Netgear READYNAS PRO Firmware Alert

[Dennis Wood]

If you're thinking about updating your ReadyNAS PRO firmware to 4.2.7 ... don't! If your NAS is set to auto update, toggle that off.

There are numerous issues relating to CIFS access and ACL file permissions, meaning we lost access to all of our files on at least one share, with no way to reset them. Looking at the Netgear forum, I'm not alone and a few folks are pretty unhappy, including us with 2TB of media more or less missing.

Downgrading to 4.2.5 seems to work for some, however that tactic bricked our unit requiring a USB boot restore (but with the "new" firmware placed on the stick) in order to boot our unit which was recently redone with 6 x 2TB drives. Hours wasted and a ton of data will need to be restored from backup...thank goodness we had a least a partial backup. Because we can't boot with 4.2.5, and 4.2.7 seems to deny access to our files (can't reset them)..the unit is essentially offline until a fixed firmware is released. Sigh.

 

[claykin]

Yeah its pretty sad that this firmware slipped out as production ready. What is worse is that they flipped the switch to active the auto update function on the NAS. Think it would be prudent to wait a couple weeks before toggling the auto updates to run.

I assume you've seen the Jedi's response that they are working on a fix now.

Not sure why you are having so much trouble reverting back to V4.2.5. In the posts I read affected users were able to revert back to V4.2.5. I assume you didn't use the hidden EXT4 conversion?

I also suppose you could remove your RAID array and mount on a PC using a Debian Linux Live CD. Or its probable better to wait for a fixed firmware.

 

[Dennis Wood]

With a reset of the unit and 4.2.5 loaded from USB, the drives were not recognized, therefore no boot. When I put 4.2.7 on the USB boot stick and flashed, the unit booted fine. I'd guess the WD Black 2TB drives are a problem for the older firmware.

This was posted today as an addon to install to fix ACL issues: http://www.readynas.com/download/addons/x86/4.2/ToggleFullWindowsACLs_4.2.7-x86.bin

The thread that addon was posted in is here: http://www.readynas.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=35149

 

[Dennis Wood]

After a complete reset, and rebuild with 4.2.7 the unit is pooched again. It started rync'ing data back from a qnap backup NAS, then stopped with an unknown error, including a supposed fan failure. After power cycling the unit, All firmware update attempts fail with an "invalid image" error.

At this point to say a lot of time has been wasted is an understatement. It was fortunate that we had backed up data first in prep for the hard drive update, and also that we have three QNAP units that are the business critical units.

I feel real sorry for folks that were business critical and were not able to return to 4.2.5 .....

 

[claykin]

Sorry to hear about the problems you experienced. its really unfortunate. One thing to note is that you chose disks that are not on the official HCL or the user HCL. Not sure why you would choose to use the desktop class WD Black 2TB (model WD2001FASS) instead of the RE4 2TB Enterprise disk (WD2002FYPS) that is on the HCL. This could the cause of why your unit would not revert back to V4.2.5 and also why its now giving you problems.

This type of problem can happen to any NAS. Its always best to use manufacturer approved disks.

If I were in your shoes I would return the Black's and purchase disks from the HCL. That goes for Netgear, QNAP, etc...

 

[Dennis Wood]

Replied over at Netgear's forum on the drive question but basically the issue is this. The 2TB (both "green") drives on the HCL are 5400, or 5900 rpm drives and we've found in testing that 7200 rpm drives make an appreciable difference (on the TS509, 15% to 20% better performance). So I took a risk on the drives. The black will be on the HCL list soon I'm sure as it's a popular drive, but so far no issues with the Readynas that I would relate to data corruption. Dropping the WD Black drives in with 4.2.5 (original load) went with zero issues or errors.

A factory reset (via the small reset port at the rear of the unit) allowed me to apply 4.2.5, rebuild the unit, then apply 4.2.7 with the ACL patch. Other than rsync errors, (to QNAP units) the unit seems to be working fine. The rsync errors are likely due to different versions of rsync being used on the ReadyNAS vs QNAP units.

 

[Dennis Wood]

Basic update...same exact wierdness after a 4.2.7 reset. Based on the large number of posts from folks with issues on the Netgear forum, I'd make an educated guess that the 2TB drives are not the issue. I'm going to just reset for a third time with 4.2.5 which was working just fine previous and test that.