Asking for help with "RAID level unknown" & "volume root is degraded" errors
Hello, After a firmware update, my Readynas 104 is unusable. I have the following error message: "Volume data RAID level unknown" (see capture). Diagnostics revealed that a disk has "pending sectors" and when I start with 4 disks (exlcuding the one with pending sectors) I get "volume root is degraded". I know my data is intact I was able to see parts of it with ReclaiMe. But I cannot pay 200$ for the full recovery licence. My Netgear warranty is over and my data is not important enough to pay hundreds to maybe recover it. Is there any way to repair the root sector? Or at least to recover some data before doing a factoty reset (and formating)? Thanks a lot to anyone who can help me out.
when I start with 4 disks (exlcuding the one with pending sectors) I get "volume root is degraded".
I think you must mean 3 disks, since there are only four bays total in the RN104. Are you able to access your data when you boot the system this way?
To clarify - a "degraded volume" is one that is no longer protected by RAID redundancy, but which is still accessible. If you are seeing "corrupt root", then that is another matter.
Re: Asking for help with "RAID level unknown" & "volume root is degraded" er
Hello and thank you for answering.
You're right, I meant 3 disks, sorry.
When I start with 4 disks I get the "disk 2 has pending sectors" and when I start with 3 disks (excluding the 2nd), I get "Volume root is degraded" and "md/raid:md127: failed to run raid set." when I use the diagnostic from RAIDAR.
I cannot access my data either with 3 or 4 disks.
I get to the 1st folder level (Videos, Pictures, ... but I click I get a network error message saying windows cannot access (error code 0x80070043).
Re: Asking for help with "RAID level unknown" & "volume root is degraded" er
That means that the problem isn't with the NAS OS partition (corrupt root), it is with the data volume.
There are multiple causes for this, so the best way to proceed is to contact paid Netgear support (my.netgear.com). Sometimes the solution would require data recovery, which is an expensive service ( https://kb.netgear.com/69/ReadyNAS-Data-Recovery-Diagnostics-Scope-of-Service ). But it might be simpler than that.
If you have a backup of your data, then another option is to do a factory default, rebuild the NAS, and then restore the data from your backup.
Re: Asking for help with "RAID level unknown" & "volume root is degraded" er
Recovery is expensive (labor intensive). If you can connect all the disks to a Windows PC you could also try ReclaiMe software (which I think is $200 to buy). But you can see if you can recover anything before you purchase.
I don't have any other advice to offer, though it is possible that @JohnCM_S or @Marc_V might have some (or be willing to analyze your logs, etc).
And unfortunately I don't have any backup of my data, it's too large I would need another NAS to back it up.
I do back up mine to another NAS. But many people use multiple USB drives, which are less expensive.
The dilemma here is that RAID just isn't enough to keep your data safe. Data recovery is both expensive and uncertain. Putting a backup plan in place is really the cheapest and best way to keep your data safe over the long haul. It does cost money, but it can be phased in (starting with just backing up the most precious data).
But you are where you are. I do hope you can get the volume remounted with no data loss.
Re: Asking for help with "RAID level unknown" & "volume root is degraded" er
Hi Zeixxs,
It appears that you only have 2 opearational drives, disks 1 and 4, which is why the volume cannot be mounted. Currently disks 2 and 3 already failed and disk 1 is in questionable health as well. I have PMed you the the serial number of the disks that are in questionable health.
