My old ReadyNAS was in need of an update and figured i’d look back into upgrading to OS 6.2.x again, this used to be quite an involved manual process requiring you to access the VGA header on the motherboard.
As it turns out Netgear have realised people would get round this anyway and have provided an (unsupported) upgrade path.
This will allow us to use a number of features not available on our current firmware (for me I have a ReadyNAS Ultra 6):
- AD Authentication
- NFS v4
- Native link bonding (without 3rd party plugin)
- SSH access (without 3rd party plugin)
- New plugin catalogue
- A shiny new GUI :)
N.B: This operation will factory reset your NAS including all shares, take a backup first!
http://www.readynas.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=161&t=78265
So, first things first, download R4toR6_Prep_Addon.bin and R4toR6_latest-beta.bin from the above link.
Log into your ReadyNAS admin interface and navigate to Add-ons -> Add New, Select the R4toR6_Prep_Addon.bin extension we downloaded earlier and click Upload and verify image...:
If the installation prep file was successfully uploaded and verified you will see the below:
Click Install to commit to the OS.
Next up we need to upload the OS R4toR6_latest-beta.bin itself via System > Update > Local:
After the firmware has been uploaded and verified click Perform System Update and reboot when prompted:
Now we pray to the computing deities and hope that the completely unsupported software upgrade we did on our NAS has not fudged the entire box…
As the box gets reset to factory defaults it will now have a DHCP address – connect to this new address, login with admin and password and set it back up with bonding, AD auth, set up some shares and private Time Machine, etc:
I installed Pydio on mine, it’s an awesome cloud file sync platform that you forward through your firewall (enable IPS on your firewall now if you have it!).
So there it is, nice and easy, updated to the latest RAIDiator.
Worth holding your breath during the upgrade for? I think so…
Why not follow @mylesagray on Twitter for more like this!
Stephen Monro says
05/11/2015 at 00:17Have you had any issues since doing this? Did you have to copy all your data back to your NAS and were there any performance issues afterwards?
Cheers,
Steve
Myles Gray says
05/11/2015 at 22:45Steve, no performance issues to report, using it as a host for 30 VMs (only lab) at the moment, little latency, nothing crazy though, for normal day to day, should be fine.
Myles
Stephen Monro says
05/11/2015 at 23:49Fantastic. I may get around to doing it one day then. Cheers.
Don says
20/05/2016 at 18:57I’ve tried this on my Ultra 2 Plus and it works, but I have to manually install app (vice using the graphic interface) Did you have the same problem? Should I reinstall or have I missed a setting?
Myles Gray says
21/05/2016 at 08:35No I just used the UI and it worked
Don says
23/05/2016 at 19:18I performed the factory reset and rebooted the box. The Ultra 2 Plus now performs as you described. All functions in the GUI work as if the unit was sold with the 6.5 (Current) IOS. Thank you for the follow up.
Yann K. says
12/06/2016 at 11:06Hi guys,
Thanks Myles for leaving your experiments here. I have an old Ultra2 with an old Debian 4.x something.
My disks are full of 20+ years of emails and pictures. I’m fed up with the old Debian. I wanted to change the release. I didn’t find a clear statement of what needed to be saved ? On my older ReadyNAS Duo, there were no extra disk for the system. Same here ? Cheers. Yann
Myles Gray says
12/06/2016 at 11:31Hi Yann, The upgrade will wipe everything you’d need to backup or migrate all data off. M
Lee says
12/06/2017 at 05:16Going to try this this weekend , my question where or what would be the best place to save 2tb of info to
Yves says
22/09/2016 at 14:11Hi!
Thanks for your article, did you upgrade to the latest updates (like 6.5.2) since then without problem?
Cheers, Yves
Myles Gray says
22/09/2016 at 15:17Yep and they worked seamlessly.
Yves says
22/09/2016 at 16:02Glad to read that.
Unfortunately I just tried upgrading my ReadyNas Ultra 2 from 4.2.30 to OS6 following your instructions but it fails on step 1, saying it ‘couldn’t extract files properly’ from the “R4toR6_Prep_Addon.bin”…
Njo chance here
Yves says
22/09/2016 at 17:13UPDATE: I did a Factory Reset after a backup, and now it’s upgrading to OS6. Yipee!
Thank you very much for this article!
Myles Gray says
22/09/2016 at 17:14Not a problem Yves!
Ricardo Arredondo says
25/09/2016 at 10:09Work was getting rid of a ReadyNAS 2100 v2 decided it would behouve me to use this since my FreeNAS box was acting bonkers. Did the upgrade as explained and its working fine for me.
Ahmet Özcan says
10/10/2016 at 06:47Thank you very much, a great job.
I did the update on my ReadyNAS 2100. Every thing work fine, so it seems…
Two things:
1. The USB devices will not get mounted. Any advise?
2. Movies are no longer played smoothly
german811 says
24/11/2016 at 02:43Hello, you think it will work on my readynas Ultra 4 with 4.2.30?? i have 4 disks of 2tb each.
Regards
Myles Gray says
24/11/2016 at 20:20Probably just expect it to wipe the box
nvgoldendog says
28/01/2017 at 09:42Do you know if this firmware will work on the original Silver color ReadyNAS NV+ RND4425-100NAS? I was reading somewhere that this model has a Sparc processor, but maybe the firmware you are talking about is for a Sparc processor? Just want to make sure before I brick my old ReadyNAS NV+.
Myles Gray says
28/01/2017 at 09:51I have it installed on my Ultra 6, which uses an atom x86 proc, would be surprised if it worked on SPARC
Frank Hall says
07/02/2017 at 01:55Thank you!!!!!!
Vasanth says
29/03/2017 at 00:02Do we have similar file for RND4000v2 since this works only for x86 architecture.
Petter Straumsheim says
08/06/2017 at 19:36Will this work on the ReadyNAS NVX RNDX4210?
Myles Gray says
08/06/2017 at 20:09Should work on any ReadyNAS with an x86 CPU
Petter Straumsheim says
25/06/2017 at 02:22Is there anyway you could send me the files i need? I cant seem to find them anymore since the netgear site redirects me to they’re homepage.
Petter Straumsheim says
25/06/2017 at 02:30Or i found them, but this seem to appear..
https://i.gyazo.com/ea7f3e0e4bedb571422c4073c89c30fd.png
Andrew says
18/04/2019 at 07:03The NVX has a 32-bit processor but you need a CPU with 64 bit support for ReadyNAS OS 6 so sadly we cannot uprade our NAS :(
Sandshark says
08/07/2017 at 21:28ReadyNASOS6.x is 64 bit and the NVX and 2100V1 have 32-bit X86 processors and cannot be upgraded. All the information and files needed are located on the Netgear ReadyNAS forum. I’m running OS6.7.5 on several legacy NASes without a hitch. There is no chance it will ever be available for the NV or Duo (SPARC or ARM versions).
Jack says
29/07/2017 at 12:34This was really what i needed to refresh an old NAS. I was looking for a way to update to maybe a 3rd party firmware and your blogpost came up. In the end i followed this guide:
http://netgear.nas-central.org/wiki/OS6_on_Legacy_x86
But it was your blogpost that got me onto the update. So thanks very much!
Nis says
06/09/2017 at 19:11Where has the download-link gone ??
Arie says
03/10/2017 at 18:32Hello everyone,
has anyone tried this upgrade on RND2210-100?
Thank you,
Groodles says
05/12/2017 at 13:09I have encountered the same USB mounting issue. USB HDD are detected by the OS but are not auto-mounted and are therefore not visible (or selectable) in Frontview.
vIII says
08/03/2018 at 19:48just ran my upgrade – 4.2.31 > 6.9.3
went fairly smoothly.
backed up – ~4TB wasn’t fast but have other NAS Storage so got that done.
once prep and upgrade were performed still had to do manual factory restore – but all working currently
just removed default Raid-X array and recreated my R10 Array and back up and going – slow sync but that is expected anyway.
Currently migrating data back…
only issue I have is how I migrate back my iscsi lun that I backed up – not sure how to recreate that but not that major as the data wasn’t in use anyway!
Still much happier to have AD Integration on my shares now!!!
Much happier with this unit at the moment – giving it new life!
shynel prasad says
09/06/2018 at 03:07HI , sorry I guess I arrived to the party bit late.Got hold an a Netgear ReadyNAS Pro Business Edition and its currently running version 4.2.9, I wish to update using above info but has not worked so far..
1st of , according to info above I should be able see addon tab via GUI , I cant see , rather just see it system >Firmware update
I dont need to backup any data on this , so I did perform a factory default , after which i tried to go to system>firmware update and point to PREP4TOR6_0.1-x86.bin file and click on update and verify . after few short minutes it comes back and says invalid file format. I also tried the same for R4toR6_6.3.5.bin to no success.
I also got similar files from this link but ended up with same result
http://netgear.nas-central.org/wiki/OS6_on_Legacy_x86
Is there anyone out there that can be of assistance please , would really appriciate it
Daniel says
10/08/2018 at 16:53Does anyone still have the files for this upgrade? They are no longer accessible from the netgear community site. I am trying to do the upgrade and can not get the files.
Richard Suttill says
14/08/2018 at 06:20Hi Daniel I also cannot find the files, have you had any luck yet as I would appreciate a copy of them too?
Daniel says
14/08/2018 at 14:12Richard I did get them.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1FlKNZ1qgMo33Q2Uix2cQLj2ihCpKKF9y
I will leave them there for people who need them.
Gabe says
10/10/2018 at 23:29Thanks a ton for the files, I was looking all over for them. :)
Wilfredo Perdomo says
22/11/2018 at 06:28Thank you very much, these files can not be found around, Netgear removed them from their webpage same as the original article.
Regards,
Wilfredo
Brian Miles says
05/04/2019 at 15:41Thank you Thank you!
!TiT says
26/09/2018 at 07:45Hi,
did anyone try to update ReadyNas Ultra 2 to 6.9.4. Currently my device run on 6.9.2 and I wonder if update to x.x.4 can cause any problems.
Raf says
23/10/2018 at 10:54Don’t do it ! it crashes my NAS ! Now i’m trying to backup my datas manually. F—ING HELL !
Rainer Brand says
08/11/2018 at 11:16Same here! I backed up my data but after the update i cant get it back to work. Tried Factory Reset and OS Reinstall, but nothing happens.
Jeff says
15/11/2018 at 15:12Hello Myles,
Thank you for your great tutorial, am successfully migrated to OS 6 :)
Readynas Ultra 6 4.2.24 to OS6 6.9.4
Best regards,
Jeff
Wilfredo Perdomo says
22/11/2018 at 06:45I confirm that 6.9.4 is working good in a Readynas Ultra 2 after a fresh upgrade from os4 to 6.9.3 and a self update.
Cheers!
Walter Cox says
30/03/2019 at 12:33Just wanted to say thanks updated Ultra2 without errors!
Brian Miles says
05/04/2019 at 15:38Is it possible for you to send links not in the netgear community for these 2 files? The links are dead, Netgear removed them from their site obviously to stop us from upgrading our Readynas devices.
Thanks.
Brian
Brian Miles says
05/04/2019 at 16:22Not needed thanks to Daniel! You the man! I will share on torrent as well cause it was damn hard to find!
Updated my Pro4 and it is running great! Now I can reload Plex and all my computers will be backed up now. Awesomesauce!
Thanks again for all who posted here, you guys rock!
Brian
Daniel says
06/04/2019 at 02:00Glad I was able to help. Took me a week to find them when I was trying to do this and it was only someone on this forums kindness that saved me, so pass it on.