I have ReadyNAS Duo (no version), which I have had for years. During a recent storm we lost power which has happened before. Unfortunately this time when I turned the NAS back on the blue power light just blinked and the disk 1 & 2 lights were solid. I tried powering down and powering up the NAS a couple of times with no change in status. After a quick review of the internet, I found that I could reset the OS via the reset button in the back. I powered down the NAS and then pushed the reset button and then powered up the NAS. I held the reset button for 10 seconds (I was waiting for the disk LEDs to blink, which they did at 10 seconds). I have been waiting for an hour or so. But all I get a slow flashing blue light, which every so often will stop flashing for a moment, dim, then the status light flashes once and then the blue light returns to flashing.All of our pictures for 10 years are stored on the NAS - there are two separate 500MB hard drives in the NAS and I am really not that technical, but I am extremely worried that I've hosed something completely. I could really use help.thank you

So you have a Duo V1.Does the light pattern match one of these? http://home.bott.ca/webserver/?p=324If you download RAIDar, what status does it give you?

Thank you.The light pattern seems to be continuous for about 45 blinks or ~40 seconds then pauses, the status light blinks there is a quick noise like a disk clicking then the pattern repeats.RAIDar can see the NAS MAC address but not the model. It saysVolume: Not DetectedDisks: Not PresentFan Status: Not PresentInfo:"Bad Disks Detected"Is there a way for me to figure out which disk is bad (I say praying that it is not both).

Power down the NAS, and try removing disk 1. Then reboot.If it continues to fail, power down again. Reinsert disk 1, and remove disk 2. Then try again.Make sure the NAS is off when you are shuffling the drives.If the NAS boots, the first thing to do is back up your data to another device.

thank you. a couple of more dumb questions. Power Down - do I pull the plug? Is it time to replace the NAS or just the disks based on your experience?

Hold the power switch down first. If that fails after a few seconds you'll need to pull the plug.I suspect the NAS is ok (and the disks themselves should still be working). But there is at least some data corruption on one.

Slow Blue Light of Death | NETGEAR Communities

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StephenB
Guru - Experienced User
Jul 19, 2014
So you have a Duo V1.

Does the light pattern match one of these? http://home.bott.ca/webserver/?p=324
If you download RAIDar, what status does it give you?
HomeUser_MA
Aspirant
Jul 19, 2014
Thank you.

The light pattern seems to be continuous for about 45 blinks or ~40 seconds then pauses, the status light blinks there is a quick noise like a disk clicking then the pattern repeats.

RAIDar can see the NAS MAC address but not the model. It says
Volume: Not Detected
Disks: Not Present
Fan Status: Not Present
Info:"Bad Disks Detected"

Is there a way for me to figure out which disk is bad (I say praying that it is not both).
StephenB
Guru - Experienced User
Jul 19, 2014
Power down the NAS, and try removing disk 1. Then reboot.

If it continues to fail, power down again. Reinsert disk 1, and remove disk 2. Then try again.

Make sure the NAS is off when you are shuffling the drives.

If the NAS boots, the first thing to do is back up your data to another device.
HomeUser_MA
Aspirant
Jul 19, 2014
thank you. a couple of more dumb questions.

Power Down - do I pull the plug?
Is it time to replace the NAS or just the disks based on your experience?
StephenB
Guru - Experienced User
Jul 19, 2014
Hold the power switch down first. If that fails after a few seconds you'll need to pull the plug.

I suspect the NAS is ok (and the disks themselves should still be working). But there is at least some data corruption on one.
HomeUser_MA
Aspirant
Jul 19, 2014
thanks again, sorry a couple of more questions-

when I boot with one disk, I assume that the NAS won't try to immediately partition that one disk into two parts for RAID? Correct. And that I will have time to pull the data off onto a 3rd device.

then from your suspicion, i should be able to put the corrupted disk back into the NAS and reformat it, correct?

thank you.
StephenB
Guru - Experienced User
Jul 19, 2014
If you boot with one disk, the NAS won't repartition it unless it thinks the drive is unformatted. BTW, leave the disks in their current slots - don't switch them around.

If the drive only has a corrupted file system you should be able to reinsert it. However, let's first see if you can get the NAS booted and get the data safely backed up.
HomeUser_MA
Aspirant
Jul 19, 2014
YEAH! Pulled out Disk 1 and it booted and I can see it. I'm backing up the data now. It will take a few hours or more. After that should I try putting Disk 1 back and taking Disk 2 out just to see what happens?
StephenB
Guru - Experienced User
Jul 19, 2014
When the backup completes, hot-insert disk 1 (inserting it with the NAS running), leaving disk 2 in place. That should reformat disk 1, and re-sync the RAID array.

To prevent this from happening again, you could get a UPS with a USB connection. Also, it is a good idea to have a backup plan in place...
HomeUser_MA
Aspirant
Jul 19, 2014
thanks - just hot-inserted disk 1 and it looks like it is reformatting the drive. I understand the UPS, when you mention a backup plan - having a RAID server is my back up. I figured with two drives, I was reasonably protected. Just didn't think about how to figure out what was happening if one drive went down. What type of backup up do you have for your NAS?