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Forum Discussion
spicedrive
Mar 01, 2018Aspirant
Disaster on a readynas 314 - need advice please
Going to simplify this - essentially this is all because of the 6.9.2 update causing NAS to not boot up after update. Not happy.
I had 2 x 3TB drives as RAID1 in a 4 bay NAS.
I installed a new 3TB drive hoping to mirror on to this, but didnt realise when I clicked add parity it turned the 3 drives into a RAID5.
Resync started.
I panicked, went and bought a new 4TB drive, put it in the NAS.
Was in the admin / volumes page, and was hoping to make the 4TB drive a new partition, but it was late, and I thought I had clicked the 4TB, but I had clicked the 3TB that the RAID5 was syncing on, and clicked make new volume. When I realised what I did, I literally froze in shock (this is all my research / families data, and I was trying to be safe with it). I let the resync finish, which it did, and then I thought to my self I'll shutdown the NAS. Only for it to not boot again (in hind sight I should have just copied the data to the new 4TB then and there).
Nothing would boot so I did a whole lot of resetting things (but with the new 4TB drive in only, new OS).
I now have a fresh 4TB single drive system and when I add in the 3 other drives they show up as red in the volumes section.
So basically I feel like I have a degraded RAID5 set of 3 disks (2 of which I think should be good) that won't boot.
I am considering putting back in the 3 original disks (or 2, and reinstalling the OS on them from the boot menu?)
WHat are my other options?
I have downlaoded the logs using raidr but only when the NAS has booted using the 4TB drive, and then I insert the other 3TB drives (and they show up red).
Also are others having really odd intermittent booting issues after the 6.9.2 update. Even on the new fresh install booting (and boot menu booting) are hit and miss.]
ReadyNAS need your help!
12 Replies
- spicedriveAspirant
Also forgot to mention if I have just the 2x3TB disks, or 3x3TB disk in, it hangs on WELCOME NETGEAR STORAGE......... for ever.
- StephenBGuru - Experienced User
The sequence of events is a bit complicated, but if I am reading this correctly, you now have a degraded RAID-5 array on the 3x3TB disks. That is assuming that the 4 TB drive was also synced to the volume, but then reformatted using the factory reset. If that's the case, you'll need all three disks to recover the data.
What you should have done is put a backup plan in place before you started (or at least after the first mistake). RAID isn't enough to keep your data safe. Equipment fails, people make mistakes, and there are also the risks of theft, power surges from nearby lightning, fire, etc.
That said, the question now is what to do to get your data back. Your best options are to use paid Netgear support (data recovery might be needed) or possibly try connecting the three drives to a Windows PC and use ReclaiMe. Netgear's data recovery service is outlined here: https://kb.netgear.com/69/ReadyNAS-Data-Recovery-Diagnostics-Scope-of-Service
6.9.3 (beta) has a new "safe" mode that might help here though - so you could try installing that, and then power down, insert the old array, and then power up again. Perhaps wait for mdgm-ntgr to chime in, he can give you more information on whether that safe mode would help in your situation. Installing beta firmware might have issues if you then move to paid support.
Do you have experience with linux shell commands?
- spicedriveAspirant
Thanks Stephen, definetely complicated. After this experience I will have a failsafe backup plan in place. As I said this data is my life and memories and are worth my world.
That being said I'll need to get pricing on paid support but would be happy to go down this path.
Unfortunately I only have a notebook and so ReclaiMe might be a bit tricky, but I guess I could buy a computer for this purpose.
Would love to hear about 6.9.3 mdgm response and see whether that might work.
What is the go if I install all three disks and then boot menu (if it works) and reinstall OS, is that a good idea to get it started again?
Can I also ask on a RAID5 where is the OS installed? (I dont understand why it doesnt boot atm).
Also is the NAS reading anything off itself when it is booting, i.e. are all the config files, and setup (like the PWs, etc) stored on the drive or the 31400? I.e If I installed a fresh 4TB and called the volume XXX, with the password to readynas as X1X1X1, and then I removed that only drive, and replaced it with a brand new drive and called it YYY, with password Y1Y1Y1, and then removed that drive and put XXX back it, would everything from XXX come back? Or would it be a red volume shown in volume?
P.S. what hours are paid support?
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