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NDR / Every kind of NAS / Failed update or migration

DSM · QTS · a reshape that stopped · a migration that failed

A failed update, expansion or migration. The system partition took the hit; the data partition usually did not.

A NAS keeps its operating system on a small partition mirrored across every drive, or on a flash chip on the board, and keeps your data on the large partitions behind it. A firmware update that fails, a power cut mid-update, a QNAP whose boot flash has worn out, a Synology whose DSM will not start: all of them break the small part and leave the large part alone. Expansions and migrations are the other kind. A RAID 5 being reshaped to add a drive, an SHR being converted to SHR-2, an X-RAID expansion, a move of the drives to a new unit that wants to install over them: interrupted half-way, they leave two geometries on the drives and a unit that cannot tell which is current. Both kinds are recovered from images, and the reshape point is found before anything is assembled. A set is £500 + VAT upwards after the free look, fixed in writing, 5–10 days at the bench.

Free first lookOne fixed figure in writingNo data, no bill on most jobsReturn postage paid

Rather talk it through? An engineer answers the bench line
0800 6890668

Power it down. Label each drive with its bay number. Do not rebuild, repair, initialise, reinstall or reset. A rebuild reads every sector of every surviving drive, and on a set with a second weak member it finishes what the first failure began. Nothing on the drives gets worse while the unit is off.

Update and migration symptoms, and what each means.

Not listed? Describe it on the form →
Unit will not boot after a firmware updateThe system partition or boot flash. The data is usually intact.Everyday job
Synology Assistant says Not installed, Recoverable or MigratableIt is offering to install DSM. Do not, before the data is safe.Do not delay
A reshape or expansion stopped when the power wentTwo geometries on the drives. Do not restart it.Do not delay
Drives moved to a new unit, which wants to initialise themSay no. The old layout is on the drives.Do not delay
Migration completed but the volume is goneThe new unit installed over the system partition, or the pool did not carry across.Do not delay
WD My Cloud red light after the OS 5 updateThe classic single-bay case. The data volume survives.Everyday job
Packing it and posting it: power the unit down, write the bay number on each drive with a marker before it comes out, and send every drive from the set, including any SSD cache. Each drive travels in an anti-static bag inside its own padding, in a box with nothing able to move; the unit itself comes too if it holds an encryption key or a proprietary layout, and its power supply with it. Insure the parcel for what the files are worth rather than the price of the drives, and use a tracked service. The posting address is not printed anywhere on this site; it arrives by email in reply to the form, with a booking sheet to print; the sheet inside the parcel is what matches it to your enquiry when it is opened. Or hand the sealed parcel in at the nearest of ten drop-off points, your name on the outside and the sheet inside; say where you are on the form and it comes by email. We pay the postage home either way. The whole of it is written up on the guide to packing and posting.

How it is laid out, and what fails.

Updates and the system partitionDSM and QTS live on a small mirrored partition across all drives, QTS also on a boot flash chip. A failed update breaks that and nothing else. The bench ignores the system partition and assembles the data arrays directly from the images.
Interrupted reshapesmdadm reshapes a RAID 5 to add a drive or change level by moving stripes one at a time and recording where it got to. Stopped by a power cut, the drives hold the old geometry before the reshape point and the new one after it, and the assembly has to honour both.
SHR and X-RAID conversionsSynology's SHR to SHR-2 and Netgear's X-RAID expansions are reshapes across several layered arrays. The reshape point of each is read from its metadata, and each is assembled with both geometries.
Migrations to a new unitMoving drives to a new unit of the same make usually works; moving them to a different make, or to a unit that offers to install, does not. A unit that installed over the drives rewrote the system partition and sometimes the start of the data arrays, and the rest is reassembled around it.

What it says, and what it means.

Describe yours to us →
What you see The usual reason for it Where that leaves you
Unit dead after an update; drives spinSystem partition or boot flashData arrays assembled from the images
Assistant / Qfinder: Not installedThe unit cannot see its systemDo not install; data first
Reshape at n per cent, unit offInterrupted reshapeReshape point found; both geometries honoured
New unit wants to initialise the drivesForeign layout to the new unitSay no; assembled from the images
Migration ran, volume missingInstalled over the system partitionData arrays assembled around the damage
My Cloud red light after OS 5Failed update on the system partitionData volume imaged directly

From the box arriving to your files going back.

Work we have closed →
01

Logged the day it lands, and the first look costs nothing Free

A case number goes on the parcel and a number on every drive the day it is opened, and an engineer settles what has actually happened before anything spins. The unit is examined on its own; each drive is assessed on our own equipment, never in a NAS that will try to rebuild. Back to you come two things together: a straight note of what is liftable and what is not, plus one figure, fixed and written down. Accept it, or decline and owe us nothing.

Nothing to pay for lookingA single figure, put in writingNo rebuilds, no repairs, no resets
02

The unit, and the drives, apart

The box and the disks are two different jobs. The unit is tested separately, because a dead power supply, a failed board or a bricked boot flash leaves the drives untouched more often than not. Each drive is then read on the bench: the ones that answer at full speed, and the weak or failed ones in clean air where they need head work. On units that hold an encryption key or a layout of their own, the unit is part of the data and is kept with it.

Unit and disks assessed separatelyFailing members to the clean bench
03

Every member imaged, once

The system partition is ignored and the data arrays are assembled from the images with their geometry read from the superblocks. Where a reshape was interrupted, the reshape position is read from the metadata and the array assembled with the old geometry before it and the new one after; where a migration installed over the drives, the arrays are assembled around what was rewritten.

Every drive, including the cacheWeak areas last
04

The set put back together, from the images

Order, chunk size, parity rotation and the reshape point are read from the drives' own metadata and the array is reassembled in software: mdadm and LVM under SHR, X-RAID and QTS pools; a ZFS pool imported read-only; Drobo's BeyondRAID zones reconstructed. The file system, Btrfs, ext4, XFS or ZFS, is repaired on the virtual volume, and encrypted volumes are unlocked there with the key you supply. Never on the originals.

Rebuilt in software, from imagesThe file system repaired on the virtual volume
05

You see the file list before you pay

What was recovered is listed for you first, and only then does a bill exist. Approve the list and it is invoiced; turn it down and it is not — and where nothing has come back, most jobs carry no charge at all. Recovered data travels home on fresh media bought in for your job, with the postage at our end. Your case is not closed until you have opened the files on a machine of your own.

No charge until you accept the figureFresh media, supplied with the job5–10 days at the bench

What arrives most often

  • Do not let the unit install. Synology Assistant's Recoverable and Migratable, and QNAP's initialise, are offers to write a system onto drives that still hold your data.
  • Do not restart a stopped reshape. The bench needs the reshape point where the power cut left it, not where a restart moved it to.
  • A failed update is rarely a data problem. The dashboard is gone; the arrays are there. It is one of the better jobs on the bench.
  • Tell us the sequence: which update, which version, what the unit showed, what was clicked. It shortens the reconstruction.

One job, followed all the way through.

UK · NDR-2026-0542JOB LOGGED ✓

A Netgear ReadyNAS 314 whose X-RAID expansion to a fourth drive stopped in a power cut at 62 per cent

The unit came back up showing no volume and offered to remove the inactive volumes. The owner powered it down instead. All four drives were imaged, the reshape point read from the metadata, and the layered arrays assembled with the old geometry before it and the new one after. The Btrfs volume mounted from the virtual set and everything came back.

100% of it recovered7 days here, and back by post
Illustrative example — replace with a genuine case

What helps, and what harms.

Do this much first

  • Power down and leave it down
  • Note the update version or the expansion step that failed
  • Say no to any offer to install, initialise or remove volumes
  • Send every drive, labelled, and the unit

What sets us back

  • Installing DSM, QTS or OS 5 over the drives
  • Restarting the reshape or expansion
  • Removing inactive volumes on a ReadyNAS
  • Moving the drives to a third unit to see

Questions answered before you commit.

My NAS will not boot after an update. Is the data gone?

Almost never. Updates touch the system partition or the boot flash, and the data arrays behind them are intact. They are assembled from the images without the system at all.

Synology Assistant says Recoverable. Should I click it?

Not before the data is safe. Recoverable and Migratable are offers to install DSM onto the drives, and on a set with a fault the install can rewrite more than the system partition.

The expansion stopped half-way. Can it be finished?

Not by the unit. The bench reads where the reshape got to and assembles the set with both geometries, from images. Restarting the reshape moves the point and makes that harder.

What does it cost?

A set is £500 + VAT upwards after the free look, fixed in writing; a single-drive unit £300 + VAT.

How long does it take?

5–10 days at the bench for a set; 3–4 days at the bench for a single drive.

Begin here if yours is doing the same thing.

Synology system partition failed →ReadyNAS volume dead →WD My Cloud red light →Dead unit, drives fine →

Nothing gets worse while it is powered down.

Looking at it is free. Back comes a list of what opened and what did not, together with a single price to finish, set down in writing while you are still free to say no. On most jobs an invoice only follows the data. Until that list reaches you, leave the unit off and the drives in their bays.

0800 6890668

Price my jobPacking and posting