HOW TO: Upgrade Legacy x86 ReadyNAS to OS6
I have a 'legacy' x86 ReadyNAS here, the Ultra 4 and stumbled upon a guide about upgrading the v4 OS to v6 as is on the current models. This is not a new guide but I wasn't aware of it before and OS6 seems to add quite a lot of new features such as built-in anti-virus, snapshots, Replicate is now built-in, MS AD authentication, link aggregation etc. Very simple and fast to do, you will have to format so backup data first, I used this as an opportunity to replace my 2TB drives with 4TB HGST MegaScale DC 4000.B drives - not the fastest but I expect my NAS will be used mainly for backups, archives etc.
Working devices
- Netgear ReadyNAS 2100v2
- Netgear ReadyNAS Pro Pioneer Edition
- Netgear ReadyNAS Pro Business Edition
- Netgear ReadyNAS Pro 2
- Netgear ReadyNAS Pro 4
- Netgear ReadyNAS Pro 6
- Netgear ReadyNAS Ultra 2
- Netgear ReadyNAS Ultra 2 Plus
- Netgear ReadyNAS Ultra 4
- Netgear ReadyNAS Ultra 4 Plus
- Netgear ReadyNAS Ultra 6
- Netgear ReadyNAS Ultra 6 Plus
Not working
These models do not work with OS6, because they have 32bit processors, and OS6 is only 64bit.
- Netgear ReadyNAS NVX
- Netgear ReadyNAS 2100v1
- Netgear ReadyNAS 1500
OS6 Installation instructions
WARNING: Installing OS6 will require a complete factory reset and creating a new filesystem. As such it is critical that you first make a backup of any data before starting the upgrade!
Instructions courtesy of AMRivlin and chirpa
- BACKUP
- Download http://www.readynas.com/contributed/...R6_0.1-x86.bin
- Upload it using the ReadyNAS web gui firmware update, but do not reboot afterwards (avoids the need to do manual factory resets)
- Download https://www.readynas.com/contributed...toR6_6.6.0.bin
- Upload it using the ReadyNAS web gui firmware update
- After you upload the addon/firmware and reboot, it will update the firmware and start a factory default. Your system should be back up in less than 10 minutes running the new firmware (in my case the latest 6.6.0).
For more detail, please see the following forum threads;
Downgrade instructions
WARNING: Just like upgrading to ReadyNAS OS6, downgrading to RAIDiator 4.2 will cause you to have to do a factory reset and recreating your filesystems. So any data on the ReadyNAS will be lost, and a backup of any data is essential!\\
A ready made downgrade image is now available: http://www.readynas.com/contributed/...2.30-downgrade
If you want to make your own image basically you will need to download an old RAIDiator release, and modify the header, such that the currently installed OS thinks it is newer, or it will not allow a downgrade.
Instructions (to be run from a Linux system, or directly on the NAS itself).
$ wget -q http://www.downloads.netgear.com/fil...x86-4.2.24.zip
$ unzip RAIDiator-x86-4.2.24.zip
Archive: RAIDiator-x86-4.2.24.zip
inflating: RAIDiator-x86-4.2.24
inflating: RAIDiator-x86-V4.2.24_ReleaseNote.html
$ head -n1 RAIDiator-x86-4.2.24
$ echo -n 'info::name=ReadyNASOS,version=6.2.0,time=1372729316,size=56387584,md5sum=5a29e74205983247ba50358a453c9ef2,arch=x86_64,descr=ReadyNAS Final Release,release_notes=http://www.readynas.com/RAIDiator_x86_4_2_24_Notes' > newhead
$ dd if=newhead of=RAIDiator-x86-4.2.24 conv=notrunc
0+1 records in
0+1 records out
209 bytes (209 B) copied, 0.000162523 s, 1.3 MB/s
So basically what we have done, is modify the header, which is only used by the installed OS version to verify if the image is valid, to make it think it is installing a newer version of itself. The fields we have changed are name, version and arch.
You now upload the image to FrontView on ReadyNAS OS6, and it should accept it. After update and a reboot, you need to do factory default in boot menu. A few minutes afterwards, you will be running RAIDiator 4.2 again and you can recreate your storage.
Caveats
- Fan control needs manual setup - no longer an issue
- Fan and temperature in web gui requires manual setup (no longer an issue with OS 6.1.1)
- possible issues with Wake-on-LAN (WOL)
- If serial number of your unit is the MAC address (was the case with some old ReadyNAS Pro units) then ReadyCLOUD won't work.
Guide taken from nas-central.org
