Re: Data loss when upgrading ReadyNas firmware from 6.1.4 to 6.5.0

Thanas4220 · ‎2016-05-23

Hello,

I have just upgraded the firmware of my RN4220S from version 6.1.4 to 6.5.0. Firmware updating process (Manual installation, because the device is not connected to Internet) has finished properly and system has rebooted. BUT the previous share configuration is no more available, and I can find nothing in the Browse tab. Software just keep asking me for creating a new share.

So, all my data seems to be lost !!!

I tried to re-install the 6.5.0 firmware, but the result is the same. And 6.5.0 software doesn't allow to dowgrade OS to the previous one (6.1.4).

Is there any solution to recover my data ?

Many thanks for any help.

mdgm-ntgr · ‎2016-05-23

Thanas4220, have you tried clearing your web browser cache, closing your web browser then reopening the web admin page?

Can you send in your logs zip file (see the Sending Logs link in my sig)?

6.1.4 is very old firmware from October 2013. There have been a lot of improvements since then.

Maybe you could try connecting the NAS to the internet temporarily to see if that helps?

Thanas4220 · ‎2016-05-25

Hello mdgm,

I have sent the logs files with some more explanations of the problem.

Thanks for the help

Skywalker · ‎2016-05-25

Try booting into "Volume read-only" mode (http://kb.netgear.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/24869).

Thanas4220 · ‎2016-05-26

Hello,

There is a good improvment: Now I can see the data through the admin GUI file browser. This means that data is still here !

Nevertheless, I didn't achieve to access data through a classical network drive connexion (in order to backup it).

When booting NAS in read-only mode, is it still possible to access data ? Is there something I'am doing wrong ?

Skywalker · ‎2016-05-26

Yes, it should work as normal in Ready-Only mode. What do you see when you try to access your files over SMB? Can you send in your logs?

Thanas4220 · ‎2016-05-27

Hello,

The previously network drive connexion (that was defined before the problem occured) is no more available : the Windows error message says that the network path is not accessible.

I obtain the same message when I try to create another connexion drive with the same network access information (something that looks like \\NAS_IP\share_name).

In the network admin GUI, I can see that only SMB is activated (green color).

For information, I tried to access to the NAS files through the admin GUI, and it works : I can download individually the files, which means that data is intact. But, this solution cannot be used to make a complete backup because it will take years to do so ...

I've just send the logs file. I hope this will help.

Skywalker · ‎2016-05-27

Ah, I see. There were a few things related to the update process that were not able to complete, because the volume is read-only. That is preventing the SMB configuration from being written properly.

One simple thing you can do immediately is to configure backup jobs in the Backup tab to push the data out from the NAS, to either a USB drive or a SMB share on the network.

Thanas4220 · ‎2016-05-30

Hello,
I've tried to create a backup job to save some files on a remote disk, but it failed. The admin GUI displayed an error message : "Source path doesn't exist". So I think that backup will not be possibleeven with an USB device...

Maybe I can try something else to retrieve read/write access to the data. Currently, there are only 6 disks on the NAS, so there are 6 more disks that can be added. Do you think that adding new disks (to extend global capacity) could be a solution ?
Moreover, actual disks in NAS are WD 3TB (I suppose that you can check in the logs) but unfortunately, these kind of disks doesn't exist anymore. Do you think that it is possible to add 2, 4 or 6 new WD 4TB disks ? I suppose it depends on the RAID configuration (available in logs files ?)...

mdgm-ntgr · ‎2016-05-30

Adding disks is not the solution.

Perhaps you should contact support. Let us know your case number.

Skywalker · ‎2016-05-31

I put together a little app package that should make all your shares accessible over SMB again while your volume is read-only. You can install it from the Apps tab, using the Upload button. Grab it from here.

Thanas4220 · ‎2016-06-02

Hello Skywalker,

Many many thanks : it works !!! It is now possible to access data on the NAS in Read-Only mode, and it's now obvious that the Force is with you...

For my information, what is this little app package ? After installation, no additional app appears in the tab. Is it a kind of patch ?

However, I finished backuping data from the NAS, and now I am wondering what to do. I suppose that there is no other solution than reformating the NAS, remove some files to lower volume occupation (let's say 80%, maximum value), and then copy back the data.

Finaly, if I made a little summary of all problems we encountered on my RN4220S, I think this could be something like that :

- With firmware version 6.1.4, destroying snapshots is not possible if volume occupation is above 90%

- Upgrading firmware from 6.1.4 to 6.5.0 with a volume occupation above 90% leads to something like a volume information cleaning (?), and data is no more accessible in Normal mode (read/write)

- After upgrading firmware to 6.5.0, it not possible to go back to the previous firmware (expected behavior), but even if upgrading operation leads to data loss

- In firmware 6.5.0, booting a RN4220S NAS into read-only mode doesn't allow to access data through a SMB network connexion, even if it can be seen through the NAS admin GUI

Do you think that these problems, I mean their solutions of course, could be taken into account in a future firmware version ? Maybe it could help other people that will be in the same situation...

Skywalker · ‎2016-06-02

@Thanas4220 wrote:

Hello Skywalker,

Many many thanks : it works !!! It is now possible to access data on the NAS in Read-Only mode, and it's now obvious that the Force is with you...

Great! Glad to head it worked.

For my information, what is this little app package ? After installation, no additional app appears in the tab. Is it a kind of patch

It's basically just a patch. It executes the equivalent of what the system normally does when writing out SMB configs on a read/write system.

However, I finished backuping data from the NAS, and now I am wondering what to do. I suppose that there is no other solution than reformating the NAS, remove some files to lower volume occupation (let's say 80%, maximum value), and then copy back the data.

There may be other ways to bring it back up, but it would be complicated and make take quite a bit of time. And it would definitely require adding more storage. Reformatting is probably the best way forward here.

- With firmware version 6.1.4, destroying snapshots is not possible if volume occupation is above 90%

That's not normally true, but it is if the filesystem has run out of metadata space, and there is no free space that it can allocate for metadata.

- Upgrading firmware from 6.1.4 to 6.5.0 with a volume occupation above 90% leads to something like a volume information cleaning (?), and data is no more accessible in Normal mode (read/write)

90% isn't really a magic number. The volume could be 100% full, and there would be no issued updating if there was some available metadata space. The upgrade process tries to add a couple new trees into metadata, which fails if there is no metadata space free. Doing a read-only mount prevents it from trying to add those trees, which allows the mount to proceed.

- In firmware 6.5.0, booting a RN4220S NAS into read-only mode doesn't allow to access data through a SMB network connexion, even if it can be seen through the NAS admin GUI

That is also not normally true. It's only true in this case because the update to 6.5.0 prompted a configuration export. But since the volume was not mounted, the configuration was exported as if there was no volume, which effectively removed the SMB share configuration. Then when we booted into read-only mode, it was not allowed to write some temporary data to recreate the SMB config, so it bailed out.

6.4.x and 6.5.x introduced several improvements to minimize the chance of running out of metadata space, and it's something that's being continually improved upon.