Migrating disks from RND4000 to another RND4000 -- safe?

If you press and hold the power button when trying to turn the old NV+ on do you see boot menu options?

Did you ever try putting your NV+ (v1) in tech support mode? Did that work?

If it didn't work with the disks installed, did it work if you tried to do it with no disks installed?

Note for booting into tech support mode to be working you should get a login prompt when telnetting to the I.P. of the NAS. If that works then I could remotely attempt to diagnose the problem.

Sometimes a disk may appear to be dead but it could just be hanging on a bad disk.


As for migrating the disks

First you need to make sure they are both v1 units (i.e. they have the same silver chassis). See http://www.rnasguide.com/2012/01/09/how-to-tell-whether-i-have-a-duo-v1-or-duo-v2-or-nv-v1-or-nv-v2/

If you have a spare disk (not from your array), put it in the replacement NV+ and check what firmware is on it. If it's older than what was on your old NV+ update the firmware.

After verifying the firmware update was successful, power down, remove the spare disk, migrate the disks across (keeping the order the same) and if it boots up fine, recalibrate the fan under Status > Health in Frontview.

I'm not sure how much confidence I would have in a unit from eBay. Some of those aren't in the best condition either. Some eBay sellers assume the unit is fine if they see lights when connecting it to power, not bothering to put disks in it to test if it works on their network.

Welcome to the forum!

mdgm:

Thanks for your detailed reply.

I believe that I have pressed and held the power button on my dead unit with no results, but I will try again when I get home. I probably did not hold the button down long enough to get it into tech support mode (though I don't think it will get there). The results of my tests have been the same with disks installed and with them removed.

They are both NV+ v1 units (both have IEC power cable). The replacement chassis I bought comes working with 4x1 TB drives -- seller posted a picture of the unit powered on and showing its IP address. So it sounds like I can update the firmware to the newest version. Once done I will verify that the update was successful and migrate the disks across.

Thanks again! Much appreciated.

/afb

@mdgm:

I tested again and no matter how long I hold down the power button, nothing ever happens on my old ReadyNAS. I think it is well and truly dead.

I will follow your instructions when the new one arrives.

Thanks again for your help.

/afb

Ablock,
For your info, there are previous posts re the NV+ v1 power supply.

http://www.readynas.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=65944

Thoughts:
Plan A : When the 2nd chassis comes, insert a blank disk, and bring to what you judge was the same f/ware as first.
Power off, and move 4 disks across, keeping left to right order. You may need to OS re-install after.

Plan B is to move PSU from 2nd unit to first. This may pin issue to down motherboard or PSU.

Regards, Marto

Hi Marto.

Thanks for that.

I have replaced the power supply with a brand new one but the symptoms are the same (want to buy a power supply? :D ).

Unfortunately the unit has been out of commission for a while and I had not done a firmware upgrade for years so I really have no idea what firmware it was running before it failed. So are you saying that even if the firmware on the replacement chassis is older, it will not corrupt my drive data?

Regards,

/afb

There are some firmware releases that won't let you go back once installed. So if you aren't sure what you have, it is best to install current firmware on the replacement chassis using a scratch disk, and then insert your old drives (NAS powered down, and installed in the proper slot). Then power on. The NAS will begin by installing current firmware on the old drives, but that should not impact your configuration or data.

@StephenB: Thanks, that's very clear.

/afb

@ablock: How did it go? I'm about to do the same thing, but need to check FW version on my old unit first. Anyone know how to do that, when not having a working network connection on the NAS?

You would need a network connection to check.

There may be a sticker on the unit indicating what firmware it shipped with, but you have likely updated the firmware since then.