ReadyNas data loss as a result of dead drives (Ultra 4 Plus) - please help
Hi all. Not sure there's much I can do here, but here's my situation.
I have a ReadyNas Ultra 4 Plus that I've been using since 2011 (and I moved all my data from a ReadyNas Duo when I upgraded). I used it mainly for storing video files and music (ripped all my CDs back in the day). However, the stuff that I'm most worried about is my photos that were all on the NAS and unfortunately not backed up anywhere else (I know this is bad - I just never got to it).
Over the years I've had a few HDDs die on me and every time I've bought a new one and swapped it in and the Raid array has rebuilt without a problem (X-RAID2).
Yesterday I swapped in a brand new drive and it started rebuilding as always. It got right to the end of the rebuild and then one of the other drives died and now the Raid status is: "Dead. This volume is no longer available."
Is this just bad luck and everything is gone? Or is there some way that I can recover the data? The photos would be a very small percentage of the total data.
Any help, or simple confirmation that I'm wasting my time would be greatly appreciated.
Re: ReadyNas data loss as a result of dead drives (Ultra 4 Plus) - please help
If the newly failed drive is in good enough shape, you can try creating a clone of it to a new drive with Clonezilla, or similar block-by-block cloning software. Then try that with the other drives in the NAS. If the NAS still won't boot, you can try ReclaiME, which will require you have a way to connect all the drives to a PC via SATA or SATA to USB adapters/docks. You can download ReclaiMe for free and see if it looks like it will do the job before you pay the somewhat high price for a version that will do the recovery.
If the drive cannot be cloned, you can try ReclaiMe with just the other drives, but your chances of success are lower.
Re: ReadyNas data loss as a result of dead drives (Ultra 4 Plus) - please help
Thanks heaps for the advice. I can't believe this but I shut down the NAS and turned it back on a few times and now it's not saying that drive isn't dead at all. In fact it's resyncing the replacement for the first dead drive as if it never tried to do it in the first place. In the meantime I've managed to grab my photos off it. So even if it fails ultimately, I'm happy. Thanks again.
Re: ReadyNas data loss as a result of dead drives (Ultra 4 Plus) - please help
Check the SMART status for the "undead" drive. It may have been just a fluke, but behavior like that is often a sign of a failing drive. Glad you got your pictures just in case. Now, about that backup you never got around to...
Re: ReadyNas data loss as a result of dead drives (Ultra 4 Plus) - please help
Haha. Yep the photos are uploading to the cloud as we speak. And given the number of Seagate ST3000DM001 HDD's I've chewed through it wouldn't surprise me at all if this was one was on its last legs. Have had much better luck with the WD Red NAS drives.
Haha. Yep the photos are uploading to the cloud as we speak. And given the number of Seagate ST3000DM001 HDD's I've chewed through it wouldn't surprise me at all if this was one was on its last legs. Have had much better luck with the WD Red NAS drives.
Unfortunately WD switched to SMR technology in 2-6 TB EFAX drives. These aren't well suited to RAID - anything that involves a lot of sustained writes (for instance resync) can take a lot longer with SMR. So I'd recommend either the WD30EFRX or the 3 TB Seagate 3 TB Ironwolf if you replace more of the Barracudas.
Their switch to SMR created backlash from many folks, so they now have three Red lines - Red, Red Plus, and Red Pro. Red Plus and Red Pro use CMR (and the WD30EFRX is in the "Red Plus" line). They've also agreed to identify SMR drives on their data sheets.
Re: ReadyNas data loss as a result of dead drives (Ultra 4 Plus) - please help
Thanks heaps. Yeah I have three of theWD30EFRX drives in there now.
My situation at the moment is that when I start up the NAS it says all HDDs are ok and it starts rebuilding the array with the new WD HDD (Slot 2). During this time I can access all the files and the NAS runs as normal.
However, when it hits 100% on the rebuild it says that the HDD in Slot 1 (my last remaining Barracuda drive) has died and the whole volume is dead. However, a reboot of the device and it says that HDD is fine and starts the rebuild again. I'm assuming that HDD is definitely a goner. But is there any way I can complete the rebuild before replacing it?
Re: ReadyNas data loss as a result of dead drives (Ultra 4 Plus) - please help
Yeah, SMART doesn't look too good and the log says:Reallocated sector count has increased in the last day. Disk 1: Previous count: 24 Current count: 32 ATA error count has increased in the last day. Disk 1: Previous count: 13 Current count: 19 Growing SMART errors indicate a disk that may fail soon. If the errors continue to increase, you should be prepared to replace the disk.
Re: ReadyNas data loss as a result of dead drives (Ultra 4 Plus) - please help
I wouldn't be trying to rebuild it as-is. Getting all the data you need off is really the priority, and you've already got the photos backed up.
Since a factory default with that drive (and any others you care to) replaced is probably your best solution, this is a perfect time for you to consider updating to OS6. Note that you should bump the memory to at least 2GB if you decide to go that direction.
Yeah, SMART doesn't look too good and the log says:Reallocated sector count has increased in the last day. Disk 1: Previous count: 24 Current count: 32 ATA error count has increased in the last day. Disk 1: Previous count: 13 Current count: 19 Growing SMART errors indicate a disk that may fail soon. If the errors continue to increase, you should be prepared to replace the disk.
I agree with @Sandshark that backing up data should be the main focus. If the only errors are on disk 1, then you might consider just removing it for now.
Migrating to OS-6 makes sense for several reasons, though that can also be done when the dust settles.
