouldn't be a bad time to do it. You'd get some new features - including SMB 3 support. Your current NAS is limited to SMB 1, which is being deprecated by both Microsoft and Apple.
javelindesign wrote:
**** - GENERAL QUESTION NUMBER 2 *** - This last go around I used X-Raid or whatever. If I have the option (and I'm not sure I do) to use RAID5 or something, would I be able to take all the drives out of this NAS and move them to another NAS (even another BRAND) of NAS as use them as is? Is RAID5 the same and interchangeable between manufacturers?
XRAID isn't really proprietary - it is built on top of standard RAID, and is intended to simplify expansion. So that's not the problem.
The real issue with migrating is that the NAS actually boots from the disks. The drivers, etc are customized to the NAS hardware, so the disks won't boot if you migrate to another vendor's NAS. FWIW, they won't boot if you migrate to various other ReadyNAS platforms either. Though you can't directly migrate, it is possible to transfer data to a different NAS over the network - either for backup purposes or when migrating to a new platform. The ReadyNAS backup jobs can be used for this (preferably set up to use rsync). Other vendors (Synology, Qnap, etc) have similar capabilities, and they can also be used to get the data from the ReadyNAS (or put their files onto the ReadyNAS).
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