Much Ado About ReadyNAS Ultra 4

Unless the resync hits a snag it should take between 8 and 12 hours. I'm not sure why you had to do a factory default, that is usually only necessary on a functioning unit to change from one Raid system to another or reduce drive size of number.

Thanks for the quick response. I shall let it run overnight .

Is it normal for the LCD to be showing "Tesing disks" throughout the whole 8 to 12 hours?

I don't recall, but don't think so. You can check and see what RAIDar is showing.

RAIDar shows the same thing. Guess, I'll know after 12 hours. Thanks!

Ok. I swapped the sequence of the drives. The NAS just reported drives 1 & 2 are bad. :(

Time for some tests and a trip to the distributor.

That's a bummer, but better now than later when you have a lot of data on them. A dual failure like that with data can and will cause data loss.

Suggestion - unless you have already committed the NV+ to another use, I would set it up as a backup to the Ultra 4. The best way to transfer the files over is to use the backup routine in Frontview. You can either use the Ultra to pull the files from the NV+ or the NV+ to push the files to the Ultra 4. The first backup should be by NFS and when it completes, change the method to rsync and run it again. The first copy will take hours and hours depending on the volume of files you have. The rsync job will only take minutes as it will synchronize the files between the two machine. Then you can reverse the sequence and use rsync to synchronize the Ultra to the NV+. Since you will already have the files on the NV+ it shouldn't take long to run (minutes). While the Ultra 4 has the power to run several backup jobs at once, the NV+ does not.

I have my NAS to NAS backups start at midnight. I have 5 backup jobs since I have 5 shares to backup. The nice thing is if you need to work on the Ultra 4 for some reason (upgrading disks) you can still access the files on your NV+. I also use static IP's so I can tell which unit is which unit (NAS1 uses an IP ending in 201 and NAS2 uses an IP ending in 202).

Wow.That sounds almost Greek to me.

To accomplish the backup function, I would need to have both the Ultra 4, the NV+ and my PC hooked up to a switch right?

I've to go check up on the backup function in Frontview. I don't remember seeing it.

What's NFS by the way?

Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge in this.

Adiemus wrote:
...To accomplish the backup function, I would need to have both the Ultra 4, the NV+ and my PC hooked up to a switch right?...

You need all three connected to the switch to start the backup, but once that is done you only need the source and destination connected.

Adiemus wrote:
...I've to go check up on the backup function in Frontview. I don't remember seeing it...

Backup is the 6th function down in the left menu.

Adiemus wrote:
...What's NFS by the way?...

Network File System. If you google it you can find a fair amount of information.

Remember that the ReadyNAS units run heavily customised Linux. As NFS is a native Linux protocol it's very good for reliable, fast, full NAS to NAS backups. Rsync is also a native Linux protocol but is very good for incremental backups (you can also google for info on Rsync) but slow for full backups

Adiemus - if it is any consolation it was greek to me as well 18 months ago. I was happily plodding along with just my NV+ and doing backups to various hard drives when it was pointed out to me, after I got my new faster NVX box last summer that it would be better to do NAS to NAs backups in that manner. I had the same questions as you did. And with the help of this wonderful forum I finally got it set up and running. It is a learning experience, and there is a lot of good help on this forum. When you get ready to do it, just ask and someone who has gone through it will be ready to help. Like anything, the first time is the hardest, after that it is just a matter of doing the same process for the other shares.