Beeeping plus - please advise quickly

Well, started beeping again so I figured I had to shut it down. More beeping than before, but everything still working as expected.

I have read here now that the NAS does not beep. So it must be a drive ( I hope). And if so, even SMART + shows everything OK, so which do I replace? And how? If I pick the worng one to replace can I back back out of that? I am running in RAID mode but don't recall more than that. Ask questions if you need details to help me out here please.

I just want to be sure I do not lose my data and if anyway possible, all my NAS settings as I doubt I could reconstruct how I set everything up so long ago.

Not a question of dollars so I can go buy two new drives, but I do need assistance in knowing how to saving this and get back on solid ground.

Thanks.

~Bob

What drives are you running now (size and model). Also, do you know what firmware version you are running?

Start by labeling the two drives. If you don't have a backup, then fire it up and make one (buying a 2 TB USB backup drive if you need one). If you have a gigabit network, then backing it up over your network to a PC is fastest. Teracopy is a reasonable utility if you do this by drag-and-drop, as it has a way to verify the copy. I use robocopy, but am quite ok with windows command lines.

Also back up the config to your PC using Frontview, and take a note of the add-ons you installed. Once that is taken care of, then take the next steps.

If you have an SATA/USB adapter (or a USB drive shell), you can power up each drive individually, and test it with vendor tools on a PC (Seatools for Seagate, WD Lifeguard for WD). The test will likely pass, but it should also provoke the failing drive to make the beeping sound.

Thanks Stephen. The reply is much appreciated. I am a little beside myself trying to figure out how to make this right again.

So, please be a little more clear. I am safe taking out a drive and then reinserting if needed to figure out which is the beeping drive? And we do agree it must be a drive?

I have a file called option.config. Is this the backup and if so does not have very much in it.

I did a synctoy copy to an external USB drive.

Now, the package the drives came from say ST320005N4A1AS-RK, but I believe the drives inside are closer to ST2000DL5(or6)03-9VT166(this could be a G or something else). I have not fired this up in case it starts to go and I do not have another drive around, etc.

The firmware is NOT the latest. I am at least one or maybe two behind as everything worked just fine and I try not to update working firmware.

So, can I remove a drive (hot OR cold???) see if it beep again. If it does not, replace the other drive (and if so with what??) and have it resync. OR, if it does beep, shut down and put in the other drive, wait for hopefully no beep and put in another drive to re sync?

Thanks.
Awaiting some further direction.

~Bob

The safest thing is to power down the NAS and test the drives externally. Then re-insert them and power up. That will avoid any resyncs. Putting the stress of resync on a potentially failing drive is risky.

If you have to test the drives in the NAS itself (removing, reinserting, etc) then you really will need a full backup in place first. (Actually in all scenarios you really will need a full backup). I would do the testing with hot-removal, wait until I am certain that the beep is gone [or not] and then hot reinsertion. Be sure to wait until the resync is 100% done before you do the second removal.

The config backup on the duo v1 is a zip file - named something like "_READYNAS_CONFIG-DUO-20130319-101448.zip" There are lots of files in there.

On the firmware: 4K sector support was added in 4.1.7. There is a performance boost if you do a factory default with 4.1.7 or later. That's probably not the main concern right now, but worth noting.

On other causes: Generally this beeping is due to a disk. There's no speaker in the disk of course [also no speaker in the NAS chassis], so the sound is being generated by the spinning disk or its motor. I suppose there could be other causes - for instance a failing fan. You could test that by removing both drives (powered down) and then starting up the NAS. It won't boot, but the fans should still come on. Power down the NAS before reinserting - otherwise it will wipe the disks.

Thanks again Stephen.

So, I think I have to live with the backup I have. I think I would have time to backup the configuration (can you point me to where so I can get there quickly?).

Then, if I am understanding, remove one drive when fully powered to see if it stops the beeping. If it does not, reinsert that drive and sync? What is it fails there? Can I just power down knowing the beeping drive is in the device now. Remove it. Insert the good drive and power up and go get another drive insert and sync? This is where I get a bit confused and really want to be clear. And does the new drive need to be identical? May not be still available. And if not, then do I need two new drives?

Sorry for so many questions but I am just a little confused and want to minimize the risk of losing everything if possible.

Thanks again.

~Bob

Log into frontview, select system and then config backup on the left pane. Not much point in the 50 MB data backup, so I'd de-select that and select everything else.

Yes try removing one drive when powered (I suggest drive 2). After you've confirmed the beep status, reinsert it and wait for frontview to confirm resync is complete. If the beep continues, try again with the other drive.

Once you've confirmed that its a drive (and know which one), you can replace it. It doesn't need to be the same model, but it does need to be the same size. WDC Red 2 TB is a good choice. I've seen too many issues posted here with recent seagate drives to recommend them. Also, I'd avoid WDC green drives.

OK, once again your reply sincerely appreciated.

I did find a backup called _READYNAS_CONFIG-Nasbox-20121113-193623. So I think that is good.

So all of this is done hot.

Try to determine which drive beeps.
If I can, remove that drive
If beep stops, then insert new drive and sync (or run on 1 drive until I can get a new drive?)
If desired, after sync, remove the good old drive and replace with new model drive and sync

OR
Remove drive and beep continues
Insert other drive and wait for resync and hope nothing fails during resync (?? yes?)
Then remove bad drive
insert new
sync
remove old if I choose
insert second new drive
resync

Yes?

And is there a general agreement WDC red? Anything better?

Thanks Stephen.

~Bob

BTW, is there anything I could do in this process to make the new drives unusable? I would hope that at worst I could install the two new drives and copy over everything from that external USB drive an be back tonormal. But if not, please advise.

Thanks.

rebop wrote:
BTW, is there anything I could do in this process to make the new drives unusable? I would hope that at worst I could install the two new drives and copy over everything from that external USB drive an be back to normal. But if not, please advise

Assuming you don't drop them, or something the drives should be usable. The worst case would be that you'd somehow end up with "corrupt root", which you can fix via a factory reset (or by deleting the volumes manually on a PC).

OK. Thanks.

So, Stephen,. would you just check my previous post for accuracy and if I'm good, I'll be off after work today to buy drives.

I think my biggest concern at the moment is pulling the wrong drive and having something fail while resyncing as I recall that can take hours to do. So I guess I need to ask the question if I do pull the wrong drive, can I shut down, take out the bad and put in the good and function as a single drive until I get the new drive in to sync? Or does that create havoc?

Thanks.