ReadyNAS pro 6 expansion from problematic status

[JimND]

Hi,
while I was away from base, my Pro-6 ran out of space, and now the volume status shows
------
Configuration: RAID Level X-RAID2, 3 disks
Status: Dead. This volume is no longer available.
----
( Note: just noticed that disk 3 is showing zero allocated. Before it showed all 3 disks as 2790-odd allocated of 3T disks )

ssh-ing and df -h gives
----
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/md0 4.0G 1.1G 2.8G 29% /
tmpfs 16K 0 16K 0% /USB
/dev/c/c 5.4T 5.3T 74G 99% /c
/c/backup 5.4T 5.3T 74G 99% /home/ftp/backup
/c/media 5.4T 5.3T 74G 99% /home/ftp/media

----

The disks all show green, but the volume shows amber. All files seem to be accessible. In fact I wouldn't have known there was a problem except for the message.

I have another disk on order, but is there anything special I need to do to make sure it is added for volume, rather than redundancy say? Should I add the disk after shutting down? Maybe add, then do a volume check?

I don't want to do anything which could jeapordize the data.

[vandermerwe]

Can you see any errors in the log pertaining to disk problems?
Can you access the smart info for disk 3?
Why do you not think this is a disk 3 problem? It probably needs replacing.
Make sure the data is backed up before you do anything else.
Can you delete any files or move them off temporarily to check if capacity is contributing to this.
Can you power off and remove disk 3 for testing with vendor tools?

[JimND]

Thanks for the quick reply.

The SMART status of all three disks (as reported by Frontview) is OK

After a shutdown, and reboot, the volume still shows as dead, but all three disks now show as 2790 GB allocated. They did the first time I noticed the volume status too. That's why I added the info as a note when it had changed to zero.

The only error message in the log is "Volume C is approaching capacity: 99% used 74G available"

I'm trying to move some files and make space at the moment. Approximately how much should be free as a minimum?

If I can make the space, would a reboot with volume-check be the way to go?

[StephenB]

Normally you want about 25% available space for best performance with ext. You should try for at least 15% free space.

-If you do not have a current backup, then I would update that first.
-Does "OK" mean 0 reallocated and 0 pending sector counts?
-Obviously if you have the recycle bin enabled, you should empty it.

Once you have space and a backup, the volume-check is a reasonable idea. After it completes you might also want to do a volume scrub.

[JimND]

-Does "OK" mean 0 reallocated and 0 pending sector counts?
Yes. I checked using the full SMART display.

-Obviously if you have the recycle bin enabled, you should empty it.
Not enabled, but I double checked.

-Once you have space and a backup, the volume-check is a reasonable idea. After it completes you might also want to do a volume scrub.
I got 500G space before adding the new disk, and got the message recognising that the disk had been added, and not to remove it. After 24hrs all processes seemed to be finished, but no completion email had been sent, and all the new disk seems to have been added to the snapshot reserve.
-----
4948 GB (90%) of 5458 GB used
Additional 2890 GB reserved for snapshots
-----

I've run a volume-check and found no errors, and started a scrub, which is in progress now. The configuration shows all four disks ok.
-----
Configuration: RAID Level X-RAID2, 4 disks
Status: Resync 60% complete, Time to finish 2 hr 52 min, Speed 108.3 MB/sec
-----

There is no way to resize the snapshot from Frontview, despite what the manual says, so what can I do if the disk is still not being used properly after the scrub completes? All I can think of would be a reboot perhaps with the 'check and fix quotas'.

I have full ssh access if any configuration files need editing, but I've avoided that.

[vandermerwe]

I think StephenB wanted you run the checks and scrub before adding the new disk; in other words sort out the original problem and get the volume back to normality first.
Was the volume status normal before you added the new disk?
Ds you start the scrub before the resync had completed?
Has the resync completed and have you rebooted since then?

[JimND]

Everything looked ok before I added the new disk. I did a scan and quota check before adding it, and all was fine. I didn't run a scrub at that point though. The volume showed all three disks ok, and status as redundant, so all seemed ok.

The resync had completed before I started the scrub, as far as I could tell. When I added the disk, the lcd display showed it checking it, then showed 'disk 4 passed'. It still showed that after 24hours. I'd run 'top' on the readynas, and noted the two md2_* processes using the top % cpu time while the volume was being expanded. No md2 processes were running when I checked next day, so I believe it had completed or stopped for some reason. As I said, there was no email message.

The resync message above came up with the second stage of the scrub, which is still in progress.

[vandermerwe]

Let us know what happens when the scrub finishes, it may be that the resync never happened after you added the disk.

[JimND]

Will do. It's at 94.2% now, but it's 00:44 here, so I won't be around for a while.

[JimND]

It finished ok, and gave a message that the scrub was complete.
The disk is still included in the snapshot reserve though.
I have a bad feeling that it will need a clean reboot, so I have rsync making a full backup at the moment. I reckon this will take a while.

[vandermerwe]

Have you contacted support?

[StephenB]

JimND wrote:
...I have a bad feeling that it will need a clean reboot...

If you mean factory reset, I am thinking you are right. Support might want to take a look though, even if you are out of warranty. So maybe entering something at support.netgear.com is a good idea.

[JimND]

It's out of warranty, but I sort of assumed support kept an eye on the forums too, so I didn't go to support.netgear.com I'll try that, thanks.

[mdgm-ntgr]

I find it hard to believe that your Pro 6 could be out of warranty considering it comes with a 5 year warranty and the product (replaced the Pro Business Edition) was released less than 5 years ago. Did you buy the unit brand new? I can see you made a post last year saying that you had only just purchased a Pro 6.

[JimND]

Hey you're right!
I just assumed a 12month warranty, but I bought it new.
I've not contacted them yet, as I'm trying to get a new full-backup. Looks as if it could take a couple of weeks at the moment. I'll contact them when I have a good estimate for that.

Thanks for the help.