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Re: How to upgrade from OS 4.2.31 to OS 6 on a Readynas Ultra 6

thekidbass
Tutor

How to upgrade from OS 4.2.31 to OS 6 on a Readynas Ultra 6

Can anyone provide me with the steps to upgrade from OS 4.2.31 to OS 6 on a Readynas Ultra 6. And do I have to update the BIOS as well before the upgrade? Thanks.

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Message 1 of 4

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StephenB
Guru

Re: How to upgrade from OS 4.2.31 to OS 6 on a Readynas Ultra 6


@thekidbass wrote:

Can anyone provide me with the steps to upgrade from OS 4.2.31 to OS 6 on a Readynas Ultra 6. And do I have to update the BIOS as well before the upgrade? Thanks.

 


I usually start by recommending upgrading the RAM to at least 2 GB, but it looks like you have already done that.

 

If you have the skills, you should probably back up the VPD before conversion.  Sometimes it does get corrupted.  Netgear Mods so far have repaired the VPD for users who have run into this, but backing it up would allow you to resolve the issue on your own if you ever do.  More information on this is here:

 

The conversion steps are:

 

(Optionally) make sure the latest BIOS is installed before you do the conversion.  To do this you install  http://www.readynas.com/download/addons/x86/4.2/BIOS_Update_Package_0.5-x86.bin as an add-on and reboot the NAS.  Do this after you backup the NAS.  This isn't necessary, but if you do want to update the BIOS it is easiest to do it prior to conversion.

 

Basic instructions for the conversion itself are

  1. BACKUP, BACKUP, BACKUP (probably not relevant in your case, as you just created a new volume).
  2. Upload PREPR4TOR6_0.1-x86.bin as an add-on using the ReadyNAS web gui, but do not reboot afterwards (avoids the need to do manual factory resets)
  3. Upload R4toR6_6.9.5.bin using the ReadyNAS web gui firmware update
  4. After you upload the addon+firmware and reboot, it will update the firmware and start a factory default.
  5. Go through the setup process on the converted NAS 
  6. Update the NAS to the current OS 6 (check for updates will work).
  7. Restore files from the backup.

There is a small risk that the process could fail, and if that were to happen it might not be possible to get the NAS running again.

 

Note that if you ever need to do a USB recovery later on, you will need to use the procedure for 4.2 systems - substituting an OS-6 image for the 4.2.31 one.

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Message 2 of 4

All Replies
StephenB
Guru

Re: How to upgrade from OS 4.2.31 to OS 6 on a Readynas Ultra 6


@thekidbass wrote:

Can anyone provide me with the steps to upgrade from OS 4.2.31 to OS 6 on a Readynas Ultra 6. And do I have to update the BIOS as well before the upgrade? Thanks.

 


I usually start by recommending upgrading the RAM to at least 2 GB, but it looks like you have already done that.

 

If you have the skills, you should probably back up the VPD before conversion.  Sometimes it does get corrupted.  Netgear Mods so far have repaired the VPD for users who have run into this, but backing it up would allow you to resolve the issue on your own if you ever do.  More information on this is here:

 

The conversion steps are:

 

(Optionally) make sure the latest BIOS is installed before you do the conversion.  To do this you install  http://www.readynas.com/download/addons/x86/4.2/BIOS_Update_Package_0.5-x86.bin as an add-on and reboot the NAS.  Do this after you backup the NAS.  This isn't necessary, but if you do want to update the BIOS it is easiest to do it prior to conversion.

 

Basic instructions for the conversion itself are

  1. BACKUP, BACKUP, BACKUP (probably not relevant in your case, as you just created a new volume).
  2. Upload PREPR4TOR6_0.1-x86.bin as an add-on using the ReadyNAS web gui, but do not reboot afterwards (avoids the need to do manual factory resets)
  3. Upload R4toR6_6.9.5.bin using the ReadyNAS web gui firmware update
  4. After you upload the addon+firmware and reboot, it will update the firmware and start a factory default.
  5. Go through the setup process on the converted NAS 
  6. Update the NAS to the current OS 6 (check for updates will work).
  7. Restore files from the backup.

There is a small risk that the process could fail, and if that were to happen it might not be possible to get the NAS running again.

 

Note that if you ever need to do a USB recovery later on, you will need to use the procedure for 4.2 systems - substituting an OS-6 image for the 4.2.31 one.

Message 2 of 4
thekidbass
Tutor

Re: How to upgrade from OS 4.2.31 to OS 6 on a Readynas Ultra 6

Well, I since didn't get a response in time, I went head and updgraded to OS6 without upgrading the BIOS. Truthfully I'm not sure if it was running the latest BIOS prior to the conversion or not. But it successfully converted to OS6 and updated it to version 6.10.8. It did factory reset and booted into X-RAID2. As of this writing, it is at 80% resyncing mode. I'll wait until it completes the resync. Then when I get the additonal 3 drives, I'll switch back to FLEX-RAID Level 0. Thank you so much for your recommendations and suggestions. You've been a godsend to me and so many other users of these units.

RAIDar Screenshot 6_10_8.jpg

Message 3 of 4
thekidbass
Tutor

Re: How to upgrade from OS 4.2.31 to OS 6 on a Readynas Ultra 6

Thank you for the step by step process. Highly appreciated

Message 4 of 4
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