This topic has been marked solved and closed to new posts due to inactivity. We hope you'll join the conversation by posting to an open topic or starting a new one.
ReadyNAS NV+ disc replacement failure using identical disk type
My ReadyNAS NV+ is equipped with 4 identical 2 TB drives. Seagate Model ST2000DM001. I am running XRAID. Was receiving notices of increasing bad sectors, in increasing numbers on Drive 4. Purchased an identical drive online. Attempted hot swap failed. Attempted cold boot failed. Log messages both times showed ... "The disk attached to channel 4 could not be used. The most common reasons are RAID resync in progress, faulty drives, and disks that are too small to be added to the array." Health Status shows drive dead. Reformatted the drive NTFS, tried both procedures again. Same result both times. Eventually re-inserted original drive 4. Syncing process took 5 days but finally succeeded, as both log entry and email indicated. Unfortunately, drive 4 failed permanently 2 days later, so the warnings were valid all along. Purchased a 3 TB Seagate drive online. Model ST3000DM008. Tried both procedures again (hot, cold) but received same log message and status (Dead). Verified 3 TB storage capacity in Windows, reformatted NTFS, tried both procedures again. I have left the new drive in the Drive 4 slot, with the light blinking. I am considering data migration options but would like to get redundancy back on this unit. HELP!!!
Purchased a 3 TB Seagate drive online. Model ST3000DM008.
If your NAS runs 4.1.x firmware, then the max drive size is 2 TB. A 3 TB drive will appear much smaller and can't be added to the array.
Overall, Seagate DM drives don't have a good track record in RAID arrays. I'd suggest either a 2 TB WDC Red or a 2 TB Seagate Ironwolf. Both are NAS-purposed drives. I use a WD20EFRX in my own Duo v1.
Re: ReadyNAS NV+ disc replacement failure using identical disk type
Thanks for this information. My NAS is running 4.1.16 firmware, as you suspected. Are there later firmware versions for the NV+ that allow greater capacity than 2 TB per drive? That would also be welcome news to me.
I should say that I've had a good experience with these 4 Seagate DM drives until very recently, with over 5 years of use in 4 different locations. Nevertheless, I have just gambled on your advice and ordered a WD20EFRX online. I will report back with results after it has been installed.
In te meantime, do you have any advice on "drive preparation" when it arrives, or should I just put it in "hot" and pray for sync to begin? I have been unable to locate any advice on drive prep on the Netgear site, or in the Community pages. Thanks again for your help!
I should say that I've had a good experience with these 4 Seagate DM drives until very recently, with over 5 years of use in 4 different locations.
The 3 TB version has a rather poor reputation ( https://www.backblaze.com/blog/3tb-hard-drive-failure/ ) and I've quite a few issues with that particular model posted here. In general, I recommend either NAS-purposed or enterprise-class drives for RAID. Years ago, desktop-class drives made sense, but NAS purposed drives are similar in price, and have the right features for RAID.
In te meantime, do you have any advice on "drive preparation" when it arrives, or should I just put it in "hot" and pray for sync to begin? I have been unable to locate any advice on drive prep on the Netgear site, or in the Community pages. Thanks again for your help!
The disk is formatted by the NAS when you insert it, so no prep is needed. You should probably test it with Western Digital's lifeguard utility in a PC before you use it though. For Seagates, you'd use Seatools.
I recommend hot-insertion of the new drive (with the NAS running).
Re: ReadyNAS NV+ disc replacement failure using identical disk type
Hello Stephen,
It has been about two weeks since our last communication. Since then I ordered the drive you recommended (WD20EFRX), installed it, and tried to get my NAS back to redundant status. Long story short, it didn't work, and the new drive cannot be initialized using Windows and gets a WD Lifeguard "Fail". Here is a log of my attempts:
Boot without Disk 4. NAS runs OK but not redundant Insert Disk 4 HOT Disk 4 activity light and Main activity light both flashing intermittently. (A good sign? I don't know.) LCD says "Disk 4 inserted" Cannot ping, no RAIDar or Frontview access. Wait ....... 4 ......... days
No result. Tired of waiting. Power button does not respond. Perform "Improper shutdown" (pull plug). Boot without Disk 4. Runs OK but not redundant Insert Disk 4 HOT again. LCD says "Disk 4 sync" Email says "RAID sync started on volume C." Disk 4 activity light flashing. Main activity light not flashing (???) Can ping but no RAIDar or Frontview access. Wait ....... 6 days, 1 hour, 20 minutes.
No result. Tired of waiting. Power button responded for shutdown. Still shows IP address and "Disk 4 sync" on LCD, even though power is OFF (???) Restart with Disk 4 installed. LCD says "Booting Please Wait ...." Power light goes from fast to steady flash. Does not boot beyond steady flash. Power button does not respond for shutdown. Pull plug.
Restart with Disk 4 installed. Power light goes from fast to steady flash. Does not boot beyond steady flash. Pull Disk 4 HOT Power light goes to slow flash, booting commences. LCD says "Booting" Re-insert Disk 4 while "Booting" underway. Disk 4 activity light and main activity light blinking Quota Check begins RAIDar access show Disk 4 with Red X Quota Check complete LCD shows IP address, Total/Free space. Frontview says disk is dead. Pull Disk 4 HOT. Lose Frontview connection Lose IP ping. LCD says "Kernel panic" Perform "Improper shutdown" (pull plug).
Restart with no Disk 4 installed. Disk 4 activity light and main activity light blinking Quota Check begins RAIDar access shows Disk 4 with Red X Quota Check complete LCD shows IP address, Total/Free space.
Boot without Disk 4. NAS runs OK but not redundant Insert Disk 4 HOT Disk 4 activity light and Main activity light both flashing intermittently. LCD says "Disk 4 inserted"
Re: ReadyNAS NV+ disc replacement failure using identical disk type
I realize it's been almost 5 months since I last responded to your suggestion that I replace the failed (brand new) WD20EFRX 2 TB disk that I had previously purchased with a new one for my 4-disk ReadyNAS NV+ . I followed up on your advice immediately with the seller, and they replaced the failed drive within a few days at no expense whatsoever.
In the meantime, I had copied all its critical files to my ReadyNAS Ultra 4 (also a 4-disk model), which uses the Seagate ST3000DM001 3 TB drives that you warned me about. Sure enough, one of them failed almost immediately after copying the files from my NV+ so that now I had TWO non-redundant ReadyNAS servers!
Given the severity of your warning, and the higher capacity of the newer NAS, I expedited the replacement of the 3 TB Seagate drive with a newer model (ST3000DM008), which survived the sync process without complaint. My intention now is to go about replacing all of those drives, one by one, and I am hoping you can confirm that the ST3000DM008 is a better, more durable 3 TB drive than its predecessor, or recommend a superior 3 TB drive, (WD30EFRX ?) since 12 TB is the upper limit of the Ultra 4.
As for my NV+, although I had acquired a new 2 TB drive fairly quickly, I had already been through two very lengthy (5-days each) unsuccessful attempts at resyncing and didn't want to postpone migration of critical files until after a third (possibly failed, possibly very lengthy, and, should a second drive fail, possibly disastrous resyncing attempt.
But then, since the Ultra 4 was newly redundant and all the files had been copied from the NV+, I procrastinated and didn't attempt resyncing the NV+ until last night.
The good news is that is came off without a hitch, starting from a "Power Off" condition, and I am now planning to replace all the 2 TB drives in the NV+ with WD20EFRX drives.
I am planning to do the same for my Ultra 4, but not until I've got your recommendations for a solid-performing 3 TB drive. (My suspicion is that you'll recommend the WD30EFRX 🙂
As a postscript, I should mention that while all of this was going on, I went out and purchased yet another NAS - a Synology DS916+ - which I have populated with WD40EFRX drives!
Lastly, I want to thank you very much for your help and advice in getting my NV+ back to its original status, and I invite you to make any additional suggestions regarding backup processes, drive replacements, or any other issues that I might overlook in the future. You have been an immense help, and I appreciate your input very much!
I am hoping you can confirm that the ST3000DM008 is a better, more durable 3 TB drive than its predecessor, or recommend a superior 3 TB drive, (WD30EFRX ?) since 12 TB is the upper limit of the Ultra 4.
Generally I recommend either enterprise-class drives or NAS-purposed drives (WDC Red or Seagate IronWolf). I don't know how the DM008 compares with the older models, hopefully Seagate has improved the reliability in RAID arrays along the way.
On sizes, the total XRAID volume size can't exceed 16 TiB on an Ultra 4. You can use up to 4x5TB drives without hitting that limit. Or deploy 3x8 TB with one slot empty. You aren't limited to 3 TB drives.
Although Netgear doesn't support it, you can convert the ultra 4 to run OS-6 which has no known expansion limits (allowing you to use 4x12TB for instance).
Re: ReadyNAS NV+ disc replacement failure using identical disk type
Thanks, once again, for the information regarding the Ultra 4. I don't remember how I arrived at the upper limit of 4x3TB drives (maybe it was my budget?), but I will revise my upgrade plans to 4x4TB, since that is a suitable match for my Synology DS918+ . The Ultra 4 is currently running under X-RAID2. I assume that this is equivalent to X-RAID in terms of the storage limit?
Model: ReadyNAS RNDP400U|ReadyNAS Ultra 4 Plus Chassis only
