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readynas duo v2 disk failed ..
hi guys not completely familiar with all this so i need some advice please. I have a very old readynas duo thats been chugging along for years, however, one of the drives have failed (2 Gb) so maybe a couple of daft questions, if i replace the failed drive with a good one will it rebuild the info with it being raid (set up on default from what i remember) if not is there anyway to read or recover the date easily? the tools out there are pretty expensive and as im a pensioner its not worth the cost.
Ive read conflicting articles that say d a factory reset but surely that will erase my data?
any advice/help greatly appreciated..
many thanks
glenn
I can access the working disk and have backed up the items i need from that, but not the faulty one
By default these NAS are set up with only one volume. The two disks are mirrored, so you would already have offloaded all the files on the NAS from the working disk.
Are you saying you were using FlexRAID with two JBOD volumes set up? If so, there is nothing to sync. Inserting a new drive would let you set up a new volume, but you can not recover any data from the faulty drive - there is nothing to recover it from. That would explain your symptoms.
You could try R-linux for Windows on a PC (freeware), and see if that can access the faulty drive. Or try a data recovery service. But if the drive has actually failed, then even professional recovery is unlikely to get you much (if anything), and it would be quite expensive.
Also noticed taking these out, the release catches dont work anymore, the caddies are getting harder and harder to remove. one is harder to insert to, but i can see no obstructions.
The Duo's trays can be hard to remove. There are two options.
The first is to insert a push pin in the center of the circular release button ("A" in the diagram). While some have had success with that method, it hasn't worked well for me.
The second is to insert a small screwdriver (or maybe an unbent paper clip) through the hole at one of the two points labeled "B". Pull it downwards toward the release button. This releases the latch mechanism, and is the method I use.
I don't know what you can do to deal with your insertion problem.
There are still some replacement trays for sale on ebay and similar sites. There is a newer tray that has a square release - that doesn't have the issues the original ones have. But those are quite pricey, so IMO a questionable investment given that we are talking about a ~15 year old NAS.
29 Replies
Short answer: Yes. The best way to do that is with power on. Remove the drive and put in the replacement without powering down. In the admin interface, you will see that the NAS recognized the old drive removal and new drive insertion, then started a RAID sync.
Longer details: If it really is just the drive that failed, then the other drive likely has no issues that would cause it not to be able to RAID sync the new drive. If you still have full access to your files and are just getting a "degraded volume" warning, than that's probably the case. But the other drive is also very old and could fail during the RAID sync because it's a very drive-intensive process. If that happens, you lose the volume. So before you put in the new drive, make sure you have a current backup of all files.
If you don't currently still have access to your files, post back. But your chances of recovery are limited.
The drive compatibility list for the Duo is way out of date -- don't even try to find a drive on it. Many smaller drives are SMR technology, which is bad for RAID. That includes the WD Red (but not Red Plus and Red Pro) which WD insists on still calling "RAID purposed". which it definitely is not. You want a truly NAS-purposed drive like a Red Plus, Red Pro, or Seagate Ironwolf. An enterprise drive is another option, but overkill for a Duo and usually louder and runs hotter. Do not use a current desktop drive. Even if it has a model number similar to one you have or is on the compatibility list, it's almost assured to be SMR, not CMR as you need.
At this point, don't power down or re-boot the NAS. If you do and the NAS thinks the bad drive is now good (which often happens, depending on the nature of the failure), it's going to start a long RAID sync operation that's eventually going to fail but that you shouldn't interrupt. If you must power down, remove the bad drive before you power up and leave it out. Then insert the new drive when you have it with the power on.
If you actually have a V2, then you may want to consider a drive larger than 2TB. You won't get any additional space now, but you will once you replace the other drive. Given it's "really old" and the companion drive (likely the same age) has failed, you will likely want to replace it soon before it fails.
So why do I say "If you really have a V2"? Netgear had some minor hardware changes with the original Duo (which we call a V1, though it's not officially labeled as such) and added "v2" (and even "v3") to the sticker on the rear or bottom of the NAS. That is not a "V2" of Netgear documentation. After those small changes, Netgear completely re-designed the Duo and called it a "Duo V2" -- an incredibly shortsighted and confusing choice. That real V2 can handle drives >2TB. The V1 cannot. A real V2 can be identified by it being labeled "Duo V2" painted on the front of the unit. RAIDar will also identify it as a "Duo V2", not just a "Duo".
I'm sure the Guru's will be along soon. Meanwhile a few questions.
Are you sure it's a V2? Check the labeling on the front door. If it just says Duo, it's a V1 despite what other labeling says. See pic below.
Are you able to still access your data on the remaining drive? If so, I would recommend backing up your stuff before attempting any repairs. I would also not shut it down until everything's backed up.
In theory, you would just swap out the bad drive for the new one and it would start the rebuild. Something to consider is the age of your remaining drive. The heavy activity rebuilding the mirror could cause the other drive to fail.
Not sure how I missed Sandshark's reply. He nailed it.
You missed it because I was in mid-reply when you posted yours. With details like this, I take my time to insure I got everything right and complete. But your picture was helpful, thanks for posting.
Hi guys I appreciate the prompt and informative reply's. It is v1, it doesn't have the v2/Duo on the front sadly. I forgot to mention id already powered it down because i wasnt sure if it was hot swappable or not. I took the drives out in the hope i could read them. Ive inserted the good drive, rebooted and can now see the files on it, which is a start. As advised im going to backup the more important files etc before i insert the replacement drive.
Excellent information btw Sandshark, although I'm reasonably tech savvy i didnt know about the differences between SMR/CMR, and the rest of your explanation is very clear, something you don't always get, but you never stop learning in this game !
many thanks to both of you. Ill update when I've backed up and inserted the replacement drive.
glenn
just an update guys ive got the data i need, just inserted the replacement drive, but its not showing on the raidar, the admin page, doesnt show because it says this site is not secure, in explorer, ive got smb 1 enabled so.. is this normal? should i wait for it to snyc before it appears? the drive 2 light is flashing so i presume something is happening..
just an update to the last post, used firefox to view the admin page and its saying 2 disks, so i presume it syncing data .. (hopefully lol)
just an update to the last post, used firefox to view the admin page and its saying 2 disks, so i presume it syncing data .. (hopefully lol)
It should tell you if it is actively syncing. Are you seeing a degraded volume status?
tbh not sure where to check that, ive attached a raidar and admin page if that helps..
heres the raidar image
heres the raidar image
This says it is not redundant - which is the same as "degraded".
What status do you see if you hover your mouse over the rightmost disk icon at the bottom of the admin page?
Also check the log and see if it says sync started. If it didn't, the drive may have been pre-formatted for more typical Windows use and will have to be formatted by the NAS to use it.
tbh the information hasnt changed since before the original drive was removed. it says its not present, but the lights on the front of the unit shows it as flashing (not sure if thats relevant)
the system logs just show the system as 'system is up' . that was the last entry. I believe the drive i used to replace it was formated with ntfs. Would i have been better deleting the partition info etc?
if not how do i get the nas to format the drive, would i lose data on the original working disk if I did? Im not sure its inserted properly so would it hurt if i removed it and re-insterted the replacement drive?? sorry for all the questions just trying to get my head around this...
If the drive was previously formatted, the NAS needs to format it. But some previous formats cannot be overwritten by the NAS. The usual issue is a "system protection partition" on a GPT formatted drive. The easiest way to remove that and all others is on a Windows computer using the clean command in diskpart. Remove the new drive, use a PC to remove all partitions, and re-insert it. Leave the NAS power on through the process. While you have the drive connected to the PC, you may also want to test the drive using the manufacturer's tools just to make sure it's not DoA.
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