readynas duo v2 disk failed ..

shawie66 wrote:

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.

shawie66 wrote:

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.