NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
bgg1
Dec 28, 2016Aspirant
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 somet...
- Jan 05, 2017
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.
bgg1
Jan 05, 2017Aspirant
Any harm in trying (a) first (other than potentially wasting time)? Also when you say that option (b) will preserve the 2TB drives, I assume that means with the current failed superblock (which I understand is not a good thing to have). Once I go through a clean install can I fix those 2TB drives and use them as additional internal storage or backup drives?
Thanks again for all your help!
Thanks again for all your help!
StephenB
Jan 05, 2017Guru - Experienced User
bgg1 wrote:
Any harm in trying (a) first (other than potentially wasting time)?
As I tried to say, there is risk that the file corruption will result in issues later on, since it won't be fixed by the expansion process.
bgg1 wrote:
Once I go through a clean install can I fix those 2TB drives and use them as additional internal storage or backup drives?
Yes, just reformat them.
- bgg1Jan 05, 2017Aspirant
Two (hopefully) final questions:
1. Any specific format to use for the 3TB drive when I put it internally, or will it be reformated properly regardless when it goes back in the NAS.
2. Should I upgrade the OS to 6 (currently 4.30), and if so, at what point?
- StephenBJan 06, 2017Guru - Experienced User
bgg1 wrote:
1. Any specific format to use for the 3TB drive when I put it internally, or will it be reformated properly regardless when it goes back in the NAS.
The NAS needs to reformat it anyway. If you do anything, unformat it (delete all volumes on the drive with windows disk manager).
bgg1 wrote:
2. Should I upgrade the OS to 6 (currently 4.30), and if so, at what point?
That is up to you - if you are interested in the feature set, it would be a reasonable time since you are doing a factory install anyway. Do it after copying the data off (doing that upgrade with the first new 3 TB disk). Then restore the data after the upgrade completes.
- bedlam1Jan 06, 2017Prodigy
I would upgrade to OS 6 since you have to rebuild anyway as it is more feature rich.
You ought to check your bios version and upgrade if necessary whilst on 4.2.30, there are some recent posts on how to to do this and upgrade to OS6
Related Content
NETGEAR Academy

Boost your skills with the Netgear Academy - Get trained, certified and stay ahead with the latest Netgear technology!
Join Us!