Factory reset issue ....

[hegnerd]

I have inherited a ReadyNAS NV+ that I would like to use for data backup. The unit has four 2TB disks installed. It was used previously for a brief period of time but the tech was unable to configure it properly. My first step was to upgrade RAIDator to 4.1.9 and do a factory reset on the unit. Starting over from scratch. From the documentation I understood that simply defaulting back to factory default would set a RAID configuration in which three of the drives would be used for storage and one of the drives would be used for data restore.

I have tried the factory default twice so far and both have been unsuccessful. Both times I let the boot process run for no less than 72 hours. Both times the display on the front of the unit displays "C: 1/1GB free". So it looks like the factory reset has produced a storage capacity of 1GB from the 8TB of disk space installed:) When I highlight the drives I note numerous ATA errors which can't be good.

I have never used a ReadyNAS before but I do have 30 years experience in IT. I would like to get some feedback on the reliability of the product and whether or not this forum feels it is a reliable product for business level data backups. Not trying to be critical but I do need a reliable source of local backup for the on-site data and i tired of dealing with BackupExec. I can go a different direction and now is the time to make that decision before I invest a lot of time.

Please give me your opinion and any ideas you may have about why the factory reset is failing.

[StephenB]

I suspect one or more bad disks. Can you test them with vendor tools on a PC?

[hegnerd]

I suppose .... they've never been used before. Interesting ..... do you know who the drive manufacturer is or does it vary?

[mdgm]

It would vary depending on availability etc. Also whether the disks came pre-installed in the unit or not. There's a compatibility list of drives for your NV+ (v1) here: http://www.readynas.com/hcl

It would say on the label of the drive who the manufacturer it is.

[hegnerd]

All 4 disks are Caviar Green WD20EARS. This disk is on the compatibility list.

[mdgm]

Ah, I'd forgotten about this issue. 4.1.6 is very old now. 4.1.7 added support for drives that don't support TLER and it also added 4k sector partition alignment (the latter requires a factory default).

[hegnerd]

I upgraded to 4.1.8. All of the drives show ATA errors. All less than 200. I've been researching the WD20EARS drives and read several of the forum experiences. It doesn't look like these drives are truely intended for industrial level backups.

Question .... what I'm trying to accomplish is a replacement for backing up to tape. Can you recommend a more industrial Netgear NAS solution for large enterprise? Money is really not an issue.

[StephenB]

...Money is really not an issue.

If true, you might look into ReadyData (http://info.netgear.com/forms/2012-Netg ... A-Solution)

If you need a desktop form factor, the best performing business NAS is the Pro-6.

On the disk choice, for desktop form factors the new WD Red drives are a reasonable choice, though Seagate Constellation and WD RE4's are enterprise-class drives that are on the hardware compatibility list.