ReadyNAS totally locks up when trying to backup via USB

[martinhj]

Running 6.5.1

Plug in newly formatted USB drive (1TB WD Red in drive dock that has been previously used successfully with RN104).

Create new backup job to the USB drive....start backup.....Readynas totally locks up (sorry didnt save the error on the LCD). No access to anything (admin,shares,ssh). Had to pull power to get it back

First attempt was with a NTFS formatted drive that I reformatted to EXT4 on the RN104

Second time was just using it as NTFS

Didnt try any more as the whole reason behind this was to backup the remaining few shares that I had not copied to my backup NAS before I needed to add a new disk to expand the volume and lose my old backup (basically I had my backup as JBOD and bought new disks to go toXRAID on the backup but got to the point where I needed to steal one of the old JBOD disks to expand my new XRAID volumn thereby losing my backup for a few days so wanted to use the remaining disks to re-backup the remainder)

I can send logs if needed

Martin

[mdgm-ntgr]

Logs would be good.

As you are not running beta firmware I've moved your post.

[martinhj]

Logs sent....I pulled them shortly after the second total crash so you should have two instances of it hapeneing in there.

I also reformatted the USB disk between the two incidents.

Its a WD RED 1TB disk (previously in the NAS) that I was using in a USB drive dock (which I previously have used some time ago repeatedly with a WD RED 3TB without incident)

Regards

Martin

[mdgm-ntgr]

Your NAS has been through a lot of firmware updates and was last factory reset on very old firmware.

Could you backup your data e.g. over SMB, and then once you have a good backup try a factory reset (wipes all data, settings, everything) with your disks in place and see if you still have the issue?

[martinhj]

I have to say I do find that a little concerning! I only do the firmware updates that I am prompted to do via the GUI and never any Beta's. I have over 4TB of data and whilst I do have two RN104's I do so to make sure I always have a backup of my data...wiping my box renders that policy obsolete. Surely Netgear shouldnt expect users to factory reset every so often then. I doubt it would help sales!

I'm not trying to sound off'ish or anything and appreciate your help and I was only doing a USB backup to make sure i had all my data backed up as I migrated my backup RN104 from JBOD to X-Raid having already backed up my most important data so its not essential for me to have this working but reported partly through a sense of helping others. I still dnt want to be left with a NAS that is unreliable though

Advice?

[mdgm-ntgr]

I was thinking as you were going to be switching to X-RAID anyway, that this might be an acceptable solution. I will check with some colleagues if they see any clues in the logs.

[martinhj]

Fair enough!

I have my main RN104 populated with

4TB

4TB

3TB

1TB

Xraid

(recently expanded with a new 4TB in the what was spare slot as I was running out of space

Then my backup NAS is an RN104

Which had

4TB

1TB

1TB

as JBOD which was enough to do a complete backup until I had the extra 4TB added to the box above

Therefore I bought 2 new 4TB and removed all the old disks to give me 4TB X-Raid.

Then copied 3.7TB of data (the most important stuff)

Then I broke myJBOD set by blanking the 4TB and adding it to the backup box to give me 3*4TB X-Raid to fully backup the original. The remaining data is all but synched now using rsync pulling from the main to the backup

It was in the meantime before the volume resynched in the backup I thought of using one of the other now redundant 1TB's from my destroyed JBOD set to run a backup of the remaining data...call me over careful lol. That was when I encountered the problem! I ended up just hooking the drive up to my laptop and doing a windows copy as it was only a few hundred GB. Still a lot slower though!

With hindsight it would probably have been good to do a factory reset on the backup before I did the restore of the settings but hindsight is a wonderful thing!

Personally I am now back where I dont need to do a USB backup any more but thats not to say I would never need to and would rather Netgear had the chance to fix it before someone else encounters the same rather than just not reporting after all thats what the forum is for and I have been helped out on here previously by you guys

Martin

[mdgm-ntgr]

When the system locked up there was an error on the LCD display. It's a shame that you didn't note down what that was.

[martinhj]

Indeed and at the time I was more concerned with the issue happening without a full backup.....I guess I could be brave and try and recreate it if it is going to help....I do at least have a full backup now

[martinhj]

It is indeed! I was more concerened with losing data at the time and it wasnt easy to see the LCD where it was.

Anyway madness and a desire to help got the better of me and I have redone it (seeing as I now have a full backup)

The error on the display is

__percpu_counter_add+20

That was the same error when I reported this I am certain but I have downloaded logs again if you want them again

Martin

[mdgm-ntgr]

That error message could come from anywhere.

[martinhj]

Not much help then!

System freezes shortly after the backup has started. Disk was connected to front USB port

[mdgm-ntgr]

Can you update to ReadyNAS OS 6.5.2 and see if you still have the issue?

Have you tried other USB ports?

[martinhj]

Theoretically yes.

Its my main NAS and whilst I do have a second box that mirrors the first Ive got about 4.5TB of data on there and when I do it the box freezes and I need to pull the plug. I decided to do it again for the error message but now have a RAID synch taking 24 hours.

So its not something I am keen to do and I am sure you understand. I also tend not to use Beta release FW but do upgrade to the current version when prompted. The backup was a stopgap solution I no longer need (at the moment).

One thing I did notice....this all used to work but there are two differences...when I used to do USB backups I used the same drive dock and a WD RED 4TB disk and this timeI I was using a WD RED 1TB disk. Cant see why a 1TB would be worse than a 4TB. The other maybe more significant difference was that I was using the front USB port whereas previously I used the rear port? 

Martin

[mdgm-ntgr]

I just gave you the link to a new production firmware release which has an important fix for the RN104.

If you don't need to do backups via USB (i.e. have backups done by a different method now e.g. over your network) then you don't need to keep trying this.

[martinhj]

Cheers! No thats fine.

I shall update to 6.5.2.....I try and keep them up-to-date....should my NAS not have told me there is a 6.5.2 available?

Martin

[mdgm-ntgr]

6.5.2 has not yet been posted on the update server. That's why you weren't prompted.

[kohdee]

6.5.2 is out. Have you tried upgrading and does it work for you now?

[alcibiades]

I have encountered the same issue (with the same error message) when launching the backup job, the NAS runs OS 6.6.0. Any chance to get it solved in the near future?

Thank you.

[FramerV]

Hi alcibiades,

This is already being worked at. If you are interested, there is beta firmware available for the USB issue.

ReadyNASOS 6.6.1-T230 (Beta 4)

Regards,

[JennC]

Hi alcibiades,

We’d greatly appreciate hearing your feedback letting us know if the information we provided has helped resolve your issue or if you need further assistance. 

If your issue is now resolved, we encourage you to mark the appropriate reply as the “Accept as Solution” or post what resolved it and mark it as solution so others can be confident in benefiting from the solution. 
 
The Netgear community looks forward to hearing from you and being a helpful resource in the future!
 
Regards,

[alcibiades]

I received yesterday the update to 6.6.1. I started the backup job but the system freezed with the error

__percpu_counter_add+3c

I had to unplug the system. Now it freezes at 98% of booting sequence, there is hard disk activity from time to time.

With the new update I remarked that the system powers on once you plug the power connector, it does not wait for the power button to be pressed.

How can I recover the 6.6.0?

Thank you.

[mdgm-ntgr]

The ARM systems are set to last state. So as the system was not powered down properly it will turn on when power is reconnected. If you had shutdown the system properly and disconnected the power it would not have automatically powered on when the power was reconnected. This is not new to 6.6.1.

[alcibiades]

I reinstalled the OS from the boot menu and it seems that the problem has dissappeared. The back-up process also finishes without error.