NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
Solved
New HDDs failing in Pro 2
Hello,
I've been running a ReadyNAS Pro 2 with two 2TB WD red drives. I primarily use it as a backup and media server. I recently bought two 3TB drives (also red) to expand. Along the way I did something that in hindsight was probably not you bright, and likely due to the fact that I don't fully understand how the NAS works!
Here's what I did (for this scenario 3A and 2B refer to the original drives, 3A and 3B to the new drives)
1. In an effort to back up the NAS before swapping drives, I took one of the new drives (3A) and hooked it as an external USB drive. The original plan was to then put drive 3B in the NAS (replacing 2B), and once confirmed synced with 2A, I would reformat 3A and replace 2A with it.
2. The first problem was that as an external drive, 3A only showed as 764GB. I removed it from its enclosure and put it as a secondary internal drive, reformatted it and verified 3TB of space. Then I ran a backup from the NAS to the now internal drive (3A). This ran well (albeit slowly) with the exception of a bunch of Plex files which did not copy, possibly because of file name length.
3. I removed 2B and replaced it with 3B and the syncing started. After it finished everything looked good, with 2A and 3B in the NAS.
4. I then replaced 2A with 3A (did not reformat first) with the thought that if I put in a disk with data already on it either it would just wipe it before syncing or at least ask if I wanted to reformat. However, this did not happen. Instead I got a message that "data volume will be rebuilt with volume 2," which I thought strange because volume 1 was already present and complete. I assumed that would be used as the basis for adding additional drives, not the other way around. Although perhaps it's just a poorly worded or translated easy of saying that disk 1 is the source to rebuild disk 2.
5. After some time I got a message that disk 2 was dead. Strange because it was new, and had no errors via SMART+. I removed that disk and the error message persisted even after rebooting. Yellow light on Raidar, flashing green light on the NAS.
6. Swapping the position of the drives did not help. May have made it worse.
At this point I'm at a loss. My hope is that I can start over, but before doing so I want to make sure I won't ruin the original disks (2A, 2B). Can I just put back in the original disks and try and reformat the new ones? Do I have to reset the NAS prior to doing this? How can I reformat the new drives to try again?
Thanks to anyone making it through my post, and I hope it was clear enough to get some help.
I've been running a ReadyNAS Pro 2 with two 2TB WD red drives. I primarily use it as a backup and media server. I recently bought two 3TB drives (also red) to expand. Along the way I did something that in hindsight was probably not you bright, and likely due to the fact that I don't fully understand how the NAS works!
Here's what I did (for this scenario 3A and 2B refer to the original drives, 3A and 3B to the new drives)
1. In an effort to back up the NAS before swapping drives, I took one of the new drives (3A) and hooked it as an external USB drive. The original plan was to then put drive 3B in the NAS (replacing 2B), and once confirmed synced with 2A, I would reformat 3A and replace 2A with it.
2. The first problem was that as an external drive, 3A only showed as 764GB. I removed it from its enclosure and put it as a secondary internal drive, reformatted it and verified 3TB of space. Then I ran a backup from the NAS to the now internal drive (3A). This ran well (albeit slowly) with the exception of a bunch of Plex files which did not copy, possibly because of file name length.
3. I removed 2B and replaced it with 3B and the syncing started. After it finished everything looked good, with 2A and 3B in the NAS.
4. I then replaced 2A with 3A (did not reformat first) with the thought that if I put in a disk with data already on it either it would just wipe it before syncing or at least ask if I wanted to reformat. However, this did not happen. Instead I got a message that "data volume will be rebuilt with volume 2," which I thought strange because volume 1 was already present and complete. I assumed that would be used as the basis for adding additional drives, not the other way around. Although perhaps it's just a poorly worded or translated easy of saying that disk 1 is the source to rebuild disk 2.
5. After some time I got a message that disk 2 was dead. Strange because it was new, and had no errors via SMART+. I removed that disk and the error message persisted even after rebooting. Yellow light on Raidar, flashing green light on the NAS.
6. Swapping the position of the drives did not help. May have made it worse.
At this point I'm at a loss. My hope is that I can start over, but before doing so I want to make sure I won't ruin the original disks (2A, 2B). Can I just put back in the original disks and try and reformat the new ones? Do I have to reset the NAS prior to doing this? How can I reformat the new drives to try again?
Thanks to anyone making it through my post, and I hope it was clear enough to get some help.
bgg1 wrote:
With one old drive in, everything else (except for the few corrupted folders) seems to be working well - I can access all other files (at least the ones I tried), and can stream movies on Plex to my phone from both the drive and from an attached USB drive.
I'm not sure what the underlying issue is.
Options I see are
(a) try again on the new hard drive install/expansion. That might work, but some file corruption likely remains.
(b) format one of the 3 TB drives in a PC, and copy the data off the NAS to it. Then remove both 2 TB drives, and do a factory install with the remaining 3 TB drive. Reconfigure the NAS, install your apps, and restore the data from the copy. Then move the 3 TB drive from the PC to the NAS. This will take longer, but will ensure that everything is clean when you are done. You'd also preserve both of the 2 TB drives.
36 Replies
Replies have been turned off for this discussion
Do you still have access to your data?
bgg1 wrote:
The first problem was that as an external drive, 3A only showed as 764GB.That's almost certainly because your enclosure doesn't support drives > 2 TB.
bgg1 wrote:
5. After some time I got a message that disk 2 was dead. Strange because it was new, and had no errors via SMART+. I removed that disk and the error message persisted even after rebooting. Yellow light on Raidar, flashing green light on the NAS.If you still do have access to your data, then try reinserting disk 2 with the NAS running. It should attempt to add it to the array again.
If that fails, try connecting it to a Windows PC (via sata, since your enclosure can't handle the drive), and use the short test in WDC's lifeguard software to verify the drive. If that passes, then use the write test - the quick version is good enough to unformat the drive. Then try adding it more more time to the array.
Overall - the NAS will wipe drives before it adds them to the array. OS 6 systems will warn you if the drive is formatted, but OS 4.2 firmware will not.
- I have the original 2TB drives. Can I put one in and then add one of the 3TB drives after doing the write test?
- When you say data do you mean on the 3TB drives or another copy elsewhere?
If the 3TB drives then I'll have to check again by connecting them internally. If you mean a copy elsewhere then no, although I could probably rebuild if I had the time. - When I have one or both of the new drives in the NAS I cannot access anything.
- OK. I'll try when I get hone from work in the morning. I'll update you then.
Hi bgg1,
Any updates on your ReadyNAS?
Regards,
- Stuck at work for 24 hours. I'll update tomorrow
- So I put in one of the original drives on its own and it seems to be working. Now what's the next step if I want to try expanding again to the larger drives?
bgg1 wrote:
So I put in one of the original drives on its own and it seems to be working. Now what's the next step if I want to try expanding again to the larger drives?I'd recommend making sure you have an up-to-date backup first. That might be more important than usual here, because you've already run into issues.
If you have a backup, you can simply install both of the new drives and try a factory default. Then reconfigure the NAS and restore the data from the backup.
You can also try hot-inserting the first new drive (leaving the NAS running) and see if you have better luck with the resync this time.
- I don't have a large enough drive at this point for a backup unless I try what got me into this mess on the first place. But assuming the original drives don't get harmed in this process, is that sufficient as a backup stand in?
Do I have to reformat the new drive before inserting it? If so, what's the best way to do that? - I'm on my phone and accidentally tapped on accept answer, but I'm not done yet. Not sure if that can be reversed, but I'd appreciate further advice until I'm up and running with the new disks.
Thanks - Umm... what does that mean? Besides for something bad. And can it be fixed?
With one old drive in, everything else (except for the few corrupted folders) seems to be working well - I can access all other files (at least the ones I tried), and can stream movies on Plex to my phone from both the drive and from an attached USB drive. So other than the disturbing message what is the issue? Is this a problem with the unit itself or with (all of) the drives? Should i put the 2nd old drive back in now or try a new drive again? And if it is a drive issue, is this something that a reformat can fix? On the positive side, all of the data (or most) can be reconstructed in some way or another once I round up all the old hard drives where some of it resides, but it will be a pain.
bgg1 wrote:
With one old drive in, everything else (except for the few corrupted folders) seems to be working well - I can access all other files (at least the ones I tried), and can stream movies on Plex to my phone from both the drive and from an attached USB drive.
I'm not sure what the underlying issue is.
Options I see are
(a) try again on the new hard drive install/expansion. That might work, but some file corruption likely remains.
(b) format one of the 3 TB drives in a PC, and copy the data off the NAS to it. Then remove both 2 TB drives, and do a factory install with the remaining 3 TB drive. Reconfigure the NAS, install your apps, and restore the data from the copy. Then move the 3 TB drive from the PC to the NAS. This will take longer, but will ensure that everything is clean when you are done. You'd also preserve both of the 2 TB drives.
NETGEAR Academy
Boost your skills with the Netgear Academy - Get trained, certified and stay ahead with the latest Netgear technology!
Join Us!
