× NETGEAR will be terminating ReadyCLOUD service by July 1st, 2023. For more details click here.
Orbi WiFi 7 RBE973
Reply

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 won't boot after failed drive addition

on1ski
Aspirant

ReadyNAS Pro 6 won't boot after failed drive addition

I've had a ReadyNAS Pro 6 (v2) for about 5 years without issue. I can't recall the OS version, but it is the latest from Netgear. Five bays hold 3TB disks configured for RAID 5 (disks are Seagate ST3000DM001). Space was getting low, probably too low at <70mb, so I added another ST3000DM001 disk to bay 6. The system recognized, tested, and began restriping. But after about 30 min and 0.6% progress, the system just hung. Unresponsive to anything including pings. So after waiting a few hours with no change, I powered the system off. 

 

Now, at power-up, the system won't get past the "ReadyNAS" logo on the device display. I've tried multiple attemps, and also tried without the new drive in bay 6. I know how to bring up the boot menu, but not exactly sure what to do from there.Of course, I don't want to blow up my data...

 

What are the right steps to follow? I get that powering off during a restrip was not a bright idea. Any help from this forum would be appreciated. 

 

 

Model: RNDP6000v2|ReadyNAS Pro 6 Chassis only
Message 1 of 27

Accepted Solutions
on1ski
Aspirant

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 won't boot after failed drive addition

Everything is back to normal and working fine. Many thanks to @Sandshark and @StephenB ! The problem was the power supply. Once I hooked up an old ATX supply harvested from an old computer, the system was able to complete the restriping and resyncing need to add the sixth disk. I now have plenty of head room and can begin a migration to a new system.

 

I'm finding some references to those who use rsync between a FreeNAS server and a ReadyNAS server. I might do that instead of buying a large external USB drive, and then use my existing ReadyNAS as my backup to the new server once I build it. Any comments on that would be appreciated.

 

Thanks again!

 

 

View solution in original post

Message 18 of 27

All Replies
Sandshark
Sensei

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 won't boot after failed drive addition

You probably had another drive fail during the re-sync.

 

But let's eliminate a NAS chassis problem first:  Boot the system without any drives (labeling them so they go back in in the same order later).  If it boots with "no drives" displayed, the chassis is probably OK.

 

If you have the ability to test each drive on a PC with vendor tools and a USB dock for the drive, this is the best next step.  If you don't, the disk test from the boot menu can give some information.

 

Once we find out the status of the hardware, we can move on to potential ways to recover your data.  Note that you are likely going to need a means of storing all that data while you reset the NAS.  But that gets you started with the backup plan you are best served to have in place before a failure.

Message 2 of 27
on1ski
Aspirant

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 won't boot after failed drive addition

Thanks for your reply and willingness to help.

 

I removed all the drives, and the system does not boot past "ReadyNAS". I also discovered that I cannot enter the boot menu, with either disks or no disks installed.

 

So I have a chassis problem?

 

Message 3 of 27
StephenB
Guru

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 won't boot after failed drive addition


@on1ski wrote:

 

I removed all the drives, and the system does not boot past "ReadyNAS". I also discovered that I cannot enter the boot menu, with either disks or no disks installed.

 

So I have a chassis problem?

 



Sounds like it.  Can RAIDar see the NAS w/o disks?  https://kb.netgear.com/20684/ReadyNAS-Downloads

Message 4 of 27
on1ski
Aspirant

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 won't boot after failed drive addition

RAIDar does not see the unit. Sorry, I should have pointed that out before.

 

I have lots of fan noise, but otherwise, nothing except "ReadyNAS" on the device display...

 

Thanks again for your help. 

 

What to do??

 

 

Message 5 of 27
StephenB
Guru

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 won't boot after failed drive addition


@on1ski wrote:

 

Thanks again for your help. 

 

What to do??

 


It could be the power supply - and with some effort that can be replaced.

 

If you don't have a current backup:

 

If you purchase a new OS-6 x86 ReadyNAS (RN300 or better), you can temporarily mount the Pro-6 disks in the replacement NAS so you can copy off the data.   https://kb.netgear.com/29957/ReadyNAS-Migrating-disks-from-RAIDiator-4-2-to-ReadyNAS-OS-6-x86 If the RAID array isn't fully in sync (likely given the failure), you likely would need a data recovery contract from Netgear.  https://kb.netgear.com/69/ReadyNAS-Data-Recovery-Diagnostics-Scope-of-Service

 

If you can connect the disks to a PC (likely in an USB enclosure), you might also be able to extract the data yourself using R-Studio RAID recovery software ( https://www.r-studio.com/ )

Message 6 of 27
Sandshark
Sensei

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 won't boot after failed drive addition

I agree this is most likely a hardware issue and that the power supply is suspect #1.  The NAS will display "ReadyNAS" even if only the 5V power is good.

 

The supply is an SFX form factor drive, which is available (though the original Seasonic one is not).  Not quite so available are ones with the required 3 4-pin Molex connectors and a long enough acble.  SATA to Molex adapters and a 24-pin extension can be used to overcome those.  There is someone on eBay who advertises one that's compatible without any extenders.

 

It could be something else, of course.  Bad RAM is another that's repairable.

 

If you have a spare ATX power supply handy, it can be used externally to both confirm the problem is the power supply and to recover your data, should you decide not to move forward with a power supply replacement.

Message 7 of 27
on1ski
Aspirant

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 won't boot after failed drive addition

Thank you, @StephenB and @Sandshark. I have some spare ATX power supplies. I'll rip the Pro 6 open tomorrow and check PS voltages, but likely just also try wiring up a power supply externally as you suggest to confirm the problem. 

 

If I do confirm it's the power supply, I will most likely then work on extracting the data (I don't have a current backup), and move to either a RN526x, or, I may just build my own server and go with FreeNAS. I appreicate this is a Netgear community forum, but any opinions would be welcomed. It's good to know I can temporarily stick the drives into a RN526x to retrieve the data.

 

I'll report back once I diagnose the hardware issue. Hopefully, the data extraction won't be too problematic. 

 

Your help is greatly appreciated!!

 

 

Message 8 of 27
Sandshark
Sensei

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 won't boot after failed drive addition

I have stayed with ReadyNAS, though I have the skills to go with FreeNAS.  Frankly, I just don't want to mess with all the stuff "under the hood" to maintain FreeNAS -- I let Netgear do that for me.  This forum and my familiarity with the product line have kept me with RedyNAS instead of moving to another brand.  Well, that and their decision to, at least unofficially, get OS6 to run on legacy equipment.

 

Even if you go with a newer NAS, your Pro6 can make an excellent backup if it does end up being something simple like the power supply.

Message 9 of 27
on1ski
Aspirant

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 won't boot after failed drive addition

Okay, get this.

 

I prep'ed for surgery -- got out my tools, meter, antistatic gear, blah blah. Before disecting, I vacuumed up a lot of dust that accumulated and relocated the until on top of my table (typically sits in a well ventalated cabinet). For yukes, I turned it on to confirm I was in the same state as yesterday, and, boom, it booted. Nice. I was able to see it on RAIDar. So, I turned it off, I put the disks back in - but just the orignal 5 - not the new sixth disk, and turned it on. 

 

The system came up again and indicated all was good. Interesting, while only five disks are in, and only five show on the volumes screen, the system said it was performing the 'restriping' with six disks. I attempted to delete some old crap I didn't need so as to create more space for the system to do its thing, and while moving around the file sysetm (ssh -l root, from a Macbook), the system hung again after about 5 minutes. I could not get it to boot again. Back to yesterday's state...

 

At this point, suspecting heat, I popped off the side covers, did a through cleaning of the guts and fans, and powered it up (leaving the side covers off). She once again booted and again resumed 'restriping'. I lagely left the system alone, but again it hung after about 5 minutes. 

 

I suspect this still could be a power supply issue that is just slowly failing. The fans seem to be good, and I was monitoring temps during the last good boot, and all seemed stable and within limits. I also suspect it could be software, probably as a result of the super low disk space. Interesting, despite deleting about 1GB of data while I could, the system still shows about 10mb left. In other words, I don't seem to be reclaiming space by deleting thigs. I also took my Time Machine allocation from about 2.6T to 1T and didn't see any change on utilized space.

 

Thoughts at this point? Should the sixth disk be in? Is there a way to stop the restriping process so I can attempt to reclaim space and stabilize things? Why am I seemingly not reclaiming space when deleting files/reducing Time Machine size?

 

Thanks!

 

(I should clarify I'm using X-RAID2 (with dual redundancy). System shows six disks (although only five are in) with 8316 GB of 8326GB used)

 

Message 10 of 27
StephenB
Guru

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 won't boot after failed drive addition


@on1ski wrote:

 

(I should clarify I'm using X-RAID2 (with dual redundancy). System shows six disks (although only five are in) with 8316 GB of 8326GB used)

 


Let's start here.  X-RAID2 is just the second version of XRAID.  However, it can be set up as RAID-6 (dual redundancy).  

 

You said originally that you had 5x3TB in RAID-5 (which would be single redundancy).  That would have given you a 12 TB data volume (10.9 TiB).  Dual redundancy would give you 9 TB = which is ~8381 GiB (ignoring any overhead).  So it sounds like it is indeed RAID-6.

 


@on1ski wrote:

 

Thoughts at this point? Should the sixth disk be in? Is there a way to stop the restriping process so I can attempt to reclaim space and stabilize things? Why am I seemingly not reclaiming space when deleting files/reducing Time Machine size?

 


I'd keep it out.  The puzzle here is to understand what disk is restriping, since the best way to stop it is to pull that disk (NAS powered down).  The disk that is restriping should have it's disk LED blinking (per the manual: http://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/RNDU2000/ReadyNAS_Ultra_UltraPlus_NVX_Pro_HW_en_8July11.p... ).  It might also say this on the LCD panel at some point during bootup.

 


@on1ski wrote:

Interesting, despite deleting about 1GB of data while I could, the system still shows about 10mb left. In other words, I don't seem to be reclaiming space by deleting thigs. I also took my Time Machine allocation from about 2.6T to 1T and didn't see any change on utilized space.

 


Did you ever convert this NAS to run OS-6?  Or are you running OS 4.2.x?

Message 11 of 27
on1ski
Aspirant

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 won't boot after failed drive addition

Yes, I apparently am using RAID-6, and apologize for the misinformation. Thank you for your patience with me.

 

I did try again to boot the system, which did come up and ran for about 6 hours, which is huge. 44.6% of restriping occured before the system hung again. I am running 4.2.x version of the OS. My system never presented any available updates once I was told a few years ago that I was no longer going to get support or updates, and I was unaware that Netgear decided to provide OS6 to legacy systems.

 

Prior to the last hang, I did notice that available space got very very low. I'm wondering if my previous attemps to clear some space actually worked, but is simply not showing in the interface. Perhaps the system got full again as part of restriping?

 

I am unable to determine which disk is restriping. I see no lights on the drives, and the  LED display does not indicate anything. Prior to getting your most recent message, I did put drive 6 back in. It passed testing and shows as "available". The system seemed fine doing its thing before hanging again. As of the last hour, I am unable to boot again. I'll try again in the morning...

 

 

 

 

Message 12 of 27
StephenB
Guru

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 won't boot after failed drive addition


@on1ski wrote:

I was unaware that Netgear decided to provide OS6 to legacy systems.

 


They didn't do that - but it is possible to convert your legacy NAS to OS-6, and many folks have done it.  It is unsupported (meaning that Netgear won't provide paid support for a legacy NAS running OS-6).  

 

I asked since the OS-6 file system often won't free up space when you delete files.  Since you're not running OS-6, that doesn't apply to your situation.

 


@on1ski wrote:

 

I am unable to determine which disk is restriping. I see no lights on the drives, and the  LED display does not indicate anything. 

 


RAIDar or Frontview might tell you if you hover your mouse over the disk icons.  You could also try downloading the full log zip and look in there.

Message 13 of 27
on1ski
Aspirant

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 won't boot after failed drive addition

Thank you, @StephenB . This helps.

 

I am once again unable to boot, although now I will see one of three things: a) only "ReadyNAS" on the LED display, b) "ReadyNAS" plus the bottom row of ascending small vertical bars, but it never gets past this, and, c) the six rectangles and "booting...", but the numbers never appear in the rectangles and things hang here. 

 

I was reviewing other posts and found a detailed thread regarding failing power supplies. Both you and @Sandshark discussed the odd behavior of the user's front power button, and I realized, I'm experiencing a similar behavior -- when I turn the rear PS switch on, after a few seconds, the unit powers on without pressing the front power button, which I don't think should be happening. Also, I am unable to use the front power button at all -- I can only use the rear PS switch to power the unit on or off. This seemed to confirm a power supply issue. Any thoughts? 

 

I will again try to externally wire in another PS. But if that doesn't work, I don't think I have any choice but to send the drives to Netgear and pay for data recovery... 

 

You guys are great. Thanks again!

 

Message 14 of 27
Sandshark
Sensei

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 won't boot after failed drive addition

The NAS powering up when the rear switch is turned on is normal, but I don't recall there being a delay.  A non-functioning power button can be one sign of a failing supply.  The NIC gets it's power from the same source as the power-on circuit.  Do you see an activity LED lit on the Ethernet port?

Message 15 of 27
on1ski
Aspirant

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 won't boot after failed drive addition

The power supply was the problem. I wired in an old ATX supply and the system came right up and the volume addition has been progressing since early last night. Restriping is done, and resyncing is 75% complete. I'm hoping to be and and running again in a few hours.

 

The first thing I want to do is backup the NAS. What is the best way to do that? I'm thinking rsync'ing to an extrnal USB drive. Does that make sense or is there a better way? I don't want anything ReadyNAS proprietary as I'm likely going to move on from Netgear once this is all over, I'm sorry to say...

 

Thanks!

 

Message 16 of 27
Sandshark
Sensei

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 won't boot after failed drive addition

An external USB drive is the best way, though a bit slower than on current ReadyNAS becauise it's only USB2.

 

While it's re-syncing and during the backup, the drives will be running a lot, generating heat.  It is best to put the unit back together as much as possible and use masking tape to cover any gap created by the wires coming out to the supply so that you get air flow as good as possible from the main chassis fan.  Tape over the original supply opening can also help, since that fan's no longer running and preventing air from beng sucked in through it.  You want the flow to be front to rear, over the drives and motherboard.

Message 17 of 27
on1ski
Aspirant

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 won't boot after failed drive addition

Everything is back to normal and working fine. Many thanks to @Sandshark and @StephenB ! The problem was the power supply. Once I hooked up an old ATX supply harvested from an old computer, the system was able to complete the restriping and resyncing need to add the sixth disk. I now have plenty of head room and can begin a migration to a new system.

 

I'm finding some references to those who use rsync between a FreeNAS server and a ReadyNAS server. I might do that instead of buying a large external USB drive, and then use my existing ReadyNAS as my backup to the new server once I build it. Any comments on that would be appreciated.

 

Thanks again!

 

 

Message 18 of 27
StephenB
Guru

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 won't boot after failed drive addition


@on1ski wrote:

 

I'm finding some references to those who use rsync between a FreeNAS server and a ReadyNAS server. I might do that instead of buying a large external USB drive, and then use my existing ReadyNAS as my backup to the new server once I build it. Any comments on that would be appreciated.

 


I use NAS->NAS backup myself.  It's convenient, and I think it's more robust.

  • A locally connected USB drive can be corrupted if the NAS fails or is subjected to a power surge
  • If the NAS was hacked or otherwise infected, the USB drive would likely also be corrupted.
  • The NAS backup volume can be protected by RAID, and easily expanded over time.
  • The backup NAS doesn't need to be co-located, which could be useful in the case of theft or other physical threats.

 

Disabling SMB and other protocols you aren't using on the backup also will provide some isolation to network attacks (ransomware for example).

 

I'd upgrade the ReadyNAS to OS-6 if you do this.  The combination of Rsync+custom snapshots on the ReadyNAS gives you some retention in the backups (giving you easy access to older versions).  It also eliminates the volume expansion limits of your current firmware - letting you use much larger volumes later on.

 

 

Message 19 of 27
on1ski
Aspirant

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 won't boot after failed drive addition

Great feedback. Thank you.

 

Can you share the exact approach you take to your NAS to NAS backup? Is it Rsync (if so, what's the command) or something specific within the ReadyNAS environment? Is it proprietary to ReadyNAS, meaning, would the backup be recoverable or transferable to a non-ReadyNAS NAS? While I'm seeing a lot of discussion on Rsync, most are people who can't resolve problems, and involve rsync'ing between similar NASs (i.e., ReadyNAS to ReadyNAS).

 

On the OS6 upgrade, is that as simple as downloading the lastest version from the Netgear website and doing a 'local' update? Of course, my current Pro 6 doesn't see an updates availble...

 

 

Message 20 of 27
Sandshark
Sensei

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 won't boot after failed drive addition

I also use NAS-to-NAS backup.  I use rsync, which is a standard Linux protocol.  You set it up on the ReadyNAS vio the Backup pages.  I'm not sure if FreeNAS has some sort of GUI for backups or not, but it definately supports rsync.

 

I have my backup BAS on a schedule, and it turns on to do the backups, has a little extra time for when a maintenance event ends up coiciding, then it turns off.  By having the backups initiated by the backup NAS, it holds off a shut-down if a backup is in progress.  The only down side is that initiating from the source would allow it to do a snapshot first.

 

ReadyDR is Netgears implementation of BTRFS snapshot send/receive, so could also be used if your FreeNAS is set up to use BTRFS.  That's typical, though, I believe most use ZFS.  I've not switched over the ReadyDR for my backups, though I have looked at doing so.  It's a more efficient way to do incremental backups because it makes better use of snapshotting, but the data on the backup is not immediately accesible if needed, you have to clone a snapshot and make that available.

 

I also have a second backup offsite for really critical stuff, and use ZeroTier as the VPN over which i can then also do rsync without having to mess with rsync over ssh.

Message 21 of 27
StephenB
Guru

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 won't boot after failed drive addition


@on1ski wrote:

 

Can you share the exact approach you take to your NAS to NAS backup? Is it Rsync (if so, what's the command) or something specific within the ReadyNAS environment? 

 

 


I use rsync backup jobs in the ReadyNAS.  These work with other linux systems (including competing NAS).

 

You can set these up either as "pull" backups (where the source directory is on the other machine), or as "push"  (where the destination directory is on the other machine).  I use "pull" myself, and have one backup job for every share on the main NAS.  The backup NAS is on a power schedule, and boots itself up shorty before the backups are scheduled.  After the backups compete, the NAS shuts itself down.  These backups are run daily.

 


@on1ski wrote:

 

On the OS6 upgrade, is that as simple as downloading the lastest version from the Netgear website and doing a 'local' update?

 


No, it's not that simple.  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 converion

 

Basic instructions for the conversion itself are

  1. BACKUP, BACKUP, BACKUP
  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.

Netgear won't provide paid support on a converted NAS, so that is one consideration.  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.

 

If you do decide to convert the Pro, then you should also consider increasing the RAM.  Shipping OS-6 NAS have at least 2 GB of RAM, your Pro only has 1 GB.  It will work, but it would be sensible to match the resources in the currently shipping NAS.  The upgrade is inexpensive, and is simple to do. 

 

Message 22 of 27
roeldemeester
Aspirant

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 won't boot after failed drive addition

Hi,

 

I might be in the same situation here. My Readynas Pro 6 with 6 drives stopped booting after a power failure.

Now it shows "readynas", the fans starts blowing.. but that's it.

 

I would like to check if it is a power supply failure by replacing the power unit. 

What specs should i google for ? /cc @Sandshark and @StephenB  

Message 23 of 27
on1ski
Aspirant

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 won't boot after failed drive addition

Yes, sounds like the same issue.

 

I verified the problem by ripping out a 380W supply (the stock PS is a 300W supply) that was sitting in an old forgotten Dell desktop. By taking off the side and top covers of the ReadyNAS, I was able to unplug the two PS board connectors (24pin and 4 pin) running from the existing supply and plug in the same connectors from the Dell supply which is just sitting next to the ReadyNAS chassis. I then removed the molex connectors from the existing supply, which is easy to do, and pushed the connectors onto the SATA cables on the new supply (which goes yellow, black, black, red - with the yellow in the top pin. You do not use the orange wire). The only tricky part was getting the cable to twist about so I could plug them in and ensure the cables were clear of the system fan. That was it. Note that the old supply is still in the chassis -- i just unplugged the cables to the motherboard and drives and left them hanging.

 

I have taken delivery of a new Silverstone ST45SF 450W supply, along with buying a 24pin ATX extension cable and SATA to Molex connector cables. I did this based on a number of postings I saw on this forum. I have not yet put in the new supply and probably wont for a couple of weeks. Right now the ReadyNAS is backing up to a 10TB external USB, which is only transfering about 900GB a day, so I've got a long way to go.

Message 24 of 27
Sandshark
Sensei

Re: ReadyNAS Pro 6 won't boot after failed drive addition

If you have a spare standard ATX supply handy, you can connect it externally and see if that works, just to verify a replacement supply will fix it.

 

To do the replacement, you'll need an SFX format supply of at least 300W.  These are the specs of the original:

 

DC Output+3.3V+5V+12V1+12V2-12V+5VSB
Maximum Output Current20A20A8A14.5A0.8A2.0A

 

It'll work best if the fan is centered, but some have used offset ones with no issue.

 

The combined +12V is one of the more critical ones.  You may need to go to a 350 or 400W supply to be sure there's enough.  You also want 3 4-pin Molex connectors, or SATA to 4-pin adapters to yeild 3 total.  And you'll need a 6" or so extender for the 24-pin connector.

 

If you plan to run the unit very long with an external ATX supply, make sure you seal gaps for the cables to come out with masking or duct tape to get proper air flow around the drives.

Message 25 of 27
Top Contributors
Discussion stats
  • 26 replies
  • 5073 views
  • 1 kudo
  • 4 in conversation
Announcements