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Re: Expansion failed - Pro Pioneer 6

reburns
Aspirant

Expansion failed - Pro Pioneer 6

Hello -

 

Adding a 6th HDD to this Pro Pioneer failed.  I believe that this was built using 4 each 4TB HDDs and later adding a 5th and now attempting to add a 6th.  Is the issue a 8TB expansion limit?  I will happily upload logs, but don't see how to attach the file, or add a download link.  The drives are WD40EFRX.  The other thing to observe is that the volume was very full before attempting the expansion.  If that's an issue, I can free up some space first.

 

Thank you!

 

Hostname:Ascent-Pioneer
Model:ReadyNAS Pro 6 [X-RAID2]
Serial:20S40CRL00187
Firmware:RAIDiator 4.2.28 
Memory:3072 MB [4-5-5-15 DDR2]
IPv4 address: 1:Not Connected
IPv4 address: 2:192.168.1.4
Volume C:Online, X-RAID2, 6 disks, 98% of 14 TB used
Model: ReadyNASRNDP600E|ReadyNAS Pro Pioneeer Chassis only
Message 1 of 10
StephenB
Guru

Re: Expansion failed - Pro Pioneer 6

If a Netgear moderator requests logs, you email them using this procedure: http://kb.netgear.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/21543/~/how-do-i-send-all-logs-to-readynas-community-m...

 


@reburns wrote:

Adding a 6th HDD to this Pro Pioneer failed.  I believe that this was built using 4 each 4TB HDDs and later adding a 5th and now attempting to add a 6th.  Is the issue a 8TB expansion limit?

There is an 8 TiB growth limit, but you didn't exceed that.

 

The problem is the other constraint on growth - a volume cannot grow over a 16 TiB size.  After 5 disks you were at 16 TB (~ 14.5 TiB), the 6th would take you to 20 TB (~ 18.1 TiB).

 

What you can do is back up all the data and do a factory reset with all drives in place.  Though the volume can't expand to more than 16 TiB, the NAS will create a 20 TiB volume if you do this.

 

Since you are facing a factory reset anyway, you could take the opportunity to switch to OS 6 - which has no known expansion limits, and which has other features that aren't available with OS 4.2.  One thing to factor in - you will lose Netgear support.

Message 2 of 10
reburns
Aspirant

Re: Expansion failed - Pro Pioneer 6

Ok, I'll consider a factory reset and OS 6.  AFAIK, the 4TB HDDs I am using is outside Netgear support already.  (?)

 

Can you point me to directions for upgrading to OS 6?

Message 3 of 10
StephenB
Guru

Re: Expansion failed - Pro Pioneer 6


@reburns wrote:

AFAIK, the 4TB HDDs I am using is outside Netgear support already.  (?)

 


The legacy HCL aren't updated very often.  Though the pro pioneer list does include three 4 TB models, including both WD Red drives and the Seagate VN drives (now branded as "Ironman").

 


@reburns wrote:

Can you point me to directions for upgrading to OS 6?



 See the highlighted post in this thread ( https://community.netgear.com/t5/Using-your-ReadyNAS/OS6-now-works-on-x86-Legacy-WARNING-NO-NTGR-SUP...)

The cliff-notes version is 

 

1. Install the add-on PREP4TOR6_0.1-x86.bin.  Don't reboot.

2. Install the firmware R4toR6_latest.bin
3. Reboot

 

The reboot will automatically trigger a factory reset, which of course destroys the data on the NAS and the configuration.

Message 4 of 10
reburns
Aspirant

Re: Expansion failed - Pro Pioneer 6

How robust is the OS 6 on a Pro Pioneer?  As a casual user, I have no real complaints about the current OS...and often subscribe to the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" logic.  Although my Pioneer is out of warranty, its possible that I talk to Netgear suppor someday, although this forum is my first stop.  FWIW, I do have OS 6 on my 2nd ReadNAS (RN316).

 

The WD40EFRX 4TB HDDs I'm using in the Pro Pioneer are now included in the compatability list.

 

Thanks!

Message 5 of 10
StephenB
Guru

Re: Expansion failed - Pro Pioneer 6


@reburns wrote:

 As a casual user, I have no real complaints about the current OS...and often subscribe to the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" logic. FWIW, I do have OS 6 on my 2nd ReadNAS (RN316).

 


I also have a mix of OS 4 and OS 6, and am not in a hurry to switch my pro-6 over to OS 6.  When I need to do a factory reset for other reasons, I'll look at that option.

 

Overall posters here generally feel that OS 6 runs quite well on their legacy NAS.  One weak spot seems to be fan detection and control.  You can deal with fan control issues via overrides (using ssh), but that won't work for fan detection problems.  Netgear has resolved those issues in the past (despite "no support").

 

BTW, if you do proceed you might take a look at the bios version you are running.  It would be wise to have the latest bios installed before you migrate (the add-on for that doesn't work with OS 6). 

 

I think the most recent bios for the pioneer is here: http://www.readynas.com/download/addons/x86/4.2/BIOS_Update_Package_0.5-x86.bin  But maybe wait for @mdgm-ntgr to confirm...

Message 6 of 10
reburns
Aspirant

Re: Expansion failed - Pro Pioneer 6

Factory reset performed on latest firmware RAIDiator 4.2.30, X-RAID2, with six WD40EFRX 4TB disks in the Pioneer. Looks like the rebuild went fine and am copying back data.

 

Thank you.

Model: ReadyNASRNDP600E|ReadyNAS Pro Pioneeer Chassis only
Message 7 of 10
mdgm-ntgr
NETGEAR Employee Retired

Re: Expansion failed - Pro Pioneer 6

I think with 8TB+ disks you'd definitely want to use OS6, 6TB disks are more borderline and 4TB are a good choice for RAIDiator-x86 4.2.x

 

But really whichever way you go if your data is important then regular backups are a must.

 

With the BIOS upgrade add-on it's best to connect your NAS to a UPS if you have one. If you cut the power while the BIOS upgrade is taking place the NAS will be bricked. The BIOS upgrade is not essential but if you want to do it it's easier to do it whilst on RAIDiator-x86 4.2.x

Message 8 of 10
reburns
Aspirant

Re: Expansion failed - Pro Pioneer 6

I have the Pro Pioneer on a UPS.  Searching for the BIOS upgrade I find:

"install the newer (2010) bios on the 4.2.x system using this addon: www.readynas.com/download/addons/x86/4.2/BIOS_Update_Package_0.5-x86.bin"

Is that the latest & greatest & stable?  Then I am assuming to use: > add-ons > install new.

 

I'm good with on-site backups between two NAS units, but a bad with off-site backups (I'm in wildfire country). Critical data includes a photo library (4TB), engineering work files (1TB), and big hi-res music library (10TB).  I had been copying for off-site using a HDD dock to spare drives, wishing for a better way (on Win7, I remember struggling with larger drives in docks).  A few music filenames were too long for backup, so didn't back up those.  Most of that data can be considered archival; most existing files never not get modified but new files get added to the database.

 

 

Thank you.

Model: ReadyNASRNDP600E|ReadyNAS Pro Pioneeer Chassis only
Message 9 of 10
mdgm-ntgr
NETGEAR Employee Retired

Re: Expansion failed - Pro Pioneer 6

That is the latest BIOS for your system, yes.

Message 10 of 10
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