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My Ready NAS Duo was not being recognized by my computer. I saw the blue power light was just flashing. I tried to turn it off by holding in the power button and it will not turn off. I tried unplugging the power cord and when I plugged it back in there was no change. Suggestions?
I assume that either this drive is bad or formatted differently as you pointed out.
More likely the drive has failed. Normally the system will attempt to boot from the disk in the lowest slot, and if that disk is bad the boot will fail.
could there be a problem with the housing and replacing everything being the best solution?
You can check the housing by powering down the NAS, and moving the drive that works into the other slot. If it boots normally, then it's not the housing. (The SATA interface in the NAS can fail, but that is pretty rare, and given the age of the drives, the problem is more likely a failed drive).
The NAS is old though, and no longer supported. Several of the protocols it uses are out-of-date, and it hasn't gotten any security updates since 2017.
So you could decide to replace everything - either with a new NAS model, or with a cloud service. Apple, Google, and Microsoft all offer cloud storage, and their pricing is pretty reasonable for storage <= 2TB. There are also other cloud options. If you go with a new NAS, then you should look at other vendors (Synology being rather popular). It's pretty clear that Netgear is quietly exiting the NAS business.
Either way both of the drives and the ReadyNas Duo housing are 11 years old. My question is should I just replace the drives or could there be a problem with the housing and replacing everything being the best solution?
If the Duo still meets your needs, you can just replace the drives. I'd go with WD20EFRX (not the WD20EFAX), or the 2 TB Seagate Ironwolf (ST2000VN004). These are intended for NAS use. Consumer drives are not good choices anymore, many use a technology called SMR which is not a good option for NAS.
If you get two drives, you can insert one first (with the original disk), and wait for the resync to complete. Then insert the second, and wait for it to resync. If your current disks are smaller than 2 TB, then after the second resync completes the volume will expand to 2 TB.
Note that if your NAS is the original Duo (saying "ReadyNAS Duo" on the front panel, and running 4.1.x firmware), then you can't use disks larger than 2 TB. If your NAS says "ReadyNAS Duo v2" on the front panel, then it runs 5.3.x firmware, and can accept larger disks. If you happen to be using disks > 2 TB already, then obviously either get the same size or larger. Still, I suggest either WD Red Plus or Ironwolf for either model of Duo. Avoid the current WD Red models (they are all SMR).
My Ready NAS Duo was not being recognized by my computer. I saw the blue power light was just flashing. I tried to turn it off by holding in the power button and it will not turn off. I tried unplugging the power cord and when I plugged it back in there was no change. Suggestions?
Is there a pattern to the flashing?
LED blink behavior for 2 disk systems is three quick blinks of all disk LEDs and the backup LED, followed by an 1s delay, followed by a number of slow blinks. The number of slow blinks will be the error code.
Current error codes:
1 - Vendor mismatch
2 - No disks detected
3 - Bad contents on root partition of disks
4 - Flash error
5 - Unsupported RAID configuration
It would also be good to get the status from RAIDar.
You could also try removing the disks with the unit powered down (labeling by slot), and then power up diskless. See if you get the "no disks detected" code above.
I checked the drive using RAIDar and it notes a corrupt root. The lights also indicate the same three slow then three fast. Any solutions you can suggest? BTW I am able now to shut down by holding down the power button.
The unit says ReadyNAS Duo on the front panel. I powered it up with no disks and got two slow blinks indicating no disks. When I reinstall the disks does it matter which side they are installed in?
I did the OS reinstall and Raidar still does not recognize the drive. The blue power light is on steadily, the disk 1 light blinks constantly and the disk 2 light stays lit. At my switch the line connected to the drive seems to be flashing normally the same as other connected devices. All other connected network devices are recognized and operating normally.
I do not have a recent backup so I will need to offload data. Can I use the rear or front USB's connected to my laptop for that? I also have a 500GB external drive with a USB connection. Thanks again for helping. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can recover the data.
I do not have a recent backup so I will need to offload data. Can I use the rear or front USB's connected to my laptop for
You can't connect the NAS to the USB ports on your laptop. But you can purchase a USB adapter/dock fairly inexpensively. Then put disk 1 on the NAS into the dock, and try R-linux for Windows (free). Note this won't work on the other disk, so if they were swapped you might need to try disk 2.
You might also try powering down the NAS, and removing disk 1 (leaving the slot empty). Then power up and see if it boots normally (the volume will be degraded if it does).
Once again a debt of gratitude. Leaving what I think was the original disk 2 in the second slot and leaving slot 1 empty the unit booted up properly and is accessible on my network. I successfully backed everything up to another external drive so I can breath a little easier. Afterwards I powered down and put the other disk in its place still leaving slot 1 empty. The unit would not boot up properly. I assume that either this drive is bad or formatted differently as you pointed out. Either way both of the drives and the ReadyNas Duo housing are 11 years old. My question is should I just replace the drives or could there be a problem with the housing and replacing everything being the best solution?
I assume that either this drive is bad or formatted differently as you pointed out.
More likely the drive has failed. Normally the system will attempt to boot from the disk in the lowest slot, and if that disk is bad the boot will fail.
could there be a problem with the housing and replacing everything being the best solution?
You can check the housing by powering down the NAS, and moving the drive that works into the other slot. If it boots normally, then it's not the housing. (The SATA interface in the NAS can fail, but that is pretty rare, and given the age of the drives, the problem is more likely a failed drive).
The NAS is old though, and no longer supported. Several of the protocols it uses are out-of-date, and it hasn't gotten any security updates since 2017.
So you could decide to replace everything - either with a new NAS model, or with a cloud service. Apple, Google, and Microsoft all offer cloud storage, and their pricing is pretty reasonable for storage <= 2TB. There are also other cloud options. If you go with a new NAS, then you should look at other vendors (Synology being rather popular). It's pretty clear that Netgear is quietly exiting the NAS business.
Either way both of the drives and the ReadyNas Duo housing are 11 years old. My question is should I just replace the drives or could there be a problem with the housing and replacing everything being the best solution?
If the Duo still meets your needs, you can just replace the drives. I'd go with WD20EFRX (not the WD20EFAX), or the 2 TB Seagate Ironwolf (ST2000VN004). These are intended for NAS use. Consumer drives are not good choices anymore, many use a technology called SMR which is not a good option for NAS.
If you get two drives, you can insert one first (with the original disk), and wait for the resync to complete. Then insert the second, and wait for it to resync. If your current disks are smaller than 2 TB, then after the second resync completes the volume will expand to 2 TB.
Note that if your NAS is the original Duo (saying "ReadyNAS Duo" on the front panel, and running 4.1.x firmware), then you can't use disks larger than 2 TB. If your NAS says "ReadyNAS Duo v2" on the front panel, then it runs 5.3.x firmware, and can accept larger disks. If you happen to be using disks > 2 TB already, then obviously either get the same size or larger. Still, I suggest either WD Red Plus or Ironwolf for either model of Duo. Avoid the current WD Red models (they are all SMR).
