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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.
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- Just an interim update - backed up everything to the internal 3TB drive, and upgraded to OS6 with the other drive. Everything copied back. Next up adding the second drive back to the NAS next time I'm home. Thanks for all the help until now. I'll finalize and accept solution as soon as I finish and confirm that all working perfectly.
Hi bgg1,
Thank you for the update. I will keep the thread open for you.
Regards,
Just a final note thanking the community and especially StephenB for the patience and solution (even if we couldn't figure out the cause of the problem). System is back up and running fine with the new 3TB drives, and running OS6. I'll likely be starting a couple of new threads for some advice on other aspects of disk maintenance, backup, etc.
Thanks again
- 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!
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.
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?
- 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.
- 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 - 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? - 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.
- Stuck at work for 24 hours. I'll update tomorrow
- 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,
- When I have one or both of the new drives in the NAS I cannot access anything.
- 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.
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