NV+ Frozen on "Booting..."

Power down, remove your drives (label order), hook the drives up to an internal SATA port in your PC and check them: http://www.readynas.com/kb/faq/hardware/how_can_i_verify_that_my_disk_is_bad

Tech Support (20768978) advised me to:
"In regards to the ReadyNAS not booting up completely, it could be an issue with one of the disks. The ReadyNAS initiates a system check upon bootup and an error on one of the disks could be making some problems. What we can do let the device skip that check, then it could proceed with the boot up process. Please follow the steps below to initiate Skip Volume Check on the ReadyNAS:
1.With the system off, hold down the Power button, and wait for the LEDs to blink once.
2.Release the Power button and wait for the device to bootup."

After following these instructions the NV+ still came up with "Booting" and froze. I powered down the unit and checked each of the disks in my desktop PC with the Western Digital Data LifeGuard Diagnostics tool. Each disk passed the quick test. [http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=608&sid=2&lang=en] After putting all the disks back in the NAS and powering it up again normally, it came up with "Booting... Found Bad Disk" and froze.
The NAS has 4 x 2TB disks WD20EARS-00S8B1 with firmware 80.00A80 [as specified in HCL in 2010] These drives were installed Dec 2010. At the time I installed these disks I had to run the WDIDLE tool on these disks prior to placing them in the NAS (refer other threads about this issue).

Try running a longer test. The quick test has a fair bit of randomness involved. It won't necessarily detect a bad disk.

I ran the "extended" WD dlgdiag5 utility on Disk 1 from my NAS. After 7 hours it advised me that "Errors Found - the drive has been repaired. Error Status Code: 0223" Placing this disk back in the NAS resulted in the same failed boot up issue. I contacted Netgear support center (as advised in my online tech support request) and they had me place the unit in Tech Support Mode. They did their stuff and advised me that Disk 1 was cactus and to remove it whilst the unit was off. Starting the NAS normally without disk 1 resulted in a successful boot up and I can access my data (albeit with no RAID working).
It appears that Hard Disks in my NV+ only last about 2 years with continuous 24/7 operation (about 30 power down operations in that period)
Is this 2 year life the same as what other NAS users are finding?
Does anyone have advice on which 2TB HD to choose of the HCL?

My WDC WD20EARS drives are around 24000 hours (2.7 years) and still seem to be working ok. That's when I first fired up the NV+. I never ran wdidle.

Yours should still be under warranty (see http://www.theverge.com/2011/12/17/2641 ... ction-2012). There's a tool you use here to check: https://westerndigital.secure.force.com ... ck?lang=en

Though I'd suggest using any refurbished replacement you get somewhere else.

I've been using WDC 3 TB red drives with some success in my Pro (also in the new RN102). I haven't used the 2 TB models in an NV+, though the 3 TB models are working out very well for me.