Shortly after upgrading to firmware 6.9.4 I lost the data volume and all four disks are marked red. There's an alarm saying "Remove inactive volumes to use the disk. Disk #1,2,3,4." I have a backup of the data, but I would like to know the root cause and if there are other options than setting up the NAS from scratch and restoring.

viperhansa wrote: Not to flame anyone/anything or accuse anyone/netgear: Don't you agree that this have been happening more often after the introduction of 6.9.3? I've been seeing inactive volume posts since at least 2015, with firmware as old as 6.2.4. I don't see a spike with 6.9.3, but there might have been one with 6.9.0 in last year - hard to say. They do seem to be more common with recent releases, but that might be because the installed base is growing (there were no OS 6 ReadyNAS before 2013). Whatever the trend, this happens often enough that I think Netgear should provide more information in the UI to allow users to diagnose why their volume can't be mounted. They should also analyze the common causes to see if there are preventative measures (for example frequency of maintenance tasks, or new maintenance task that checks the file system or RAID) that could be added to the UI, or if there is some detection/repair possible in the new safe mode. They might also reconsider the SMART thresholds they are using in their alerts (and at least make them configurable).

I believe there is more than one cause for this problem. Your best option (other than the brute-force factory reset) is to use paid support at my.netgear.com. Netgear mods ( for instance evan2, Marc_V, JohnCM_S ) might be willing to analyze your logs, and give you some information on the cause and possible solutions. So you could PM them and ask if they are willing to do that.

Yes, I agree, there might be more than one reason for this issue. Should I investigate the other possible causes? Or just factory reset and start over?

If it were my primary NAS, I'd do the factory reset and start recovering files from backup. My backups are automated, and it's fairly easy for me to switch to a backup NAS - so I wouldn't use paid support. If you aren't in a hurry, you could ask for help from Netgear mods to analyzing the logs. There's a chance they might also want to take a look at your system remotely. If you have ssh enabled on the NAS, you could poke around on your own I guess.

Thank you for your input. I'm running the data off an DR/alternative storage solution, so there is no rush in getting the ReadyNAS operational. My priority is finding the root cause(s) so I can rule out hardware error. I'm not cormfortable around SSH, so if any Netgear staff would have a look at the logs that would be great. Any tip on how to get their attention?

Lost all disks after firmware 6.9.4 upgrade

22 Replies

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StephenB
Guru - Experienced User
Sep 18, 2018
I believe there is more than one cause for this problem. Your best option (other than the brute-force factory reset) is to use paid support at my.netgear.com.

Netgear mods ( for instance evan2, Marc_V, JohnCM_S ) might be willing to analyze your logs, and give you some information on the cause and possible solutions. So you could PM them and ask if they are willing to do that.
- toresetre
  Aspirant
  Sep 18, 2018
  Yes, I agree, there might be more than one reason for this issue. Should I investigate the other possible causes? Or just factory reset and start over?
  - StephenB
    Guru - Experienced User
    Sep 18, 2018
    If it were my primary NAS, I'd do the factory reset and start recovering files from backup. My backups are automated, and it's fairly easy for me to switch to a backup NAS - so I wouldn't use paid support.
    
    If you aren't in a hurry, you could ask for help from Netgear mods to analyzing the logs. There's a chance they might also want to take a look at your system remotely.
    
    If you have ssh enabled on the NAS, you could poke around on your own I guess.
UnknownAXHF
Aspirant
Sep 19, 2018
I have a feeling it may be related to 6.9.4, as I upgraded the other day and I've had the same issue as you.
- StephenB
  Guru - Experienced User
  Sep 19, 2018
  UnknownAXHF wrote:
  
  I have a feeling it may be related to 6.9.4, as I upgraded the other day and I've had the same issue as you.
  
  Generally speaking, there are quite a few posts reporting it after a firmware update (not necessarily 6.9.4). I'm not convinced the update itself is the cause - it's also quite possible that some checking that is done post-update (or even during the reboot) is uncovering a latent issue that was actually there before. Most people only reboot their NAS after an update.
  
  It would be good if Netgear provided more information on the causes, and looked into prevention or repair of the more common ones. This issue happens much too often.
  - evan2
    NETGEAR Expert
    Sep 25, 2018
    toresetre or UnknownAXHF，
    
    Could do you please enable secure diagnostic on NAS admin GUI and PM me 5 digit number?
    
    Let me remote access to check what problem happen?
    
    RAIDar Secure diagnostic
    https://kb.netgear.com/27391/ReadyNAS-RAIDar-6-0
    or enable secure diagnostic in NAS admin GUI =>System=>Settings=>Support
adrianpbrown
Aspirant
Dec 14, 2018
Thought id jump in here, I just upgraded to 6.9.4 HotFix 1 from 6.9.2 and now ive got the

"remove inactive volumes to use the disk #1,2,3,4,1,2 "

Message. I can most likely build everything from backup but thats a royal pain. Was there ever a solution to this?
qqhsiao
Aspirant
Dec 25, 2018
i had this problem at the first upgrade (6.9.3 to 6.9.4); i thought it maybe me... first thing i noticed it's the drive can not be write in anymore, so i start backing up before i restart; when it can copy out always do that first... i leanred that from the hard way (in tears).

and after reset everything i manually upgrade the NAS to 6.9.3... all working fine until yesterday 2018-DEC-23...

i upgraded by accident.... and now i am back in this crap again...

cannot write in and after i restart the NAS, it shows that same message as you guys.

"xxxxx volume xxxxx remove disk #1.2.3.4"

this is too painful, i have ordered a 8-bay Synology NAS...

i am switching... NAS suppose to be my backup .....

now i have to get backup space for my backups
wahahahahahaha (already gone crazy)
Mr_EdAthon
Tutor
Feb 17, 2019
Morning,

Did anyone find out why this happend? as I've just upgrade to the latest version 6.9.5 and I've just experienced the same error message "please remove inactive disks" and when removing all disks from the system the admin console still thinks the disks are still connected and the same applies on the unit it still thinks drives 2 & 3 are plugged in as the lights are showing for disks 2 & 3.

Thanks
- StephenB
  Guru - Experienced User
  Feb 17, 2019
  The disks are of course still connected, but the data volume can't be mounted.
  
  One option is to engage paid support (my.netgear.com).
  - Mr_EdAthon
    Tutor
    Feb 17, 2019
    Thank you for the quick reply, I have now resolved the issue, disk 2 was faulty of a RAID 5 setup, so I have removed this drive, reformatted the remaining 2 and started from scratch again, once I have replaced the faulty drive with a new one I shall copy the data across again.