How to set a ReadyNAS RND4250?

[LucicX]

Hello there.
I just put my hands on a second hand-rnd4250seems-to-be-working ReadyNAS RND4250. Didn't know that is an obsolete model and I thought that it would be a good idea to use it as a local file server, mostly for streaming music and movies through my home devices.

So I put in it a small HDD and I downloaded the RAIDar 4.3.8 for windows (10), which found to be compatible with the device. But I'm facing problem with configuring it through the web interface. I believe that it has something to do with the Java.

I'm personally new in those network things, so I dare to ask if I have any chance to make it work, or did I just threw 65 euros?

If it's possible, I'd appreciate any help with setting it up.

Thanks in advance to any of you for any useful answer!

[StephenB · Accepted solution]

Do you have internet security software running on the PC?

[StephenB]

---

@LucicX wrote:

I believe that it has something to do with the Java.

No, the NAS web ui doesn't use Java.

Did you get a username/password prompt when you tried to access the web ui?

Also, what disks did you install? 

[LucicX]

Hi there, StephenB.

Thanks for the fast answer.

Under windows, every single browser that I use to access the interface looks similar with what I attached in the first post. Hence my believe that has something to do with java.

In the meantime, I managed to configure the NAS through an Ubuntu distribution, through the wizzard method.
Now I can access the drive content from my android phones and my tv, that are connected to the network.
But with Ubuntu still unaccessible.
Under Windows I managed somehow to "mount" the NAS in my computer, I can see it, I can access and read it but no write possibilty.

And when I want to access it from "network" window, it gives the already classic error 0x80004005 which, right now, I'm struggling to solve.
In the machine, I mounted an older 320gb hitachi drive, for test purpose. As I already said, I bought the NAS on second hand market and wasn't sure that it works. It seems that it does.

[StephenB]

FWIW, your NAS was introduced by Netgear in 2007, and discontinued in 2011. The final firmware was released in 2017.  It is limited to 2 TB disks, and does not support SMB 2 or SMB 3.  So with Windows 10, you will need to enable the SMB 1 client in order to access the network shares.

Speed is much slower than a modern NAS - it can deliver about 20 MB/s throughput for large file transfers.

I have one of these models that is still running - I use it as a secondary backup for my main NAS.  It's been very reliable over the years, but it is too small and too slow to serve as my main NAS.

---

@LucicX wrote:

Under windows, every single browser that I use to access the interface looks similar with what I attached in the first post. Hence my believe that has something to do with java.

---

No java is used for the web interface (though there is java needed for RAIDar). 

You should see a log-on popup, and after you log in as admin you should see something like this:

RAIDar should be able to tell you what firmware is on the NAS.  If the firmware is very old, it might not be compatible with current browsers, so it would be useful to know what it is running.  https://kb.netgear.com/20684/ReadyNAS-Downloads

[LucicX]

---

@StephenB wrote:

is limited to 2 TB disks, and does not support SMB 2 or SMB 3.  So with Windows 10, you will need to enable the SMB 1 client in order to access the network shares.

Yeah, I discovered the `issue` during my research over configuration. Still struggling with SMB enabling. It seems that I succesfully did that, but it still won't connect.

Speed is much slower than a modern NAS - it can deliver about 20 MB/s throughput for large file transfers.

I think I can live with that, for now. Don't think I need more speed for media streaming. And at copying files, that can be done over night, right?

No java is used for the web interface (though there is java needed for RAIDar). 

You should see a log-on popup, and after you log in as admin you should see something like this:

RAIDar should be able to tell you what firmware is on the NAS.  If the firmware is very old, it might not be compatible with current browsers, so it would be useful to know what it is running.  https://kb.netgear.com/20684/ReadyNAS-Downloads

Yeah, that is interface, in Ubuntu. In windows it just shows a bunch of `things`, as showed in the first post.

Any link to some infos about how to update the firmware? I read and followed the instructions from the manual, but nothing happened. It stays with version 4.1.6

---

[StephenB]

---

@LucicX wrote:

---

Any link to some infos about how to update the firmware? I read and followed the instructions from the manual, but nothing happened. It stays with version 4.1.6

---

---

Download 4.1.16 from https://kb.netgear.com/000038792/RAIDiator-Version-4-1-16-Sparc and extract the image from the zip file.

Then manually install it from the web interface (using the "local" tab):

You'll probably need to click through a registration offer to get to this page.

BTW, there were changes to the partitioning between 4.1.6 and 4.1.16. You need to do a factory reset after the update to get them.  But since you'll be doing a factory reset anyway with the real disks, that's not a priority.

Check again on the admin web interface issue in Windows after you upgrade the firmware.

[LucicX]

I updated the firmware to 4.1.16. The web interface in windows still looks weird and unfunctional as in the picture.

I managed somehow to map the network drive in my computer, but when I access it, I only have read privileges:

Still googling for solutions.

[StephenB · Accepted solution]

Do you have internet security software running on the PC?

[Sandshark]

I have seen a similar instance with a corrupted Apache configuration file.  In my case, it was something I did myself, and it's been far too olong since I was running a 4.1.x system to remember exactly which file it was.  Try an OS re-install in case somethng went afoul with the OS update.

[LucicX]

---

@StephenB wrote:

Do you have internet security software running on the PC?

---

:)))) Yes, I have. I temporarily disabled it, and the interface is working. Thanks for the hint!

And I modified the security mode from "Share" to "User", defined a user with password and I have also write access to the NAS.

Thank you for your pacience and kind answers.

[StephenB]

---

@LucicX wrote:

---

Thank you for your patience and kind answers.

---

I'm glad I was able to help.