I wanted share an experience I have recently had with my first ReadyNAS which I purchased diskless from Amazon on October 11th, 2011. The Ultra 2 Plus (RNDP200U) which I fitted with two Seagate Barracuda Green 2TB drives model number ST2000DL003.
This little NAS has been in continuous service since October 15th, 2011 running non-stop, around the clock for over 10 years until yesterday morning May 24, 2022 when one of the two drives failed. I heard the drive sounding very sick with what sounded like a goose choking on a wood chip (a sort of reverse clarinette A-minor sucking sound).
I pullled the drive to stop the noise and hopped on Amazon to look for replacement drives. Beleive it or not, they still sell the same Seagate drive model for around 115.00 USD with next day shipping. In the end I chose to replace both drives with Seagate Ironwolf ST4000VN008 4TB drives which sold for 83.00 USD.
I was lucky enough to get same day shipping and had the new drives by 6pm. I swapped one of the new drives into the system and the OS4.2.31 took over and began to immediately resync the new drive it was complete by around midnight last night. I lost zero data.
This experience is exactly what I had in mind when I bought this ReadyNAS over 10 years ago!
I pulled the second 2TB drive out and replaced it with the second 4TB drive this morning and it is resyncing as I type.
I want to thank the community and @StephenB for several great threads I read yestrerday afternoon as I was planning the ReadyNAS recovery. What a great resource for ReadyNAS owners!
Once my mirror re-syncs, I am considering upgrading the ReadyNAS from OS4 to OS6. I am wondering if the instructions and binaries linked in this thread will still hold true for upgrading my Ultra 2 Plus?
I plan to back up the Volume to the remaining, good, old 2TB drive installed in an external USB enclosure and then restore the Volume once the OS upgrade is complete.
Once my mirror re-syncs, I am considering upgrading the ReadyNAS from OS4 to OS6. I am wondering if the instructions and binaries linked in this thread will still hold true for upgrading my Ultra 2 Plus?
Yes. The only difference is that I am now recommending upgrading the stock memory to 2 GB before you convert it. That upgrade is inexpensive, and easy to do.
Thanks for sharing a positive experience. The nature of forums like this is that we see mostly problems, which can give others the impression that the ReadyNAS are problematic.
I highly recommend the OS6 update. The issues with elements of OS4.2.31 being unsupported are probably going to increase as time goes on. And an Ultra2Plus with OS6 is still a very viable NAS. Once you do the update, there is only one thing in the forums that are for native OS6 units that won't apply. That's if you have to do a USB recovery.
All of my active NAS are legacy systems with OS6. I even retired an RN516 in favor of one (though it's a very powerful rack-mount unit).
Yes. The only difference is that I am now recommending upgrading the stock memory to 2 GB before you convert it. That upgrade is inexpensive, and easy to do.
I was planning to ask that exact question, thank you.
I have several different 2GB DDR3 memory parts, one is sure to work.
Does this primarily give the OS more room to operate?
Thanks for sharing a positive experience. The nature of forums like this is that we see mostly problems, which can give others the impression that the ReadyNAS are problematic.
I highly recommend the OS6 update. The issues with elements of OS4.2.31 being unsupported are probably going to increase as time goes on. And an Ultra2Plus with OS6 is still a very viable NAS. Once you do the update, there is only one thing in the forums that are for native OS6 units that won't apply. That's if you have to do a USB recovery.
All of my active NAS are legacy systems with OS6. I even retired an RN516 in favor of one (though it's a very powerful rack-mount unit).
I am happy to be able to share such a great experience.
It is awesome that I have to ability to perform such an easy automated update to OS6
The Ultra 2 Plus is still in new condition and moving up to the new OS version, as you said, gives it life for years to come.
I remember looking into the migration from 4to6 a few years back and it was no so straight forward, I just never made the time to do the job.
I am glad I waited, two simple files loaded and a couple of reboots, seems quite easy to accomplish. No doubt a result of some hard work from folks like you and @StephenB.
I'll post back with upgrade results once completed. I know the community will be here if I have issues.
