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My ReadyNAS had 3x 2TB HDD's and was working fine. It was configured for X-RAID and my understanding is that with 3 hard drives it behaves as a RAID 5 configuration where any one of the three drives could die and the volume still be recovered without any data loss or issues (essentially each drive holds 2/3 of all the data so that any 2 disks will have everything needed to recover if any 1 disk fails).
Well, one of my drives (slot 3) did die. I replaced it with a new one, but now my unit gets stuck "BOOTING...". I've given it several days thinking maybe it was rewriting the data to the new drive, but no. Calling tech support they tell me that with 3 drives I have no redundancy and will have to clone the failed drive or send it off for data recovery services. Isn't the whole point of RAID 5 that one of my 3 disks can fail and I can just replace it? They've tried explaining it to me, but what they tell me just doesn't jive with what I understand.
Are they right that my data isn't backed up, or am I right that it should be protected and there's something else going on with regards to it not repairing itself when the new drive is installed? Do I need to clone the drive or spend money on a data recovery service?
Disk 2 (your SeaGate disk) is the dedicated parity disk.
However it looks like this problem may be simpler than I thought.
Your OS partition is 100% full (this is probably why it was still stuck on booting even after replacing the failed disk)
# df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/hdc1 1.9G 2.0G 560k 100% /
# du -csh /var/log/frontview/error.log
1.4G /var/log/frontview/error.log
That log was last updated back in June and contains errors related to the http/s service. It's typically not a very important log so I just emptied it.
Yes, when I try booting with only drives 1 and 2 installed it still get stuck at "BOOTING..."
One weird thing, it seems to remember the old configuration (pre-breakage) - on the front of the NAS itself I get solid green LEDs on Drive 1 and Drive 2 and a blinking green LED on Drive 3, and in RAIDar it shows all 3 drives (drive 3 shown on RAIDar is the old one that died) and a UPS that is no longer hooked up. This behavior is the same whether I have 3 drives installed or when I just tested with only 2 drives installed.
A few other notes that might be helpful for a better diagnosis - I have tried several things hoping to remedy the problem already.
- Tried OS Reinstall (no change)
- Tried USB Boot (no change)
- One of tech support calls had me put it in Tech Support Mode (which gave current and proper readings in RAIDar)
- Removed all drives and put in a different single HD I had (essentially a factory reset using that new HD - everything worked PERFECTLY - except of course for my missing data which is on the other drives)
So as far as I can tell my ReadyNAS unit itself is just fine. If I had a proper backup, I'm pretty sure I could do a factory reset and everything would work again. But since I don't have a proper backup I'd really like to try to salvage the data.
I'm not familiar with RAID 4 - if that is what my unit is using, what are my options from here?
I'm not familiar with RAID 4 - if that is what my unit is using, what are my options from here?
RAID-4 has the same concept of RAID-5 (xor parity blocks), but the parity blocks are all placed on one disk instead of spread out over all of them. In the case of your NV+, the parity blocks are on an area of the disk that looks unformatted to standard linux tools.
Your options are
(a) pay a reputable data recovery service. Netgear offers one, Seagate does also. Western Digital doesn't (last I checked) but they do recommend some partners who do.
(b) attempt to recover the data yourself. There are some paid tools you could try - generally they are free downloads, so you can see what they might recover before you purchase.
If this is a science project/learning experience then you could go for (b). If the data is important, and you want to maximize your chance of success then go for (a).
Disk 2 (your SeaGate disk) is the dedicated parity disk.
However it looks like this problem may be simpler than I thought.
Your OS partition is 100% full (this is probably why it was still stuck on booting even after replacing the failed disk)
# df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/hdc1 1.9G 2.0G 560k 100% /
# du -csh /var/log/frontview/error.log
1.4G /var/log/frontview/error.log
That log was last updated back in June and contains errors related to the http/s service. It's typically not a very important log so I just emptied it.
