New RN424 setup

[BJB]

I'm setting up my second readynas and have one question. I read from a knowledgeable poster that it is best to boot up the NAS, upgrade the firmware and then reset it so it has a fresh set up with the new firmware.
My question is exactly when and how do you do this? You plug it in the drives will start formatting and building the RAID, so do you wait until it is done....could be 2 days...and then press the reset button sequence?

Or can you do it before it builds the RAID somehow?
Thanks,
BJB

[StephenB · Accepted solution]

You can upgrade the firmware before the volume setup is complete.  After that, you either shut down and do factory reset from the boot menu, or you can use the "perform factory default" control on the system->settings page.  (Again, no reason to wait for the second step either).

[StephenB · Accepted solution]

You can upgrade the firmware before the volume setup is complete.  After that, you either shut down and do factory reset from the boot menu, or you can use the "perform factory default" control on the system->settings page.  (Again, no reason to wait for the second step either).

[BJB]

I will do this, just one quick question. Not questioning doing it but just the technical reason for it. What does the factory reset do vs. just upgrading the firmware without a reset?
Thanks,
BJB

[StephenB]

---

@BJB wrote:
I will do this, just one quick question. Not questioning doing it but just the technical reason for it. What does the factory reset do vs. just upgrading the firmware without a reset?

---

A factory reset reformats the drives and rebuilds the RAID volume.  From time to time Netgear changes the way the volume is built, so doing this guarantees you are getting the benefit of the most recent settings.

The RN424 is a new platform, and the shipped firmware won't be very old.  So there likely isn't much (if any) benefit in this particular case.  

On the other hand, it doesn't take much time to do the extra reset, so it's a bit of a coin-toss.