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Forum Discussion
RN104 freezing during copy. How to troubleshoot?
When I try to copy files from one share to another (on the same NAS device), Windows Explorer hangs and ReadyNAS becomes unresponsive. Copying seems to work for most shares, but always causes issues for others. When the copy attempt fails, I cannot open the Admin Page (it prompts me to log in, but after logging in, I only see the screen with the firmware version). If I manage to access the Admin Page, and try to reboot or shut down, the sutdown never completes. I can't shut down using the power button either; it just displays the "Good-bye" message on the LCD panel, so I need to unplug the cord. Once rebooted (via unplugged cord), the system comes back to life, and I can access the Admin Page, reboot normally, etc, but if I try to attempt another copy, the story repeats.
I am wondering how I can troubleshoot the problem. Could it be an issue with disks? Is there any way to verify that the disks are okay? Could it be the device itself? Firmware? Somehting else?
I am using two 3 TB Toshiba drives configured as RAID 1 (I think I'm using Netgear's propriatary RAID configuration which automatically increaes space when you add drives). The latest firmware (v6.4.2) was installed around the time when the problem started happening a few weeks ago (before that, it had been running problem free for over a year). I do not get alerts about drive failures. The Admin Page shows that everything is fine. Did not find anything suspicious in the logs. Space info shows 973 GB free of 2.7 TB. I'm not running any apps or anti-virus on the device. All shares are configured for access from Windows (typical settings, no FTP, etc). I turned COW off, but it did not make a difference. I'm not saving snapshots. On the client side, I use Windows 10 (x64) on wired and wireless-N home network (tried different laptops, same problem).
Any ideas how to troubleshoot it? If this is not obvious, I'd like to first make sure the drives are good. Is there a recommended procedure to test RAID 1 drives without the risk of breaking something? Or is there something else I'd need to check first?
Thanks in advance.
28 Replies
I've been having the exact same issue ever since I purchased the 104. Here's what I know about copying files within the same share:
- From Windows 7's Explorer, any file copy works by dragging the data to the client and then sending it back to the NAS.
- From Windows 8/8.1/10's Explorer, file copies go blisteringly fast regardless of file size, a sure sign of proper copy-on-write behavior. However....
- ...that's only if I copy them one at a time with plenty of opportunity for everything to finish before starting the next file copy. If I copy in a batch (as in, two or more) then the chance of a hang goes up to... well, as far as I can tell, 100%. The copy dialog will show things starting to move, and then usually get to about a sixth of the way in to the process before simply stalling out.
- By "stalling out", I mean, when I SSH in to the thing and do a 'top', it shows smbd chewing up as much of the CPU as it can get, generally 80~98%. This is accompanied by the same lack of ability to do a graceful shutdown of the NAS, ultimately requiring unplugging the sad thing and plugging it back in.
I have gone through a stupendous amount of research, reconfiguration, and time-consuming trial-and-error... but all for naught. I'll keep trying to find some workaround that isn't simply reverting to naive over-the-network copying....
These sounds very similar to what I'm experiencing. Thank you for the feedback, ElectricKeet. I was about to dump the device and buy myself a Synology or QNAP, but I'll hold on to it for now to see if there is something we can do.
Shortly after encountering the problem can you send in your logs (see the Sending Logs link in my sig) and note roughly the time when the unit froze?
If you look in the volume maintence settings, you'll see a disk test option, scrub, balance, and defrag.
Scrub reads all the data in the array, so it is a reasonable test to try first.
The scrub process just finished running. How do I know if it encountered errors? I only see these messages in the log:
Wed Apr 6 2016 22:02:05 Volume: Scrub completed for volume data'. Tue Apr 5 2016 18:15:29 Volume: Scrub started for volume data. Also, the problem remains. When I try to copy a file from a share (to a different share on the same volume), it freezes the system.
If there had been errors, then you would have seen more logging.
-Do you see these freezes when you do the copy from the NAS (for instance a NAS backup job)?
-After you try that, I'd suggest starting a balance.
Thank you, Stephen. I did not realize there's a clickable icon to get to maintenance options. Doing it now. I appreciate your response.
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