Re: ReadyNAS NVX not expanding after disc replacement

nothingtoprove · ‎2019-09-22

A usual apology: I've searched and not found the information I need... I hope I haven't missed anything obvious.

I've just replaced all 4 drives (4x500Gb to 4x2Tb) on my "ReadyNAS NVX Business Edition" (RNDX4250)... each drive was recognised, tested, passed and resynced without issue. But at the end of the process, even after multiple reboots, it still shows the original 1.3Tb of available storage.

The box is quite old and running RAIDiator 4.2.31 (just upgraded from 4.2.9!), and the single C: volume shows... "Online, RAID Level 5, 4 disks, 94% of 1370 GB used"

I've downloaded RAIDar (first 6.5.0, and then 4.3.8 when 6.5.0 didn't find anything) with the understanding it would give me tools, but it appears to be literally a locator/status and nothing more?

Trying to use the web-interface to the box on my Windows 10 laptop, I keep getting errors under the "Volume Settings" section. Some searching showed I needed to use an old Windows 7 VMware instance I fortunately still had... and using IE9 allows me to access the section, which shows me the 4 drives (each with 1863Gb but only 461Gb allocated).

There WAS a button in the "Volume Settings" called something along the lines of "Expand" (although there were two words, and I cannot remember exactly what they were)... however, after a reboot, the button has disappeared (completely gone, rather than disabled) and nothing has changed on the storage size. Checking the logs, it said it couldn't expand because I needed to turn-off the "Disable journaling" option, which I have now done, but the "Expand" button still hasn't come back for me to press!

I've seen comments about running command line instructions, but they were for OS 6.. and more importantly, I don't know how you get a command line on the box (I've tried a telnet session, but can't see any obvious option to enable it)

Please can somebody tell me how I can expand the available storage? I do have a copy of all the data on an external 2Tb drive (done before the drive replacements) although obviously I'd like to avoid a factor reset and restore if possible.

If there is any other information I can provide, please let me know (and if necessary how to get that information).

And the normal sign off... many thanks in advance!

Sandshark · ‎2019-09-22

You don't seem to be running into any of the expansion limits. Can you download the log zip file and post anything that looks important from expansion.log?

nothingtoprove · ‎2019-09-22

Many thanks for you response.

[IGNORE the next line, I've NOT been able to attach the file]

I don't know what you'd consider "important", so I've attached the entire expansion log from the last 2 days (21/09/2019 I replaced the drives, but was too tired to work out why it hadn't expanded... 22/09/2019 I tried to do the expansion).

I guess the important part (which is repeated) is...

> Disk configuration mis-matching with online configuration, can not update now...

OK, so after being unable to upload the .log file, here is a section which I hope will help (this has JUST been added after starting up the box again)... oh, and the time is out by about 30 minutes!

[2019/09/22 17:56:18 1696] Boot, handle mutiple expand_md
[2019/09/22 17:56:19 1697] STAGE_CHECK: saved my_pid 1697 in check mode.
[2019/09/22 17:56:19 1697] RAID MODE: 0, sn=
[2019/09/22 17:56:19 1697] LINE 4591: exec command: lvs > /var/log/frontview/.V_E.snapshotstat
[2019/09/22 17:56:21 1697] Current file system status: ext4
[2019/09/22 17:56:21 1697] LINE 5305: exec command: rm -fr /var/log/frontview/.V_E.*
[2019/09/22 17:56:21 1697] /usr/sbin/expand_md
[2019/09/22 17:56:21 1697] MD degraded 0, bg_job 0, boot 1
[2019/09/22 17:56:21 1697] Read 1957072 byte from configuration
[2019/09/22 17:56:21 1697] configuration not same: 4 : 4
[2019/09/22 17:56:21 1697] Read 1957072 byte from configuration
[2019/09/22 17:56:21 1697] configuration not same: 4 : 4
[2019/09/22 17:56:21 1697] access 2, new_disk 0, fs 4
[2019/09/22 17:56:21 1697] Read 1957072 byte from configuration
[2019/09/22 17:56:21 1697] configuration not same: 4 : 4
[2019/09/22 17:56:21 1697] Disk configuration mis-matching with online configuration, can not update now...
[2019/09/22 17:56:22 1697] LINE 4939: exec command: ps -ef | grep expand_md | grep -v grep > /var/log/frontview/.V_E.snapshotstat
[2019/09/22 17:56:24 1697] STAGE_WIPE: Clean my_pid 1697

Sandshark · ‎2019-09-22

Disk configuration mis-matching with online configuration, can not update now... certainly sounds important. I'm very confised by the other mismatch statments that say there is a mismatch, and then list matching numbers. I'm afraid you're going to have to leave this one to the Netgear mods.

StephenB · ‎2019-09-22

@Sandshark wrote:

I'm afraid you're going to have to leave this one to the Netgear mods.

I think that's the right path. Send @JohnCM_S or @Marc_V a private message with a downloadable link to the full log zip file, and ask them to take a look. Send a PM via the envelope icon in the upper right of the forum. Don't post the link publicly.

nothingtoprove · ‎2019-09-22

Thank you both - I've sent a link to the full ZIP, as well as this thread

Marc_V · ‎2019-09-23

@nothingtoprove

Welcome to the Community!

It seems that your NAS tried to update to 4.2.31 during or after all disks have synced and before the expansion happened. This gets your NAS to 95% full capacity which may also have caused for the expansion to fail.

Also, regarding expansion limit, you almost crossed the 8TB limit (4x500gb=2tb, 500-2tb=1.5gb add per disk) so (2tb+1.5t+1.5t+1.5t+1.5t=8TB) which is also a possible case why the expansion failed. There is also a chance that the disk might have issues or some related information on it.

This will likely be addressed and resolved through escalation. Will you be able to open a case for Support to intervene? You may have to purchase a Paid contract like Pay-per-Incident Support, this usually is for $US75.

HTH

Regards

nothingtoprove · ‎2019-09-23

Thank you for your response Marc.

You are correct that the NAS was updated between disc replacement/syncing and the attempt to expand it... but I did that update manually.

After the replace/syncing, the box hadn't expanded automatically, and I kept getting error messages on the "Volume Settings" part of admin... so when I saw that the box was well behind on updates, I thought upgrading the RAIDar would be a good idea to try and fix them both. From what you've said, maybe it wasn't!

I wasn't aware of the 8Tb limit on the box, so it's good thing I only got 2Tb drives.

I'm not keen on paying $US75, but if you think that's the only solution, then so-be-it. Can you please let me know how I can start the process? (I don't know if it makes any difference but I'm located in the UK.)

I presume I need to go through the GearHead Support? https://gearhead.netgear.com/

Thanks again for you help

StephenB · ‎2019-09-24

@Marc_V wrote:

Also, regarding expansion limit, you almost crossed the 8TB limit (4x500gb=2tb, 500-2tb=1.5gb add per disk) so (2tb+1.5t+1.5t+1.5t+1.5t=8TB) which is also a possible case why the expansion failed. There is also a chance that the disk might have issues or some related information on it.

The 8 TiB expansion limit is on the volume size, not the raw disk capacity. And it's a growth limit. So you were expanding from 1.5 TB to 6 TB -> 4.5 TB growth. That's not close to the limit.

There is also a 16 TiB limit on the volume size (not growth), and you aren't close to that either.

nothingtoprove · ‎2019-09-24

Thanks again for your response @Marc_V

I had a long chat with a support guy this morning, who was very helpful and friendly... but unfortunately resulted in failure.

He confirmed that (despite my best efforts) the new drives are not in the Hardware Compatibility List... however, I was struggling to find exact matches, and thought the ones I bought were close enough. But he DID say that the drives were NOT necessarily to blame.

In the end we were left with two options... factor reset, or buy a new unit.

As the current one is nearly 10 years old (I honestly had no idea I bought it as long ago as Feburary 2010) I think it's a case of getting a new unit - and taking the hit on the cost of the new drives.

What I did realise was that the old drives (well, at least 2 of them) were enterprise standard... so once I have the new unit (I'm getting an ReadyNAS 214 8Tb with discs pre-installed) and I have copied everything over, I am going to try and put the old drives back in the old unit. I do, however, have a bad feeling that it won't work, and will actuall result in a factory reset being required after all.

Can you advise if it is possible to put all 4 of the old drives back in the old box? If so, I presume it's better to have the machine completely off and replace them all... rather than doing hotswapping?

Marc_V · ‎2019-09-24

@nothingtoprove

The HCL is not actually up to date so I would not call it as Compatibility list instead as Recommended list. Those are tested drives that has passed the test for ReadyNAS Units and almost all disks are usable with the NAS units as long as they support the capacity.

Regarding the option provided to you by the expert, I would agree with that since you still have access to your data and it can be backed up to a different disk. Fixing the expansion issue through Support is for you not to go through Factory reset option. If you will be going with buying a new unit, I would advise getting an OS 6 unit just like to RN214 you have mentioned, another recommendation would be the RN424. You will just have to transfer your files to the new unit and then perform a Factory reset on the old one.

the old drives may still boot to its configured RAID but yes, you should try them by turning off the machine first.

@StephenB - Thank you for the clarification, I'm confused as well but I think you are right on that as well. Might as well check it with Support 🙂

Regards

nothingtoprove · ‎2019-09-24

Thanks yet again @Marc_V

Last question, and then I will (hopefully) leave you alone...

Is it possible to transfer data directly between to ReadyNAS boxes (I'm obviously talking about my 10 year old RNDX4250, and the soon to arrive RN214) through the network... rather than doing a robocopy on my Windows 10 machine?

Marc_V · ‎2019-09-24

@nothingtoprove

Yes, provided that you have both NAS working well.

Here is a guide on doing that https://kb.netgear.com/29730/How-do-I-back-up-data-from-a-RAIDiator-4-system-to-a-ReadyNAS-OS-6-syst...

HTH

Regards

nothingtoprove · ‎2019-09-24

Fantastic - thank you @Marc_V

I'm not sure I can mark any single post as specifically answering the thread, as in reality the issue hasn't been solved (just bypassed). I hope that's acceptable... otherwise if you feel one deserves it (and is required to close the thread) please let me know