NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
Remove inactive volumes to use the disk. Disk #1,2. troubleshooting
I had previously posted this thread Remove inactive volumes to use the disk. Disk #1,2,3,4. troubleshooting | NETGEAR Communities but I had to wait for replacement disks that i bought during th...
I tried a few times and now it detects 1,2 and 4. When switched on it sees 3 too but then it is not "loaded" if this is the right term. I think the initial set up was RAID 5, now I am not sure why 3 and 4 (now 4 is detected) are causing these problems when initially in the logs the drives with faults were 1 and 2. But ideally I would like to try to
- load 1,2 and 4 in read only if possible
- do some sort of back up, ie best effort based on what i can load
- replace with new drives and restore what saved in previous point.
I have bought 5 drives, 1 i was planning to use as a single external write only backup, ie to restore whatever i can get from this setup
Then use the new drive and restore to current status.
Is it possible and what other alternatives could you suggest?
Current alert now states "Remove inactive volumes to use the disk. Disk #1,2,4."
load 1,2 and 4 in read only if possible
do some sort of back up, ie best effort based on what i can load
replace with new drives and restore what saved in previous poin
You probably need to use tech support mode and then try to forcibly assemble the volume.
I entered with telnet and i see
$ telnet 192.168.100.222
Trying 192.168.100.222...
Connected to 192.168.100.222.
Escape character is '^]'.3EP941EU004B9 login: root
# rnutil chroot
root@3EP941EU004B9:/# lsblk
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda 8:0 0 3.7T 0 disk
|-sda1 8:1 0 4G 0 part
| `-md0 9:0 0 4G 0 raid1 /
|-sda2 8:2 0 512M 0 part
| `-md1 9:1 0 511M 0 raid1
`-sda3 8:3 0 3.6T 0 part
`-md127 9:127 0 10.9T 0 raid5
sdb 8:16 0 3.7T 0 disk
|-sdb1 8:17 0 4G 0 part
| `-md0 9:0 0 4G 0 raid1 /
|-sdb2 8:18 0 512M 0 part
| `-md1 9:1 0 511M 0 raid1
`-sdb3 8:19 0 3.6T 0 part
`-md127 9:127 0 10.9T 0 raid5
sdc 8:32 0 3.7T 0 disk
|-sdc1 8:33 0 4G 0 part
| `-md0 9:0 0 4G 0 raid1 /
|-sdc2 8:34 0 512M 0 part
| `-md1 9:1 0 511M 0 raid1
`-sdc3 8:35 0 3.6T 0 part
`-md127 9:127 0 10.9T 0 raid5
mtdblock0 31:0 0 1.5M 1 disk
mtdblock1 31:1 0 512K 1 disk
mtdblock2 31:2 0 6M 1 disk
mtdblock3 31:3 0 4M 1 disk
mtdblock4 31:4 0 116M 1 disk
root@3EP941EU004B9:/# mdadm --assemble --really-force /dev/md127 /dev/sda3 /dev/sdb3 /dev/sdc3
mdadm: /dev/sda3 is busy - skipping
mdadm: /dev/sdb3 is busy - skipping
mdadm: /dev/sdc3 is busy - skipping
root@3EP941EU004B9:/# btrfs device scan
Scanning for Btrfs filesystems
root@3EP941EU004B9:/# mount /dev/md127 /data
root@3EP941EU004B9:/# ls -la /d
data/ dev/
root@3EP941EU004B9:/# ls -la /data/
total 24
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 358 Dec 22 2018 .
drwxr-xr-x 25 root root 4096 Dec 13 2024 ..
....
drwxrwxrwx+ 1 admin admin 312 Oct 7 2022 GrowthHacking
drwxrwx---+ 1 guest guest 496 Feb 5 2024 ManualBackup
drwxrwxr-x+ 1 admin admin 39498 Feb 16 2024 Music
drwxrwxr-x+ 1 bizmate users 26466 Dec 7 2024 MusicVideos
drwxrwx---+ 1 admin admin 18992 Dec 7 2024 Pictures
drwxrwxrwx+ 1 guest guest 48 Mar 6 2020 Transmission
drwxrwxr-x+ 1 admin admin 756 Dec 8 2024 Videos
...These are my files and folders so it seems it is fine at the moment to be backed up but i dont see a web interface or not sure how to mount them remotely so difficult to say.
1 - how can i remotely connect and save/inspect the files?
2 - is there a way to mount it remotely?
3 - from the lsblk command i dont know which disk is which. Can i hot swap new disks now and how do i know which one to replace and when the new disk is added to the array and the full array is operational?
4 - also how to proceed with the other new disks and remove the old ones? Do i still need to do it in support mode? Any guidance here would be welcome as i have never done this stuffi will open a new ticket
Just to clarify this. This is a user-to-user forum, so there are no support tickets here. I am a "Netgear Insider", but don't work for Netgear or represent them in any way. All ReadyNAS products are end of life, so there is no possibility of Netgear support.
but the forum software is eventually discarding it, i think
Yes, they were "caught" by the automatic spam filter. I released one of them (they looked the same when I glanced at them).
Now that that is out of the way:
These are my files and folders so it seems it is fine at the moment to be backed up but i dont see a web interface or not sure how to mount them remotely so difficult to say.
1 - how can i remotely connect and save/inspect the files?
2 - is there a way to mount it remotely?
3 - from the lsblk command i dont know which disk is which. Can i hot swap new disks now and how do i know which one to replace and when the new disk is added to the array and the full array is operational?
4 - also how to proceed with the other new disks and remove the old ones? Do i still need to do it in support mode? Any guidance here would be welcome as i have never done this stuffSo it looks like you have successfully remounted the volume - which is great news.
I've never been able to start up the remote access protocols from tech support mode. There are limits to what you can do with services when using chroot. Also getting NTFS disks to mount is difficult in tech support mode. You can mount a FAT32 or EXT formatted USB drive, and copy your files using the command line. EXT is better if you can read it on other devices.
Another option is to just power down the NAS and then boot. The safest approach is to boot it up read-only initially, and then back up the data. I'd do that before doing any disk diagnosis or replacement. After the data is safe, you can reboot the NAS in normal mode, and proceed with the disk replacement process. If you need more help on that, you can send me fresh logs when the time comes. I suggest using the private message feature (the envelope icon in the upper right of the forum page) instead of posting redacted logs publicaly.
FYI, the easiest way to see more information on disk health from ssh is to use smartctl, and also to look for errors in the journal with journalctl.
If the logs aren't showing any faults associated with the drives, you may have a weak power supply. The seeming randomness of which drives are detected and that it didn't detect some of them on start-up (when they have to spin up) but did detect more of them on re-start (when they are already spinning) adds evidence to that possibility. At this point, I would not shut it down all the way to check that possibility -- back up your files first. But once you get to the point of starting fresh with your new drives, you may want to see about that.
I am sending a text reply but the forum software is eventually discarding it, i think. See the screenshot of what I managed to do by looking at the screenshot attached if you see this message or i will open a new ticket
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/pwhswt80cnghqg5z2osft/screencapture-community-netgear-discussions-readynas-use-remove-inactive-volumes-to-use-the-disk-disk-12-troubleshooting-2466592-replies-2466632-2025-09-30-12_02_15.pdf?rlkey=8gk2ir8cy4f14d12fna5fmmum&dl=0
NETGEAR Academy
Boost your skills with the Netgear Academy - Get trained, certified and stay ahead with the latest Netgear technology!
Join Us!
