EX2 Ultra Issues (Again!)

I had a thread here a few weeks ago regarding both hard drives failing in my EX2 Ultra within a couple of days of each other. With help in that thread I managed to save all my data and get it back onto the two new drives I had already purchased. Now just a week or so after finally getting everything restored, my EX2 Ultra shows drive 1 failed! It’s a new drive! I’m starting to wonder if there’s something wrong with the EX2 Ultra and not the drive. I really can’t figure out what’s happening here. A restart of the EX2 Ultra and everything seems fine now. But this is how it all started before. Anyone have any idea what I’m looking for to narrow the cause down?

5 Likes

Hi @savagecircuits,

A My Cloud storage device comes with a built-in diagnostics tool that assists users in evaluating its performance in the case that some performance issues are being experienced.

Please refer to the article: My Cloud OS 5: Perform a Quick, Full, or System Test: My Cloud OS 5: Perform a Quick, Full, or System Test

Please contact the WD Technical Support team for best assistance and troubleshooting:https://support-en.wd.com/app/ask

I’ve done the tests and they pass. This issue seems to be random where I will find a drive faulted, the system says it’s bad, but a reboot fixes it for a time. I currently have an active RMA for the original two drives that were both reported as failed. But now with two brand new drives the issue seems to be recurring…

Well, the issues still persist, as I mentioned in the other thread. I wish you guys would have had me send the entire unit in, because now I have new drives, but still getting random faults. Perhaps the My Cloud itself was the actual issue and now my warranty window has passed and nobody has gotten back to me regarding this.

1 Like

I’m having issues with a WD Ex2 Ultra also.

Disc1 keeps going red but goes back to blue after a reboot. I’ve changed the HDD but the problem remains. None of the diagnostics show a problem so I think it’s a problem with the NAS or the Firmware.

I’ll just keep it running until either a fix is found or I buy another model - bit of a pain.

2 Likes

Yeah, so I’m not the only one. These problems didn’t start for me until both original drives died at the same time. Once I put the brand new replacements in, I was surprised when I cam home to find a “failure” within a few days. Not cool.

1 Like

This is happening on my EX2 Ultra now as well. Red LED on disc 1, back to blue after reboot. Passes tests.

2 Likes

Yeah, it’s still happening to me. Since WD won’t respond to me about it, I may have to switch to another brand. I went from Buffalo to WD, so not sure what to do now. But I can’t keep going through this.

1 Like

I’m glad i came here, I thought the disc was failing but now obviously not so sure. With multiple users now reporting the same, it seems a firmware error that they’ll realize needs to be addreseed.

1 Like

Mine has been running fine for a while now - Disc 1 went red, passed all tests, blue after reboot.

As requested sent raw data to WD but they didn’t comment on it. Pretty sure it’s a glitch with the NAS itself - if it plays up at all I’ll probably switch brands though that’s cost & hassle I could do without. All data is stored elsewhere & I’m RAID 1.

Good luck.

2 Likes

Same here.
Had original 8TB disks in it.
The disc 1 failed with SMART errors, so I changed it for a brand new 8TB WD RED Pro HDD bought from WD for reliability and the 5 year warranty.
After a few months of family usage, it turned red. The status was said to be « bad ».
I had it RMAed… the replacement one failed again a few weeks after being installed.

Now WD wants me to run tests, then switch disks, the rerun tests, then had the disk tested outside the NAS with a DAS enclosure… what a hell.

Do you guys have the same?

Best

AF

2 Likes

I really feel your pain - there is something badly wrong here. I had an old Netgear Stora which didn’t skip a beat over 10 years of use.

I will give the unit until it fails then I’ll go with Synology - I simply don’t have the confidence or the patience with WD anymore.

1 Like

Mine has original 2TB discs. Older unit, but it’s been totally fine till now. It’s always auto-updated the firmware, which makes me think the issue is with the latest release.

My dashboard also says the disc is “BAD” when the LED is red - but still passes the testing. And a reboot fixes it. Are you seeing the same?

1 Like

Synology…that’s what a friend in IT at work recommended when I told him what was going on. He told me that there was an article online (I need to find it) that said WD NAS drives are set to report an error after 3 years. Well, that coincides with my original drives. But the new ones randomly do the same thing. So is it the drive? The firmware? I can’t afford to keep worrying about my files. They’re supposed to be safe (RAID 1).

I have just read about WD HDDs having firmware which reports an issue after 3 years when they are fitted to Synology NAS enclosures even though there is nothing wrong with them.

If they can do that then the reverse would be WD NAS enclosures reporting issues with 3rd party drives.

I don’t trust them ONE BIT.

1 Like

As I’m having these issues with the random drive failure (on a NEW drive), my EX2 Ultra has firmware version 5.26.300. I guess the big deal for me is that WD is not offering any suggestions.

1 Like

Same deal with me here. Bought the EX2 Ultra and within a couple days it showed drive 1 as being bad. Rebooted and the error went away. A few days later and the same thing happens. Might end up just scheduling a reboot every few days but WD definitely needs to figure this out. Totally unacceptable for a new device to be showing errors on a new drive- I’d think that they should be able to fix whatever the issue is with a firmware update.

2 Likes

I had a problem with a red light on HD1 which I know wasn’t the HDD (three different IronWolf Pros inc 2 which worked fine in HD2?) and that was sorted by a previous firmware update - in fact the NAS has been working fine for a few months now.

Three days after installing 5.27.161 the red light issue on HD1 has returned? I’ve rolled back to the previous firmware and will see what happens.

I went through all of this last summer inc sending reports to WD when they requested them. The HDDs are no more than 20% full. I originally thought it was an issue with the HDD so RMAd it to Seagate - they sent a replacement. But then the replacement showed a red light on HD1 so I swapped the HDDs over and yet again within a few days the light on HD1 came on.

So according to my NAS 3 Ironwolf Pros are faulty? but just when installed on HD1 :thinking:

A firmware update late summer seemed to have solved it and until the Jan update everything was fine. I’ve just rolled back to the Oct firmware update and so far (fingers crossed) no red light. I am now very wary of firmware updates - another user with a similar problem told me last summer he just ignores the red light now.

EDIT - A few days after rolling back to 5.26.300 and the NAS is still working OK

1 Like

Thank you for posting this. My drive error LED came on night before last and I was thinking to myself, “Really?!? Again?!?” I never realized the firmware had changed again until I saw your post. This is ridiculous! I can’t see myself purchasing another WD NAS after all these issues. I’m considering rolling my firmware back as well, based on your post.

1 Like

I had the unit set to automatically instal new firmware and no more than 3 or 4 days after I received the eMail notification that my unit had been updated BANG! the red light on HD1 came back.

I’ve rolled back to the October firmware and disabled auto update and so far it’s OK. The problem that bothers me is opening my NAS to security vulnerabilities but I only store video/music/image files there.

This is the firmware I have rolled back to:

3 Likes