ReadyNAS taking a long time to check FS. All disks report as fine.

[wsoeldner]

My ReadyNAS NV+ has been running great for about six years. Over the last two years, as expected disks have begun to fail and the ReadyNAS performed as expected, and alerted me in time to swap out a disk each time. I keep an extra disk on hand and everything is great.

Today, I relocated my ReadyNAS to a different room. I logged in through the admin panel, shut it down down and once it was off, I unplugged it from the UPS and my network, relocated everything, hooked everything up the same way and pushed the button to reboot.

It took six hours to get to 17% on the FS check. It has never taken this long. I powered it down via the power button, skipped the FS and it booted right up. Everything is accessible. After reading several posts about the problem, I updated the firmware. Keep in mind all my drives are fine according to the ReadyNAS. When I rebooted as instructed, the FS check came up and once again it is taking forever.

I skipped the check again and I am running just fine after boot.

I am running RAIDiator 4.1.14 [1.00a043]

Now I am worried. Why is it taking so long to check my file system, and... is my 1.5TB of data at risk? What kind of check can I perform that will verify everything is OK without giving up access to the files (i.e by rebooting) and possibly not getting it back?

Warren

[StephenB]

I'd back up the data.  Then do a reboot, and see if the fsck completes.

[wsoeldner]

That's a daunting thought....  while I love ReadyNAS and X-Raid, it isn't the fastest guy on the block when it comes to copying to and off of it.  The thought of how long it would take to backup 1.5TB of files to another device makes my head hurt.  I envision three weeks of watching it churn to say about 98% complete then getting some error that kills the copy!

[StephenB]

I understand (the NV+ is quite slow).  

A network backup of 1.5 TiB to a PC over gigabit should take about 30 hours.   Doing a full backup to a USB connected NTFS drive would probably take a week.

But I think your data is at risk.

[JennC]

Hello wsoeldner,

I agree with StephenB, back up your data as soon as possible.

Once done, test the disks using diagnostic tools. If all disks are good, factory reset the NAS with the disks inserted then install and update the FW.

Regards,

[wsoeldner]

I guess what I'll do is take the spare 2TB drive I have on hand, and using a SATA to USB adapter I can plug it into the NAS USB and run a backup job straight to the drive.

Does that sound feasible?  I'll just order another drive to keep on hand.

I imagine that would be a bit faster than running the backup through my computer.  Once I have the backup I can get as creative as neccessary on checking the disks.  Still I don't think the disks are a problem.  I've swapped out all three of the disks in the NAS over the last six years and was given ample warning of disk failure buy the NV+.

[JennC]

Hello wsoeldner,

Yes that sounds practical. Faster than going to the whole the network during the backup.

Problem on the disks or not, it's best to reset once you have full backup to get like a fresh install. Don't forget to upgrade firmware if it is not using the latest yet.

Regards,

[StephenB]

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@wsoeldner wrote:

I imagine that would be a bit faster than running the backup through my computer. 

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It will be slower.  USB using NTFS format is only 2-3 MB/sec on the NV+.

Gigabit network backup to a PC connected USB drive will actually be much faster.

[wsoeldner]

Ahh.  Well then.  I guess it's the old fashioned way.