With Netgear dropping the ReadyNas line and lack of any support from third party apps, I was recently looking at replacements and most likely going to buy a Synology Nas.
After seeing an LTT video on Plex and Unraid, I decided to have a shot at installing it on my RN312. This would avoid buying a new Nas when I had perfectly good hardware and saves my money as well as dreaded e-waste.
I wanted to share here that after a few days I have it running without any issue. It both easier and harder than running a ReadyNasOS because I don't need to scour the internet on getting apps to run on it but due to having such a variety of apps I did get into things needing research (IE Qbittorent with VPN built in).
The only thing I needed was to install the Dynamix auto fan control, Dynamix system information and ITE IT87 driver from the app library or the fan will run at 100% the entire time. Once I discovered the fix it's very simple to get working.
I hope this can help others in the same boat with perfectly good readynas systems but looking to update due to lack of support.
Another tip is to remove the netgear "USB" drive from bootable options in the BIOS as even when I changed order of priority it would always default to this device and boot readyOS.
If you have the time, a more detailed set of instructions might help others. I assume you used the HDMI port during your install, which, unfortunately, many ReadyNAS lack.
@reaves42 wrote: I needed the HDMI port for this as you need to boot from a USB. If your device can boot from a USB stick UEFI if inserted, you don't need it.
Though you also need the HDMI port to change the BIOS settings.
Early 516 (and I believe 316) BIOS will not do that, you have to use the front button (which can be tricky) to tell it to do so. But my understanding is that even native OS6 units that will boot that way are looking for something specific (to ID it as a recovery USB). Legacy units are a lot simpler -- I've booted DOS and Linux from USB on them.
Any attempt to do the same with an ARM based unit would have a lot more hoops to jump through.
I wouldn't mind speaking with you a little more about this, They might be a bit different, but I have a ReadyNAS 516 I'm throwing a Xeon processor in as well as upgrading to the 16gb of ECC memory. I've been thinking about doing Unraid, but I can't figure out how to bypass the internal boot stuff. I was able to get Windows loaded on it once.. but everytime it reboots, all the BIOS settings revert to factory and try to load up to OS 6. Were you able to figure a way around that? I removed the internal USB from the boot order, but it always goes back, and for the life of me I cannot find where that boot sector comes from, unless its a soldered on chip on the motherboard.
Removing the netgear usb device from boot order worked for me. If I simply rearranged the priority it kept resetting.
I did think of attempting to wipe the netgear usb from UNRAID but didnt need to try. If UNRAID didn't work, I was going to get a new NAS anyway so up to you if it's worth attempting or not.
Got ya, Yea I went to the boot list, and removed all devices other than the HDD I wanted to use, then same with the boot order, and still, whenever the device resets, it would reset the boot order and boot list and everything.
Not sure what else you can do. As mentioned I can see the Readnas usb boot drive in Unraid and thought about trying to wipe it but didn't have to resort to that.
If you are going down that route be sure to understand it may brick the device with no return path. With readyos being abandoned it seems worth a try to me. Unraid is easy to install so give it a shot and see if you want to take the chance.
I got ya, do you have any idea where that storage is? Is it a soldered on memory chip on the motherboard? I'm just curious where the hell it is haha.
Also, when you installed unRAID, did you just install it to one of the drives that you put in the bays? Or did you install it a different way, I forgot to check if there are other sata ports on the motherboard other than the bays.
I've just tried this with an RN312 I've bought used and am dubious with the fan control.
The plugin seems to only monitor disk temps (average across both disks) when controlling the fan. The RN312 only appears to have the one fan, which is problematic because the CPU temp is effectively unmonitored and can run away in instances of CPU intensive, low disk use workload.
I haven't yet found a way around this! UNRaid appears great, but I'm not confident on the fan control.
