I'm not sure where to put this, but remembering the hassles I went through back when I upgraded from a 1TB drive to WD 4's, I know there will be others who need this information.
I had previously had difficulty getting the readynas v2 to work with Western Digital Red 4TB drives, but eventually succeeded. So this time around, I decided to try to go to their 8TB drives. In the WD 'MYBOOK' usb desktop storage devices, lies a 8TB Western Digital drive which is essentially a HItachi helium drive. Different MYBOOKS have different versions of the same drive. However, I wanted this one based on the suggestion I received from someone else who had already taken the drives out of those enclosures simply because they were 25% cheaper than purchasing bare drives. They are currently available on Amazon with the WD80EZZX and at BestBuy with the WD80EFRX drives inside.
Anyway, just putting an 8TB drive into one of these enclosures doesn't work. For some reason, the duo v2 won't install on some of the larger drives, only a 1TB drive. So, that's what I used to start. Once the 1tb drive was set up, here's what I went through to get the 8TB drives to work.
First, DO NOT USE THE WIZARD IN THE WEB INTERFACE! If you change the password with this wizard, you will wind up in a perpetual loop of trying to get to the web interface because it will not accept either the default 'password' password NOR the new one that you created, and you'll have to reset your duo v2 back to factory defaults and have to start all over again. So, I REPEAT, DO NOT USE THE WIZARD. You can make the changes via the regular methods on the web interface and it will work, but not with the wizard (Bad wizard!).
Anyway, here we go.
First, if you have a router that will automatically assign an ip address for your device and you wish to use your NAS with a windows computer on your network, I'd advise going into the advanced settings in the router and assigning a static ip address for your NAS BEFORE connecting it to the router. Otherwise the router will assign an address dynamically, and that address can easily change and all of a sudden your NAS will disappear from your windows explorer. Unless your network users are knowledgeable enough to map a network drive, they won't have access.
Ok. next.
Connect your duo v2 to power and internet access. If there is not a 1tb (or smaller) disk in the left drive slot, put one in.
Turn on the nas. Let it set itself up. This can take anywhere from a half hour to a few hours. I don't know why. Just follow progress in the Raidar.
Now if the firmware version isn't the latest, do this:
Shut it down. Reset nas to factory defaults. (turn off, hold reset button in while turning back on while still holding reset button until all front lights light up, release reset button, press BACKUP button until only the light for disk one is lit. Now press the reset button again. That will reset the NAS. Now just leave the NAS alone to set itself up again. Watch in raidar (I use Raidar 6 versions with this duo v2); it will appear to be doing nothing, but it is downloading the new firmware and setting itself up. LEAVE IT ALONE! After it is done setting up the initial small drive, shut it down, and reboot.
You should have a working NAS with current firmware.
Then follow the below procedure. Remember, DO NOT GO TO THE WEB PAGE OR USE THE WIZARD. That could put you back into the perpetual attempt to sign on loop again, and wind up having to reset the NAS again to factory defaults and you might have to start all over again.
It takes about an hour for it to set itself up. The raidar will go through a period where the status is blank, then the firmware will be blank. Eventually the status will read healthy and the firmware will appear. Leave it alone overnight. Turn it off in the morning, wait a while, then turn it on again and let itself 'wake up'. Leave it alone. The next day, turn it off and follow the procedure below.
Install the first larger drive into the right bay while the NAS is turned OFF.
Reboot.
The NAS will now create a 1TB (or whatever size smaller drive you initially put into the NAS) mirrored RAID 1 partition on your 8TB drive, making the system redundant. Don't worry, you'll get your 8TB drives to work.
Watch the progress with Raidar. It might take a day to complete, I play it safe and wait until the next day to make sure I don't interrupt the NAS.
The next day, turn the NAS off. Remove the smaller drive from the left drive bay. Turn the NAS back on, and it should show in Raidar that the system is no longer redundant.
Now plug in your other new 8TB drive into the left drive bay WHILE THE NAS IS 'HOT', TURNED ON.
It will now create a 1TB partition on the new drive, making the system redundant, with both of your drives in RAID 1 with a 1TB partition.
This could take a few hours or a day. So I leave the NAS to do it's thing and come back the next day.
Next day, check to make sure the system is healthy.
Then turn off your NAS again. leave it for a short time.
Turn it back on; it should recognize that there is unused space on your 8TB drives, and expand the partitions to about 7.4 TB.
On one of my installs of this, it took two reboots to achieve the final expansion of the drives.
But at present, the Readynas duo v2 is working fine with two Western Digital WD80EZZX drives.
Questions you may email me at DLBergmann@yahoo.com, as I'm not a moderator here and only come to read once in a while.
Enjoy your jumbo size NAS.
Remember, back up your data. Raid is not a substitute for a back up. If you can't afford another device to back up to, at least burn your most valuable data onto an optical disc. At least TRY to save your date. Remember, disc failure isn't an IF, it's a WHEN. Also, it's a good idea to keep your NAS behind a uninterruptable power supply, as they also guard against current spikes which can kill your NAS.
