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Re: ReadyNAS OS Dead?

SignedAdam
Apprentice

Re: ReadyNAS OS Dead?

It won't be a overhaul, just some patches, the bare minimum
Message 51 of 147
Hawk321
Apprentice

Re: ReadyNAS OS Dead?

Did you guys see that mainly all the posts which came from Netgear staff in the past is now marked with “Netgear staff - retired”?

Seems like they are just shutting everything down.

Because of all the problems with the not working apps like ReadyCLOUD I consider to move on. I won’t ride that dead horse any longer.
Message 52 of 147
Hawk321
Apprentice

Re: ReadyNAS OS Dead?

Message 53 of 147
nsne
Virtuoso

Re: ReadyNAS OS Dead?

For me, there are just two important things at this stage: some candor (I think "transparency" is the buzzy term these days) and a path forward.

 

It's clear that Netgear hasn't had its heart in the ReadyNAS line for something close to three years, so it's best to just be upfront with current users and admit, yes, the entire product line has officially been discontinued. Internally, they've known this for a while. And with so much writing on the wall, I don't know which Netgear decison-maker(s) think all this caginess is benefitting them at this point. Maybe they think cowardliness is good business practice.

 

Even more crucially, we consumer and enterprise users need some migration tools or at least a migration strategy to a new long-term OS platform. From a hardware standpoint, there's no reason why many of these ReadyNAS units shouldn't last another decade. Competing brands are still selling similarly spec'd units.

 

The very least Netgear could do is therefore provide its users with a software tool to migrate an existing system to something like OpenMediaVault (also Debian-based) or FreeNAS, even if those OSes don't necessarily have feature parity with ReadyNAS OS. And/Or they could open-source ReadyNAS OS and let the developer community have at it.

 

Either route is preferable to just abandoning the product line and leaving users with vulnerable, outdated devices for storing their important files.

 

Message 54 of 147
SignedAdam
Apprentice

Re: ReadyNAS OS Dead?

100% behind you

We need the drives / firmware of these devices open sourced so that if we do move over to another operating system, we can make use of the display/buttons on front of these devices and the hardware inside
Message 55 of 147
Hawk321
Apprentice

Re: ReadyNAS OS Dead?

The reason why they are not announcing it could maybe be that they first want to sell the remaining stock and get out of warranty of the remaining machines.
Message 56 of 147
schumaku
Guru

Re: ReadyNAS OS Dead?


@SignedAdam wrote:
We need the drives / firmware of these devices open sourced so that if we do move over to another operating system, we can make use of the display/buttons on front of these devices and the hardware inside

Feel free: https://kb.netgear.com/2649/NETGEAR-Open-Source-Code-for-Programmers-GPL

Message 57 of 147
SignedAdam
Apprentice

Re: ReadyNAS OS Dead?

I bet its not everything otherwise someone would of made another firmware for these devices
Message 58 of 147
pepsov
Star

Re: ReadyNAS OS Dead?

+1 for RockStor!
Works great on my RN626X
Every owner of a Netgear NAS should consider it as a replacement.

Model: RN626X|ReadyNAS 626X – 6 Bays with Intel® Xeon® Quad-Core Server Processor
Message 59 of 147
pepsov
Star

Re: ReadyNAS OS Dead?

These units are effectively unlocked - no mysteries. Just connect a graphics card temporarily, and you'll see a regular BIOS screen, and will be able to boot whatever you want from an USB drive, and install it. 

For example RockStor is designed exactly for headless systems like the RN's 

The only reall loss for me is the front LED panel, which I still don't know how to control. Otherwise all other functionalities of ReadyNAS are covered by RockStor.

Model: RN626X|ReadyNAS 626X – 6 Bays with Intel® Xeon® Quad-Core Server Processor
Message 60 of 147
SignedAdam
Apprentice

Re: ReadyNAS OS Dead?

The front led along with the status of the product is a big loss which is why NETGEAR need to open it up to the community
Message 61 of 147
Hawk321
Apprentice

Re: ReadyNAS OS Dead?

RockStor! is only working on Intel and AMD CPUs its not for Sparc, ARM which are the majority of the  ReadyNAS sold.

 

And even then there is, regarding to my research, no out-of-the-box solution for the Intel ReadyNAS like yours. You will have to  tinker around and I also wasn't able to find a step-by-step solution how to , also the  RockStor! staff couldnt offer a solution.  They just said in their forum:"Try it and report us".

 

So overall  RockStor! is not the solution for our problems,  maybe for yours.  But as far as I remember  your NAS Model needs a lot of power and therefore most people stay away from that intel model or   build something themselves.

Message 62 of 147
StephenB
Guru

Re: ReadyNAS OS Dead?


@Hawk321 wrote:

its not for Sparc,


Netgear stopped making the Sparc platforms in 2011.  The best strategy there is to just stick with 4.1.16.  

 


@Hawk321 wrote:

RockStor! is only working on Intel and AMD CPUs


FWIW, XPEnology might be another option to explore.  But that also is only x86, not Arm.

Message 63 of 147
Hawk321
Apprentice

Re: ReadyNAS OS Dead?

The Sparc boxes are limited to 2 TB per HDD, not sure why. A new operating system could maybe be solving this problem as well. But Iam not sure if the hardware is a limitation.

But in the end we need a solution for the ARM/Sparc hardware, the few Intel boxes sold don’t really matter in the big picture. The power consumption of them is also so high that nobody really uses them anymore, at least as far as I know.
Message 64 of 147
StephenB
Guru

Re: ReadyNAS OS Dead?


@Hawk321 wrote:
The Sparc boxes are limited to 2 TB per HDD, not sure why. 


No support for GPT formatting (which is required for > 2 TB drives).

 

The hardware is very limited - a custom Sparc chip rolled out in 2005.  https://www.readynas.com/download/archive/pdf/IT3107_Brochure.pdf

 

Performance wasn't competitive 10 years ago (which is why Netgear retired them).  Trying to upgrade the software won't fix that.  

 

FWIW, I have a Duo v1 and an NV+ v1 still in service as backup devices.  I'll keep them going as long as they work, but I won't invest any money in fixing them.

Message 65 of 147
TeknoJnky
Hero

Re: ReadyNAS OS Dead?

Hi.

I'm still searching around, but if anyone has a link to a current guide for installing any generic OS on to an x86 readynas, I would appreciate it (and no doubt future vistors too).

 

If there is no such guide, if anyone who has already worked their way through it, could consider posting some of the basic steps?

 

Personally I'm most interested in moving my RN hardware to truenas SCALE, or proxmox.

 

If I find something, I'll post back here as well.

 

edit: some related links

https://community.netgear.com/t5/ReadyNAS-Beta/Netgear-4-series-migration-to-TrueNas-request/m-p/206...

https://gist.github.com/davewongillies/6481138

https://community.netgear.com/t5/New-ReadyNAS-Users-General/Steps-to-install-Ubuntu/m-p/1849040

 

which may be helpful, will have to experiment I guess.

 

Thanks!

Message 66 of 147
Kolyk
Aspirant

Re: ReadyNAS OS Dead?

Just like you, I think that something needs to be done with the current situation, there are no real updates and, as I see, they are not expected, so I am also looking for options for switching to another platform ..
Here is some interesting information on migration ..

 

https://nerdyness2012.wordpress.com/2015/03/31/installing-ubuntu-14-10-server-on-a-netgear-readynas-...

https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vTkA9EwNLHRhRm_nLY2jlM7K29srKMgk6C8t_P_XPS3fB-LMdOZDJ0ps...

 

 

Message 67 of 147
StephenB
Guru

Re: ReadyNAS OS Dead?

Message 68 of 147
Kolyk
Aspirant

Re: ReadyNAS OS Dead?

I have exactly 6.10.6 installed


@StephenB wrote:

@Kolyk wrote:

 

https://nerdyness2012.wordpress.com/2015/03/31/installing-ubuntu-14-10-server-on-a-netgear-readynas-...

https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vTkA9EwNLHRhRm_nLY2jlM7K29srKMgk6C8t_P_XPS3fB-LMdOZDJ0ps...

 


FYI, both appear to be for the Ultra 2 - which was designed for 4.2.x firmware, and not OS 6.


I have exactly 6.10.6 installed

Message 69 of 147
TeknoJnky
Hero

Re: ReadyNAS OS Dead?

Hi thanks for the links.

Just to clarify, I am also already on the latest 6.10.x series.

I am looking to move OFF of readyos entirely.

Truenas scale appears to be a spiritual alternative to, even if different than readyos.

 

Message 70 of 147
StephenB
Guru

Re: ReadyNAS OS Dead?


@Kolyk wrote:

I have exactly 6.10.6 installed



Ok.  But some of the material in those articles looks like it is specific to the Ultra 2, and might not apply to all OS-6 NAS.

Message 71 of 147
Kolyk
Aspirant

Re: ReadyNAS OS Dead?

Guys, I'm ready for experiments, but my skills are not enough for independent work on migration to TrueNas or other analogs, and even my knowledge of English does not give a correct understanding. I need instructions that are not available anywhere.

Message 72 of 147
rn_enthusiast
Virtuoso

Re: ReadyNAS OS Dead?

If you don't have the experience to do more "advanced" or custom solutions then buy a Synology NAS, in my opinion.

 

Message 73 of 147
Hawk321
Apprentice

Re: ReadyNAS OS Dead?

Yes, that’s a thing we could do but why should we abandon all the perfectly working hardware?

Iam still hoping for someone who is willing and capable of to have a deeper look into the firmware and to programm a new free OS.
Message 74 of 147
StephenB
Guru

Re: ReadyNAS OS Dead?


@Hawk321 wrote:

I am still hoping for someone who is willing and capable of to have a deeper look into the firmware and to program a new free OS.

https://xpenology.org/ is one option, but there is no way to revert back to OS-6, so I haven't tried it.  If I want to go down that path in the future, I'd put it on an external USB drive, and boot up using that first.

 

While Netgear certainly could release OS-6 as open source somewhere, it seems unlikely.  

 

 

Message 75 of 147
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