Netgear ReadyNaS device dead

[pala_reg]

Hi all,

We are in a situation where our NAS device(Ready NAS) wont power on. I can hear the fan noise while powering on, but thats it nothing else. I have some critical data there and in desperate situation to recover them. I see this Netgear discontinued this same model. What are my options to recover my data. Please advise.

I have another old netgear ready nas, which also have some issues, but I am thinking of removing its disks and try to power it on, see it comes up and stay stable, and put the disks from the main nas to this one. Will it help?

Please share you thoughts.

Thanks

[StephenB · Accepted solution]

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@StephenB wrote:

I will follow up with instructions on how to convert the Pro-6 to run OS 6 in a followup post.

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@pala_reg:, here are the instructions.

First you need to get the Pro-6 running with 4.2.x firmware.  If it has no disks in it now, you will need a spare disk (which is not part of the array you eventually want to migrate).  You will need to do a factory default with that spare disk in the NAS.   Instructions for doing that from the Pro-6's front panel are in the the hardware manual for the Pro-6 that I posted in the previous post (the manual that describes the disk trays).  The Pro-6 will format the disk, so anything on it will be lost.

After factory default, browse to the NAS ( https://nas-ip-address/admin ), and complete the setup.  Don't set anything up you don't need to, as this is just temporary. The disk will be formatted again as part of the conversion.  Note that the Pro-6 4.2.x firmware only supports TLS 1.0, so most browsers won't let you connect.  But you can connect with Internet Explorer, or with Edge in IE mode.  You likely will need to click through a certificate warning.

Second, OS-6 NAS like the RN516 have at least 2 GB of RAM.  The Pro-6 only has 1 GB.  While this might work out ok, many folks have found that it is not enough.  It is possible to upgrade the Pro-6's memory to 2 (or 4) GB of RAM - and is quite inexpensive.  I recommend that you do that, especially if you are going to want to use the Pro-6 for a while.

Now for the conversion itself:

The 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 so want to update the bios it is easiest to do it prior to conversion

Basic instructions for the conversion itself are

1. 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)
2. Upload R4toR6_6.9.5.bin using the ReadyNAS web gui firmware update
3. After you upload the addon+firmware and reboot, it will update the firmware and start a factory default.
4. Go through the setup process on the converted NAS.  Again, this can be minimal, since your purpose is to migrate disks from your other NAS.   
5. Update the NAS to run the same firmware as is on the RN516 or the current OS 6 firmware (check for updates will work).

Note I am assuming that there is no data on the Pro-6 disk(s) that you care about.  If there is, you need to back up the Pro-6 data first, and restore it afterwards.

Once converted, you can put the RN516 disks into the Pro-6 (powered down), and then power it up.  The Pro-6 should boot, and will have the same configuration settings as the RN516 (all the settings are on the disks). 

As noted above, you will need to remove the disks from the RN516 trays, and then insert them into the Pro-6 trays to do this.

[StephenB]

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@pala_reg wrote:

Hi all,

We are in a situation where our NAS device(Ready NAS) wont power on. I can hear the fan noise while powering on, but thats it nothing else. I have some critical data there and in desperate situation to recover them. I see this Netgear discontinued this same model. What are my options to recover my data. Please advise.

I have another old netgear ready nas, which also have some issues, but I am thinking of removing its disks and try to power it on, see it comes up and stay stable, and put the disks from the main nas to this one. Will it help?

---

We'd need to know more in order to advise you on whether migration to the other NAS is possible.  Can you provide the model, and ideally also the firmware the two NAS are running?

If you have ReadyNAS NV+ or ReadyNAS Duo then also let us know if the front panel says "ReadyNAS NV+" or "ReadyNAS NV+ v2" (similarly "ReadyNAS Duo" or "ReadyNAS Duo v2").  Make sure you give us the front panel info - other labels are not helpful for us.  

[pala_reg]

The main NAS model is RN516 00

The other one is RNDP 6000

Unfortunately I have no idea about the firmware version. I cant check it now as both are not booting up, but I think(yet to be confirmed) the RNDP 6000 is failing because of the disks.

Thanks

[StephenB]

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@pala_reg wrote:

The main NAS model is RN516 00

The other one is RNDP 6000

Unfortunately I have no idea about the firmware version. I cant check it now as both are not booting up, but I think(yet to be confirmed) the RNDP 6000 is failing because of the disks.

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Have you tried getting the firmware information from RAIDar?  https://kb.netgear.com/20684/ReadyNAS-Downloads#raidar

If the Pro-6 is running stock 4.2.x firmware, then the RN516 can boot with the Pro-6 disks (but only temporarily as read-only).  https://kb.netgear.com/29957/ReadyNAS-Migrating-disks-from-RAIDiator-4-2-to-ReadyNAS-OS-6-x86  In this case, the R516 disks cannot not migrated to the Pro-6.

But if the Pro-6  was converted to OS-6, then disks can be migrated in both directions.  If the version of OS-6 is different on the two machines, then whatever firmware is newest will be used.  That is, if the flash is newer, then the NAS will upgrade the OS on the disks when it boots.  If the version on the disks is newer, then the NAS will upgrade its flash from the disks.  

In any event, make sure you power down both NAS when attempting to migrate.  It's best to label the disks by slot, so you don't mix them up.

[Sandshark]

Let me see if I have this right:  Your main NAS is a 516 and you also have a Pro6 that's not in use.  If that is the case, and you do find the problem with the Pro6 is the drives, then the easiest thing to do is to convert the Pro6 to OS6, then move the 516's drives to the Pro6.  You'll have to do the conversion with a scratch drive (one of those that's currently in it will likely still be working) first.  Instructions for upgrading are available here in the forum.

The 516 problem could be the power supply.  It uses a standard Flex-ATX (aka Mini-ITX) power supply.  Unlike with older NAS models, there is no pin swapping required.  You can use a standard ATXV12 power supply externally to verify the power supply is the problem before investing in a new one, if you have an ATX supply "lying around".  But the right power supply isn't very expensive and it's also not especially hard to replace.

A replacement ReadyNAS would be the easiest, of course, but new ones are pretty much impossible to find and any reasonable price, and you need to be careful on the used market (where units compatible with the 516 are also a bit hard to find at a reasonable price).

[pala_reg]

@Sandshark Do you think that would be a power supply issue? I can hear 100% fan noise, but no lights on network port or nothing on the display,no led light.

[pala_reg]

@StephenB  Thank you. I will read more about this and try. Will update the results here

[pala_reg]

@Sandshark @StephenB  I see another user who had almost the same issue like mine(same symptoms, and the same circumstances of how it went off) fixed the booting issue by replacing battery on motherboard. Can I try that? Is there any steps on how to do that

Thank you very much.

[StephenB]

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@pala_reg wrote:

@Sandshark @StephenB  I see another user who had almost the same issue like mine(same symptoms, and the same circumstances of how it went off) fixed the booting issue by replacing battery on motherboard. Can I try that?

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I don't believe it will help, AFAIK the only purpose of the CMOS battery is to keep the real time clock ticking when the power is removed. Still, I don't see any harm in trying it. FWIW, I don't think there are any instructions here. 

I do know that the Pro-6 uses a CR2032 battery.  You can see it at about 5 minutes into the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSgkoa0tNqc

Not sure on the RN516.

[Sandshark]

The power supply has multiple voltages, so one voltage that is out could cause your symptoms.  Fans will spin with just the 12V present, and it doesn't even have to be very well regulated for that.  The 516 has an HDMI port, so seeing what's happening on it during boot might give additional hints.

[pala_reg]

@StephenB my colleague is worried if replacing cmos battery can wipe off the raid. Is that a possibility?

Thank you again

[StephenB]

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@pala_reg wrote:
@StephenB my colleague is worried if replacing cmos battery can wipe off the raid. Is that a possibility?

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I don't see how it could do that.

If you are worried generally about data loss, you might consider cloning the disks.

[pala_reg]

@StephenB  @Sandshark  Thank you for the suggestions.
So I took the device to a local computer repair shop nearby, and they identified it as a power supply unit failure issue indeed. 

Any idea where I can get this PSU unit online(compatible one, attached the image of current one) 

[pala_reg]

@StephenB @Sandshark 
I followed the disk swap method, but found out disks on 516 wont fit into RN6000

The disks won't go complete in 😞

[StephenB]

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@pala_reg wrote:

@StephenB @Sandshark 
I followed the disk swap method, but found out disks on 516 wont fit into RN6000

The disks won't go complete in 😞

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Did you move them into the Pro-6 trays?

Also, has the Pro-6 been converted to run OS-6?  That needs to be done first.

[pala_reg]

Hi @StephenB 

I followed the steps mentioned in below link, upgraded the firmware to 6.10.5. I guess that is how the conversion is done to OS-6? Please correct me I am wrong.

https://kb.netgear.com/29957/ReadyNAS-Migrating-disks-from-RAIDiator-4-2-to-ReadyNAS-OS-6-x86?_ga=2....

 I didnt understand about your question on Pro-6 trays. I removed the disks from NAS 6000 and tried inserting the disks from NAS516. But it won't completely go in as there is a small portion at the top side that blocks full entrance.

Also any comments on the PSU for NAS516. We are desperately in need of help.

Thanks again

[StephenB]

I am confused on whether you are trying to put the Pro-6 disks into the RN516, or whether you are trying to put the RN516 disks into the Pro-6.

Some of your posts say that you are moving from Pro-6 to the RN516, others say that you you are moving from the RN516 to the Pro-6.

Can you clarify which you are attempting?  It is very important that we understand this, as if we don't you could lose your data.

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@pala_reg wrote:

I followed the steps mentioned in below link, upgraded the firmware to 6.10.5. I guess that is how the conversion is done to OS-6? Please correct me I am wrong.

https://kb.netgear.com/29957/ReadyNAS-Migrating-disks-from-RAIDiator-4-2-to-ReadyNAS-OS-6-x86?_ga=2....

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No.  This is telling you that you can put the disks from the Pro-6 into the RN516, and temporarily read them.  It doesn't convert the Pro-6.  The data is mounted read-only, so you can copy the files to other storage.

More importantly, while you can read the Pro's disks in the RN516 even if the Pro is running 4.2.31,  the reverse is not true.  You cannot read the disks in the RN516 in the Pro-6 until after the Pro-6 is converted.  If you try, you will likely end up wiping the data in the RN516 drives.

I will follow up with instructions on how to convert the Pro-6 to run OS 6 in a followup post.

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@pala_reg wrote:

 I didnt understand about your question on Pro-6 trays. I removed the disks from NAS 6000 and tried inserting the disks from NAS516. But it won't completely go in as there is a small portion at the top side that blocks full entrance.

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The disks are mounted into trays on both NAS.  The RN516 can accept the Pro-6 trays, but the reverse is not true.  The RN516 trays will not fit into the Pro-6.

So the first step label the disks (by slot and system by origin) so you don't lose track of what goes where.  Then you will need to remove the disks from the RN516 trays, and insert them into the Pro-6 trays.  The RN516 doesn't require using screws to insert them into the trays, but you can use them if you like. So look for screws before you remove them.  The Pro-6 doesn't support screwless mounting, so you will need to use the screws that came with that NAS to mount the drives into the trays.  Hopefully you still have those screws (and the original trays).

Instructions for removing/inserting disks into the Pro-6 trays are found on pages 33-34 of the Pro-6 hardware manual here: https://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/RNDU2000/ReadyNAS_Ultra_UltraPlus_NVX_Pro_HW_en_8July11....

Instructions for the RN516 trays is found on pages 163-164 here: https://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/READYNAS-100/ReadyNAS_%20OS6_Desktop_HM_EN.pdf

[StephenB · Accepted solution]

---

@StephenB wrote:

I will follow up with instructions on how to convert the Pro-6 to run OS 6 in a followup post.

---

@pala_reg:, here are the instructions.

First you need to get the Pro-6 running with 4.2.x firmware.  If it has no disks in it now, you will need a spare disk (which is not part of the array you eventually want to migrate).  You will need to do a factory default with that spare disk in the NAS.   Instructions for doing that from the Pro-6's front panel are in the the hardware manual for the Pro-6 that I posted in the previous post (the manual that describes the disk trays).  The Pro-6 will format the disk, so anything on it will be lost.

After factory default, browse to the NAS ( https://nas-ip-address/admin ), and complete the setup.  Don't set anything up you don't need to, as this is just temporary. The disk will be formatted again as part of the conversion.  Note that the Pro-6 4.2.x firmware only supports TLS 1.0, so most browsers won't let you connect.  But you can connect with Internet Explorer, or with Edge in IE mode.  You likely will need to click through a certificate warning.

Second, OS-6 NAS like the RN516 have at least 2 GB of RAM.  The Pro-6 only has 1 GB.  While this might work out ok, many folks have found that it is not enough.  It is possible to upgrade the Pro-6's memory to 2 (or 4) GB of RAM - and is quite inexpensive.  I recommend that you do that, especially if you are going to want to use the Pro-6 for a while.

Now for the conversion itself:

The 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 so want to update the bios it is easiest to do it prior to conversion

Basic instructions for the conversion itself are

1. 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)
2. Upload R4toR6_6.9.5.bin using the ReadyNAS web gui firmware update
3. After you upload the addon+firmware and reboot, it will update the firmware and start a factory default.
4. Go through the setup process on the converted NAS.  Again, this can be minimal, since your purpose is to migrate disks from your other NAS.   
5. Update the NAS to run the same firmware as is on the RN516 or the current OS 6 firmware (check for updates will work).

Note I am assuming that there is no data on the Pro-6 disk(s) that you care about.  If there is, you need to back up the Pro-6 data first, and restore it afterwards.

Once converted, you can put the RN516 disks into the Pro-6 (powered down), and then power it up.  The Pro-6 should boot, and will have the same configuration settings as the RN516 (all the settings are on the disks). 

As noted above, you will need to remove the disks from the RN516 trays, and then insert them into the Pro-6 trays to do this.

[pala_reg]

I am trying to put disks from 516 to pro6
Thanks for detailing the steps. I will go through it.

Regarding PSU, I found this on Amazon
Apevia Power Supply ITX-AP300W  https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01M6V8O8T/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_281J4D0YY0C06AGK6Q9E

[StephenB]

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@pala_reg wrote:

Regarding PSU, I found this on Amazon
Apevia Power Supply ITX-AP300W  https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01M6V8O8T/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_281J4D0YY0C06AGK6Q9E

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@Sandshark is a better guide for PSU options than I am, so hopefully he will chime in.

The 516 uses a standard Flex ATX power supply with a standard 20-pin ATX connection.  It came with a 200w supply.  There haven't been many failures reported here, and I am not seeing any specific replacement recommendations.

[Sandshark]

My "parts" 516 is in storage, so I can't check the wattage.  But assuming @StephenB is correct about the wattage, that should work.  Note, however, that you can get it for about half that price on eBay.

[StephenB]

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@Sandshark wrote:

But assuming @StephenB is correct about the wattage, that should work. 

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The wattage is included on the Netgear datasheet here:  https://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/datasheet/en/RN300-RN500-RN700.pdf  The same info shows up in some older reviews I checked.

[pala_reg]

Unfortunately, this model didn't work with the device. It requires even a lower one.

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B01M6V8O8T/ref=crt_ewc_title_dp_1?ie=UTF8&smid=A01222352KT5V4JBLESI...

I am searching for the right one in market, something like 200w. Please share the links in case if you know any.

[Sandshark]

A power supply will only draw what the device requires.  The wattage is the rating for the maximum current it can handle.  Moving to a 200W supply instead of a 300W one will do nothing.

[pala_reg]

@Sandshark  It looks like this new powersupply has -12v connector pin that doesnt require for NAS 516. I think I will ask the repair guy to cut that line and make sure the pin  wire colours match with the old one and try it again? I dont know why the repair guy didnt mention this to me. But I found that is the way to go with new PSU.