OS Reinstall issues

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mdgm-ntgr wrote:

An OS Re-install installs the OS over the top of itself, resets some network settings and the admin password. It doesn't wipe your logs or configuration which can be vital when troubleshooting problems.

 

I'm guessing you are refering to the Boot Menu "Reinstall OS" and not the USB Recovery tool? This, technically isn't an OS re-install - its an OS over-write on the existing OS.

There is of course a way to manually wipe the 4GB root volume which I have now done this once for you.

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Not sure why this isn't an option either via USB Tool or as part of the Boot Menu - afterall an OS re-install should do a "clean" OS install without any prior depedancies. Although there may be some config dependancies in a prior OS, the seperation between OS and data should be more clearly defined and kept seperate. 

3 Stages of severity:

1) Factory Reset is always a last resort for a whole device.

2) OS Install should allow the wiping of the OS Partition only leaving the data intact, which is non-OS depedant anyhow.

3) OS Recovery (USB Tool) should be used to fix an existing OS.

# 2) would be crutial for corrupt OS files. There are existing linux tools to wipe an OS partition, but I'm not aware of any avaiable Netgear Linux/debian OS image available to replace it with (unless I am mistaken and this already exists via an available tool?)

Perhaps if Netgear Dev team factor these 3 options it would provide more robust fix/repair options.

Anyhow, thanks for your assistance mdgm!

Yes, the boot menu option.

USB Boot Recovery wipes the flash and puts a clean copy of the OS on there. It's useful if there's a problem with the firmware on the internal flash.

An OS Re-install uses the firmware on the internal flash to re-install the firmware onto the disks over the top of what's already on the disks.

The 4GB root volume on the disks contains the OS, NAS logs, NAS config etc.

There is a manual process that support can use to wipe the 4GB root volume but this should normally only be attempted in very rare situations and it's important to verify that the data volume is accessible first.

The internal flash (256MB in your system) contains the contents of the firmware .img file, as well as the bootloader and the bootloader configuration to enable the system to boot off the internal flash.

This is used for the boot menu options and the early stages of the boot process. Doing a normal boot or a volume read-only boot the NAS will quickly switch to booting off the disks.

The internal flash would only be modified when updating the firmware or if repairing it using USB Boot Recovery (highly unlikely to be needed).

Whilst it's possible to take an image of the 4GB root volume on the disks that's not something that any boot menu option would do. It'd have to be done manually. It's not something we support doing.

The system keeps the firmware on the internal flash and on the disks at the same version. If there's a mismatch created (e.g. by doing USB Boot Recovery to a different firmware version) the system will automatically attempt to fix it.

An OS Re-install installs ReadyNAS OS (which is based on Debian, but also includes our stuff like our web admin GUI etc.) over the top of itself on the 4GB root volume on the disks. It doesn't wipe out the old install, perhaps a bit similar to say repairing Windows on your PC.

The firmware image is able to be so small as we only include what we need in it and use very strong compression.