ReadyNAS 104 - upgrade to 6.5.1

Hello communitiy,

currently I have running a model RN10400 NAS with 4x4 TB HDD (RAID5) on firmware 6.2.2 without problems *sigh*.

After having daily lockups with at least firmware 6.1.9 (don't remember which version I had before 6.1.9) and reading about all the problems people had with the versions between then and now I didn't feel ready to try any new upgrades.

Just yesterday my NAS locked up again after several months of smooth operation, so here I am, finally feeling ready to take the journey getting my NAS upgraded to current version (6.5.1 as of today).

So my question now is: how do I get from 6.2.2 to 6.5.1?

If my understanding is right policy allows to go directly from 6.2.2 to 6.5.1, without any step inbetween (like 6.4.1 etc). Maybe there is a recommendation to install a certain version before 6.5.1?

Sidenote: I don't care about the data on the nas, it's no problem if data is lost during upgrade ( backups FTW :smileyvery-happy: ). I'd even like to make a 'clean start', wiping all data, settings, etc, in the process...

I also read about things like rebalance, defragmentation etc. ... e.g. in this thread: https://community.netgear.com/t5/Einsatz-von-ReadyNAS/RN104-IO-Probleme-ab-70-F%C3%BCllstand-keine-Reaktion-des-Systems/m-p/1129263#U1135714

So my 'fight plan' would look something like this:

- upgrade FW to 6.5.1 (directly?)

- factory reset, factory default (is there a difference, and if, how do I do each of this?)

- configure rebalance, defragmentation (where and how?)

- configure any other important tasks (are there any?)

- copy my data from backups

Another thought of me, maybe it is silly but I have to ask: Would it be possible to just wipe my HDDs in my PC and put them back into the NAS to get rid of, like everything? Would this break something on my NAS? Would there still be stuff (configs?) on my NAS chassis?

Sorry for all the questions but I'd like to make my NAS as 'future-proof' as possible (FW and config) ;) .

Thank you for any ideas on this matter!