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Using 4x 2 TB WD20EADS in SMC NAS04

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goi

New Around Here
Hi together,

unfortunately I posted this article in the wrong thread, I think. A new one would be better for it...

thanks to mahfiaz root access I was able to fix some issues with the SMCNAS:

Starting point was: SMCNAS04 with Firmware 2.1 from SMC-ASIA running with 4x 1.5 TB Seagate Disks in a RAID5 configuration!

Target was: Getting the stuff running with 4x 2 TB WD20EADS disks in a Raid 5 configuration.

To state it clear:
*** THE FOLLOWING SOLUTION MIGHT NOT BE RUNNING ON OTHER SMCNAS04 DEVICES OR IN OTHER CONSTELLATION! ***
*** THE FOLLOWING STUFF IS NOTHING FOR BEGINNERS! BE WARNED! THIS IS HIGHLY EXPERIMENTAL! ***


Common Questions:

Q 1: What happened if I simply replace one functioning disk by a new one?
A: It take a long time (1 week) and afterwards you will have a RAID5 with 3x 1.5 TB net using 4x 2.0 TB disks

Q 2: Is it possible to expand the RAID 5 from Q 1?
A: NO! Or better said, I didn't find any solution for it, maybe there is a way, but I couldn't find it.

Q 3: What happened if I just make a backup of all my RAID-data and try to install the new 2 TB disks from scratch by using the zerodisk-configurator?
A: Making a backup is the starting point at all, but nevertheless, the zerodisk-configurator must fail!

Q 4: Why is the zerodisk-configuration failing with huge hard disks?
A: The assumption during the installation was, a DOS partition table can be used, which - for linux systems - must fail for raid sizes greater 4 TB

Q 5: Will I loose my data from the first installation?
A: If you don't backup you data YOU WILL LOOSE ALL YOUR DATA!

Q 6: Will this work with disks > 2TB?
A: Honestly, I do not know: Try it and report it (when I'll try it first, I'll report it to you)

Q 6: Is there a fast failback solution if my disks won't work?
A: Yes there is, but you should have a separate backup at all.

That's the frontup information I had after this weekend. Let's start the tour:


Prerequisites:
----------------

1. A running SMCNAS with firmware 2.x
2. A copy of the zeroboot firmware image matching the installed firmware (see smc-asia downloads)
3. A running WINDOWS PC (best with XP) with
- installed SMC installer
- installed ssh client (e.g. putty)
4. The new 4 disks (all should be of the same type and size and must be SATA-2 NOT SATA-3 and should be completely empty)

Step 1: MAKE A RELIABLE BACKUP OF YOU DATA!

Step 2: Shut your SMCNAS off by pressing the front power switch and wait until the box shuts off.

Step 3: Remove all of your installed disks one by one and mark the original position of the disks and keep them apart (If anything goes wrong: with these disks you may be able to recover, as the base montavista linux system is already installed on these disks -> see below)

Step 4: Insert all of your new disks (here 4x 2TB WD20EADS-00R6B0) into the SMCNAS.

Step 5: Press the reset button (back side) and HOLD AND POWER ON AND WAIT for 15 seconds. This will start the initial zerodisk boot.

Step 6: Start the discovery tool on the windows PC. If you hadn't a DHCP server before, now it would be helpful to start one...:
- Go to the RAID-configuration page
- of the login won't work (bug with cookies), don't worry, we just need the health information here
- It should find all of your 4 disks and should say RAID 5 healthy with about 6 TB

Step 7: Use your ssh client to connect to the NAS as root (no password during zeroboot! Many thanks to SMC!)

Step 8: Deaktivate all RAID mounts:
>umount /dev/rdea2
>umount /dev/rdea3

Step 9: Delete previous boot information:
>dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/rdea count=256

Step 10: Set partition table information, due to a bug it must be done in the following matter:
>parted /dev/rdea
>>mklabel msdos
>>quit

Step 11; setup partition information the following partition must not be changed:
>parted /dev/rdea
>>mklabel gpt
>>mkpart primary 840s 263759s
>>mkpart primary 263760s 17040975s

Now you new data partition comes here:
>>mkpart primary 17040976s 5990GB
>>quit

Step 12: format the new partitions (except the boot one):
>mke2fs -j -O none /dev/rdea2
>tune2fs -e remount-ro -i 0 /dev/rdea2
now your data partition:
>mkfs.xfs -f /dev/rdea3

Step 13: mount the os partition (for zerodisk update image) and the data partition:
>mount /dev/rdea2 /storage/rdea2
>mkdir /storage/rdea3
>mount /dev/rdea3 /storage/rdea3

Step 14: control you partition sizes with:
>df -h
it should be for rdea3 about the raid net size

NOW YOU ARE READY TO RUMBLE:

Step 15: upgrade/update the zeroboot image using the webinterface. It should now install and 30 minutes later it should reboot.

FINAL STEP: If the reboot was successful login with admin/smcadmin and it should show your new raid size on "data utilization: 0/5.5T"!

WARNING: Before you begin to use your new RAID please reboot it for the first time (if there are any problems with your configuration the reboot will show!)

Now you are done! You may now configure your users and shares and restore the backup'd data from step 1.

RECOVERY: Shut off the NAS and insert the previous disks from step 3 into the same slots back and power on! You should be back on your old configuration!

WHY? The zeroboot configuration scripts assume a dos partition handler which cannot handle huge partitions. But thanks to SMC: they used a linux kernel which is already gpt aware. If someone has enough time he might change the update script to the method above and this might be a way for noobs as well.

Hopefully that helps. I'd be glad to hear from your migration projects...

regards

Gery
 
Addendum: It Works with 4x 2 TB WD20EARS in SMC NAS04 as well

Hi together,

I exchanged the disks by 4x 2 TB WD20EARS which uses AF (advanced format) using the above described way AND IT WORKS FINE!

Don't expect the write rate (peak 18 MB/s nom. 10 MB/s) to be very fast, but thats ok for me. The read rate is peak 28 MB/s nom 20 MB/s.

Not very fast, but sufficient for backup and streaming.

The next experiment will be with 4x 3 TB discs -> I will see wether this will work...

regards

Géry
 
My LG NAS N4B1 came out ok also. I did have to reinstall the OS and redo my OS modifications.

It can be very slow, however.
 
SMCNAS

Hello

I have SMCNAS24 and get the problem.
I not connect putty SSH to nas.Because the problem how zero-disk configuration not work.Configure button not find the raid configuration page!

Thanks
Forward Message
 
SMCNAS

Hello

I have SMCNAS24 and get the problem.
I not connect putty SSH to nas.Because the problem how zero-disk configuration not work.Configure button not find the raid configuration page!

Thanks
Forward Message
Are you solution please ?
 
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