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Netgear RND4250 ReadyNAS NV+ 1 TB Desktop Network Storage (2x500GB)xToo low to display
  (16 reviews)
Best Price: Too low to display
NETGEAR offers wireless, Ethernet, powerline and phoneline networking products through a complete line of routers, gateways, switches, hubs, and adapters. NETGEAR products offer the strongest security and privacy options available to protect home and business customers.PRODUCT FEATURES:4 Hot Swappable HDD in a small 8-inch high desktop design (2 500GB HDD included, 2 open slots for future expansion);HDD are initialized and system is pre-configured in X-RAID mode for immediate use;X-RAID technology plus RAID 0, 1, 5. The ReadyNAS NV+ by NETGEAR is a compact and attractive four-bay Network Attached Storage (NAS) device that can easily handle the storage needs of a home or small office. After putting the ReadyNAS NV+ to the test, we have concluded that it is an ideal storage solution for small offices or work groups with limited IT resources that require networked expandable RAID storage and advanced "server" features such as print and media servers, system monitoring with email alerts, and integrated backup management capabilities.  | What We Think
Overall Rating: 
Pros: Compact design, easy-to-use, built-in RAID capability including X-RAID, provides media streaming for wide variety of devices, excellent online forums for add-ons and support
Cons: Insufficient user manuals, add-on software does not always have complete feature set
| At a Glance Capacity: 1 TB (2x500GB)
Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 8.7 inches (HxWxD)
Warranty: 5 years |  | | 
The ReadyNAS NV+ houses four drive bays in one compact, attractive enclosure. View larger. | Out of Box Impressions and Design Features Taking the ReadyNAS NV+ out of the box, we couldn't help but be surprised at how compact and solid feeling the device is. Imparting an air of quality workmanship and sturdy reliability, the NV+ measures a compact 7.9 x 5.2 x 8.7 inches (H x W x D) and is a hefty 10 pounds without the disks installed. The styling is attractive, with a metallic "cheese-grater" look that is reminiscent of Apple's Mac Pros, a design that also allows for heat dissipation. A door panel opens for easy access to the four drive bays, each of which is on its own tray with an easy-to-load push-button mechanism, making disk installation a cinch. Below the panel door is a backlit LCD display that shows status info such as the IP address and drive capacity. The power button sits on the upper left of the front face, next to four LEDs that give the status of each hard drive, a USB port, and a button labeled "Backup." The back of the NV+ sports a carrying handle, two USB ports, an Ethernet port, the system reset switch, power connector, cooling fan, and Kensington Lock security hole. Overall, the design is attractive, smartly laid out, and clearly labeled. Unlike many other NAS devices that you want to hide in a corner or in a closet, the ReadyNAS NV+ adds a handsome touch to the work area. Initial Setup and Configuration
Our test unit had four pre-installed 750 GB hard drives for a total of three terabytes of disk space. The drives are hot-swappable, which means that they can be swapped out one-at-a-time without shutting down the NV+, and which also means that upgrading or replacing the drives--if necessary--will be easy. 
Share your files, USB disk, and printer with all your computers and networked media player with the NV+. | The NV+ supports the industry standard RAID 0/1/5, as well as NETGEAR's own proprietary X-RAID, which supports single volume auto expansion with redundancy against a single drive failure. X-RAID makes the device future-proof, as you can simply swap out a smaller capacity installed drive for a larger one, and X-RAID will automatically copy over all the data. The initial hardware set up was as simple as plugging the AC cord into the wall and connecting the Ethernet cord into the local network. Installing the included RAIDar software let us find the drive on our network, from which we were able to bring up the Web-based control panel. Set up required an easy jaunt through the Setup Wizard, and once completed, the drive appeared on each of the networked computers as expected. The unit is pre-configured in X-RAID mode, which worked fine for us; we were literally up and running in minutes. The only snag was that the manual gave the wrong user/password to log into the machine, but a quick online search revealed the correct input information. After we had the X-RAID running successfully, we reconfigured the drive to a RAID 5 configuration. Like X-RAID, RAID 5 reduces overall storage capacity by about 25% but offers redundant protection so everything continues to function even if one of the drives fails. The actual reconfiguration through the control panel took only a few minutes, though the entire process took over eight hours and necessitated deletion of all the existing data on the drives. (Don't worry! The ReadyNAS NV+ did all the work itself after we left the office for the day.) The one complaint we had during the set-up procedures was with the documentation. In fact, the manual is the weak link of the package. The NV+ has a lot of functionality that is not very well explained or simply not mentioned. Fortunately, the ReadyNAS has its own NETGEAR-supported community Web site (www.readynas.com) with FAQs, forums, firmware updates, add-ons, and other goodies. We found the process of downloading firmware updates and add-ons quick and extremely easy. 
NETGEAR's FrontView web-based control panel makes configuration and administration simple. View larger. | Web-based Control Panel The Web-based control panel gives the administrator full control over the system. From it you can check the status of the machine, set the security settings, create user and group accounts, configure streaming services, update firmware, and much more. With processes that took more than a few minutes to complete, the ReadyNAS NV+ sent us email notifications at the completion of the tasks so we could continue with our other work in the meantime. The control panel is clean and intuitive, eliminating the need for administrators to fiddle with a Unix command line to check status or change settings. Though some configuration and management issues can arise that better documentation could easily address, as long as the administrator is comfortable searching out information online when necessary, he or she should find managing the ReadyNAS NV+ relatively easy. Our Performance Review
We ran the NV+ as our primary file server in our small workgroup -- consisting of both Macs running OS X and PCs running Windows XP -- without any problems or complaints of performance. We were able to access the server to work with, copy, and move files around seamlessly, with no hiccups to speak of. Our computers were all able to connect easily via CIMB and/or AFP protocols. Additionally, the ReadyNAS has support for the Network File System (NFS), but we did not test this as we do not run a Linux/Unix environment. However, our one caveat is that we do not work heavily with media files such as large video files, so we cannot say for certain if the performance would be acceptable for use in, say, a high-performance video lab or similar setting. 
Hard disks are installed on separate drive trays, making upgrades simple. View larger. | One important feature we needed was the ability to work remotely. To do so, we downloaded a WebDAV add-on from the ReadyNAS community Web site that allows for drag-and-drop file access to the ReadyNAS NV+ through an Internet connection via HTTPS. While we were easily able to connect to the ReadyNAS NV+ remotely, an apparent limitation or bug in the current firmware resulted in some problems with privileges. Specifically, when we revised or created files and folders remotely, they became "read-only" and required permissions to be manually changed through the control panel. A post on the ReadyNAS message board confirmed this behavior, which, while not a deal breaker, is certainly inconvenient. Though the RAID configuration we chose has built-in redundant storage, we nonetheless decided to create nightly backups for even more peace of mind. We connected an external USB drive to the front USB port, and once the drive was recognized, it was a matter of seconds and a simple push of a button to schedule a daily backup of our main work folder. Built-in FTP, iTunes, and Other Features
The NV+ features many add-ons and extras that we were able to easily install, either through the control panel or by downloading software updates and documentation from the ReadyNAS community Web site. The ReadyNAS includes a built-in print server and an FTP server that were easy to set up. It also features a built-in Web server, which we successfully tested by creating simple Web pages. The built-in iTunes streaming server worked like a charm. After copying over MP3s into the designated folder, the songs automatically showed up in the iTunes folder of the networked computers. The ReadyNAS NV+ also has built-in support for Squeezebox music players, UPnP AV devices, and streaming playback of videos, music, and photos from networked DVD and media players. Based on the ease of use with the iTunes server, we assume a similarly uncomplicated process. The ReadyNAS also has a built-in BitTorrent client, add-ons for a photo slideshow application, SSH access, and much more. Included Back-Up Software
NETGEAR bundles a five-user license for EMC Retrospect Professional for Windows and a five-user license for EMC Retrospect Desktop for Macintosh. After installation on a desktop, we could easily automate and schedule backups of our desktops onto the NV+. EMC Retrospect is a pro-grade backup software offering powerful features superior to many bundled backup programs. Conclusions The ReadyNAS NV+ is a powerful, attractive, and flexible Network Attached Storage device that would work great in a home setting or even a small-to-medium office setting. It offers much of the functionality of a dedicated server, while requiring a small amount of space. Since set up is mostly plug-and-play, it does not require a dedicated IT personnel to manage, which is a huge bonus for home use or for a business on a budget. As noted, the manual does not give all the answers. Fortunately, the strong online community and Web forums offer excellent support and services. And finally, the ReadyNAS NV+ is backed by an industry-leading 5-year warranty, so you can rest assured that you'll be protected should anything go wrong.
Whisper quiet, and about the size of a shoebox, the NETGEAR RND4250 ReadyNAS NV+ 1TB Gigabit Desktop Network Storage device offers homes and small businesses an easy-to-configure and cost-effective way to store your data and serve your digital media. With its several advanced server features, you will have true peace of mind knowing that your irreplaceable data is safe and secure. 
The ReadyNAS NV+ offers an easy-to-configure and cost-effective way to store your data and stream your digital media. View larger. | 
Use the ReadyNAS+ to stream music and video, share network printers, and share files across multiple platforms. | | The NETGEAR ReadyNAS NV+: - Store and protect up to 4 terabytes of data
- Serve files easily across Windows, Mac and Linux platforms
- Back-up data automatically
- Stream music and video across multiple devices
- Share network printers
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Not much bigger than a shoebox, the NETGEAR ReadyNAS NV+ 1 TB Gigabit Desktop Network Storage device is compact, but powerful. | 
 | True Protection for your Data Chances are that you've got a huge portion--if not all--of your business data or personal life digitized. Your kids' birthday videos, photos, important tax records, customer files, music--it's all digital. Until recently an external hard drive has done the job. But your storage solution is near capacity, and you now realize that it won't be long before your 24/7 usage burns it out. And when that happens, you will either have to kiss everything you've ever created good-bye, or pay a pretty penny trying to retrieve it all. The NETGEAR ReadyNAS NV+ is an ultra-compact box filled with two 500 gigabyte disks, designed to fit easily on your desktop. NETGEAR also offers the Ready NAS NV+ in the ReadyNAS 4x500GB Drives, ReadyNAS 4x250GB Drives, and several other configurations. Once connected to your network, you can store and protect all of your digital data and stream your digital media. What truly causes heads to turn with the ReadyNAS NV+ is its RAID functionality, along with its own X-RAID technology. Combined, these two features that are normally found only in high-end servers will ensure that your data will never be corrupted or lost due to hardware failure. The device's RAID functionality, or Redundant Array of Independent Disks, copies, splits and shares your data across the hard disks within the device, so that should one of the drives fail, the data can be rebuilt with the remaining drives. Without RAID, once a failure occurs, you risk losing all of the data stored on the drive. ReadyNAS's patent pending X-RAID technology automates the volume expansion as you scale from the two included disks to four disks. (The ReadyNAS NV+ includes additional expansion slots for two additional hard drives.) In short, X-RAID automatically manages the RAID details for you, so you don't have to spend the hours that it normally takes to format the disks. Simply put, you won't find a simpler or more secure way to protect and store your data. Data Back-up, Monitoring and File Serving
With the ReadyNAS NV+, the days of storing your digital files across several computers or storage devices are over. This device is scalable to up to four terabytes of data, which means that you can bring all of your data together for fast and easy access and file serving to multiple clients simultaneously. And as any small business knows, having a sound backup strategy is essential. With the help of ReadyNAS NV's EMC Retrospect backup and recovery software, you can set automatic backups of all of your network clients to your ReadyNAS. Additionally, the device includes an integrated backup manager that enables one-button backup to an external USB HDD for offsite rotation, or to remote servers for even greater security. If something should go wrong with one of your disks or if performance has been compromised, the ReadyNAS NV+ offers advanced-server monitoring features that alert you via email when something is amiss. The device will also shut itself down if the operating temperatures of the disks are too high. Media Streaming
But don't think that the ReadyNAS NV+ doesn't know how to have fun. If video or other media is your business or passion, you can use your ReadyNAS for streaming to multiple devices at the same time without the need to keep your desktop computers running. The ReadyNAS includes built-in media servers, including Slimserver and iTunes, that will let you stream audio and video to devices on your network. Easy Set-up and Other Features
With an easy-to-use Web browser interface and setup wizard, ReadyNAS can be configured quickly. Simply plug the device into your network, power up, and you'll be ready to go. The ReadyNAS NV+ also includes three USB ports, which can be used to connect a USB printer, a back-up power supply, external drives and more. The device measures 7.9 x 5.2 x 8.7 inches (H x W x D), and weighs 10 pounds without the disks. The ReadyNAS NV+ includes a five-year warranty.
What's in the Box
ReadyNAS NV+ 2 hard disk trays (each with 500 GB HDD), 2 hard disk trays (with no HDD), getting started guide, warranty card, power cable, Ethernet cable, ReadyNAS Installation CD (ReadyNAS Discovery Utility, 5-Client EMC Retrospect Professional for Windows, 5 Client EMC Retrospect Desktop for Macintosh), and 16 screws for future HDD installation.
MPN: RND4250 - UPC: 606449054101
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Customer Reviews
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has a major software bug
By A1RDFA5BVYWVVF on 2008-03-01
I own a large number of NetGear (formerly Infrant) NAS devices. After NetGear bought the company, they came out with a new version of the embedded OS of those devices that looks like it is mostly just a cosmetic update that changes the name Infrant to NetGear.
Unfortunately, it also introduces a very serious and reproducible bug for Apple Macintosh users. When you mount one of the NAS boxes running the new version of the OS under AppleShare, a file copied to the NAS box always gets today's date as its creation date. Strangely, if you copy a folder, the folder date is set correctly to the original creation date of the source folder, but the files contained inside of it lose their original creation dates.
This bug occurs ONLY under the new version of the OS (4.00), not under the previous version (3.01). It occurs both under OS X 10.4 and 10.5.
I have spent considerable time on hold and on the phone with NetGear technical support, and they claim this is a problem with the AFS file protocol. I don't know how they can make this claim when quite evidently everything works just fine under the previous version of their own software, but the gentleman on the phone basically told me something to the effect of "nobody uses AFS anyway, so why should we care".
If you are an Apple owner and are considering a NAS box, you may want to hold off on purchasing a NetGear device for the time being. Using Samba file sharing is not really an option either, because that severely limits your file naming possibilities. This is a real error and NetGear needs to fix it.
So far so good
By A3IXID1A472LTN on 2007-08-16
I bought an NV+ 1GB with no drives and populated it with my own seagate 500GB 7200.10 drives, which saved me about $150 over the price of buying a 2TB unit.
Results so far are very good. Installing the drives and getting the NAS up and synchronized was easy and went just like the instructions said. I started at 9pm and by morning the unit was initialized and ready to receive files. Using the X-Raid setting the device shows 1.3TB available for storage.
I set it up to share media, documents, and software/drivers within our home network, a combination of wired and wireless-G. Other than the hours it took to move 500GB of videos/music/photos from the desktop via 100-Base T to the NV+, performance in accessing files with the wired desktop and 2 wireless laptops is very good. Home movies stream to wireless laptops without loss of frames or hesitation in playback.
The iTunes server is a nice feature and works very well with all our PCs. Another good feature is the SMTP server to email warnings and info to my cellphone-it sent me a message the first night after it completed initialization and synchronization. However, I hope I never get another message from it because it will probably mean bad news.
I successfully backed up 2 laptops and 1 desktop to the backup share, but I'm still trying to figure out how to back up the NV+ itself so I can store backups off-site.
So far a great unit. Small, attractive case, easy to set up and use.
Fast, works great with Windows and Linux
By AA5OUA5UDBBWH on 2007-12-01
It's a little more expensive than other brands I've seen, but I'm very happy with it and didn't mind spending a little more to get exactly what I wanted.
It works great with my Linux and Windows computers at home (and also works with Mac, although I don't have one to test with). For Windows you map a drive through Windows Explorer, for Linux you run "mount" using NFS.
I was able to share and use the same files/directories on both operating systems without any problems. The fact it works so well with Linux was a big reason I bought this over other brands I looked at. However, note that according to its documentation, its print server only supports Windows and Mac clients. For me that's less of an issue since I primarily use my Linux for development and can print everything on Windows.
It came ready to go out of the box, the disks were already set up for X-RAID, their proprietary RAID technology that's basically RAID-5 but manages volume expansion so you can add/replace disks more easily. It also offers RAID 0, 1 and 5, although since it has 4 disk drive bays and drives are so cheap now, I'd recommend only using RAID 5 or X-RAID. It's hot swappable so you can replace disks without shutting it down. If a single drive fails, you can replace it without losing any data (except RAID 0).
If you want to use RAID 0/1/5 instead of the default X-RAID, change it before you move files to the system (or back them up first), since according to their documentation changing it will erase all of the data.
It supports gigabit ethernet speeds, but my PCs don't yet, so the transfer rate copying files to the ReadyNAS was about 3-4 MB/sec, and about 9-10 MB/sec copying from it. According to CNET's editor review, they were able to write a 5 GB test file to it in 18 minutes, and read the file back from it in 13 minutes (the 13 min read time was the fastest of any of the NAS servers they tested).
The RAIDar software it comes with found it on the network right away. Among other things, RAIDar shows you the current RAID status, disk usage, fan speed, and the temperatures of the unit and each drive.
The web interface provides alot of control over it. One feature I really like is that you can configure it to send alerts to multiple email addresses (and text messages to your cell phone) for various conditions such as drive failures, excess temperatures, disk quotas exceeded, power failures (if UPS connected), etc. Another feature I like is an option to let the drives sleep after a configurable period of inactivity.
With the latest firmware, I was also able to use SSH to connect directly to its filesystem. Obviously you want to be careful if you do this to avoid changing/deleting system files. That would not be good.
Only a few issues so far:
- I can't access the ReadyNAS while connected to my office's VPN, but that's a security "feature" of the VPN software to secure the company's network and also to prevent IP address collisions. Just thought I should mention it in case other people have the same problem. The VPN software is configurable to disable this, but turning it off leads to other problems since my home network subnet is also used at work (they tell us to use a specific subnet at home to avoid collisions but my router doesn't allow changing the subnet).
- The web interface uses javascript alert pop ups for every confirmation, which gets a little tiring. But I can live with it, considering how much control the web interface gives you over the ReadyNAS. Hopefully they'll change this in a future firmware update.
- Its built-in SMTP to send the email alerts didn't work for me; I had to provide my own email account's SMTP settings to get it to work. Their user guide indicated that some network issues require this, although I'm not sure why mine did.
- As mentioned above, the print server doesn't support Linux.
I haven't used all of its features yet, but so far I really like it and am glad I went with this one.
UPDATE 10/29/08: The latest firmware updated the web interface. It doesn't work with Firefox 3.0, but I have the IETab Firefox extension so I set it up to use Internet Explorer.
Very Pleased! Easy, Quick, Safe
By A1IUANSOUF93LY on 2007-09-04
It was a tough quest to find the right NAS. I tried a couple that were weak. But this NAS is by far the best I have had. It was a sigh of relief during the setup. Easy, straight forward, smarter system. I have been using it regularly for a month and I have so very happy with it.
As a print server, media server, it works great as well! Most important, this baby is expandable. I suggest buying the 1TB and expanding down the road since drives are always cheaper as time goes by.
Enjoy safe, fast, secure data!
Buy this one
By A1QX55C1AJ31DY on 2007-10-20
After some really bad experiences with other Network Attached Storage, I finally spent the money and got this one. It is expensive but it really does the job. I use it to back up all my documents including my photostock and I really need something I can trust. This one has real RAID, so if/when it loses a harddrive, you can re-build it. Well engineered, excellent software, and a real manual. One minor complaint, the fan may be a little too loud to use in your media room.
- Great idea, but flawed
By A3V808U085H2BG on 2007-10-25
We needed shared storage with redundancy, and the ability to back itself up to an externally attached drive. Both key features of this product. The setup interface is simple and easy to use. It has lightning fast connections to our Macs with 1000baseT. And it looks cool! Unfortunately we've experienced two major issues with it since purchase: it fails to backup to our remote USB drive (one that is on the list of acceptable according to Netgear), and we're having issues with our shares ever since upgrading the recommended firmware. Customer service has been slow with very little answers. After months of not having our issues fully addressed, we decided to move to another solution for our workgroup.
- Easy NAS and RAID setup
By AZT5OA0Q9BP3A on 2007-09-29
The ReadyNAS product was very easy to setup, add additional drives, reconfigure, etc. This is much easier than trying to setup Maxtor shared storage. I would recommend this product even though it is a little more expensive but the ease of use is worth it. This is a perfect home RAID/NAS device to protect your digital photos, music, movies, and important data.
- Great Device Until NetGear Bought The Company
By A4NCKWGU22N89 on 2008-04-23
This device is very functional, great pricing, robust, full of features and add-ons. Maybe not the fastest NAS on the block, but for home use, holding huge amounts of data, and streaming media back to us, was always great. Reasonable web-based interface as well. Right up until NetGear took over and brought out the latest firmware upgrade. Never had a problem before, but this upgrade, which should not touch your data volume, messes with the volume format without warning, irreversibly, and large numbers of people have had problems with their units afterward. Mine won't boot with the new firmware, and if I go back to the old version I can no longer access my data. Essentially turned my NAS into an expensive brick, and tech support is unhelpful as they have no real resolution.
Save yourself some headaches and Do Not Buy. Was a great company, oh well.
- Great storage solution
By A3E8RDNHZ0WLEV on 2008-04-29
I have attached this to our home network with an iMac, a PC and a Mac Mini attached to our TV. I use it to store music, photos and video. I got a sony hi def video camera at christmas so I already have an enormous amount of hi def video (imported through imovie). My network is connected with gigabit ethernet using an apple airport. The last NAS I had did not stream the HD video fast enough (using SMB) to the computers or the TV. This NAS works perfectly. I can stream HD video from it through the mini to the tv with no delays or glitches in the sound or video. I got it with 2 500 GB drives and added two 320 drives I had from the old NAS. It works perfectly but unfortunately when you mix different size drives and use the default x-raid setting, it sees all of the drives as the same size as the smallest. So I am not utilizing 180 GB (500-320) from the two 500 GB drives. My total storage capacity is approximaetly 900 GB while the raw capacity is 1,640. I do not yet need even the 900 GB so it isn't that big of a deal. I will just keep my eye open for 2 more 500 GB drives on sale to increase the capacity when needed. All other functions work great. As I mentioned I am in a mac centric network so the AFP file sharing protocol is great - probably why the trasnfer rates are high enough to support HD video.
- great product. with a few execptions
By A14WHI4W51217C on 2007-12-21
Overall I really like this product. It is fast and easy to use. The exception to that is the initial load. It took 2 and a half days of nearly constant transferring to load up 1.2 T, I can't remember the exact speeds but it was double what I expected. The only other issue I have had is with the print server. I have a HP printer which like many of todays printers requires a separate software install. If you Can Not have windows auto install your printer without downloading additional drivers, you are Not going to be able to use this product as your print server.
- A piece of junk
By AQLZ1LOYRGSR4 on 2008-04-05
I brought this and 4 500 GB WD drives to backup my system. It hanged twice this morning and a dozen times since I purchased couple month ago. I am not heavy user, only turn it on when I need it, run a day or two continuously. I am usually just copying a lot of small files (20000 files ranging from 20KB to 300MB).
Everytime it hangs, there is no way to shut it down except unplug the power. This will trigger a filesystem check, which take hours. Worst yet, I had one occasion that the fs check stuck and I have to unplug the power again.
At this point, I am just afraid of losing my data. That's the reason I am backing up all my file from the ReadyNAS onto a RAID 1 eSATA local drive using a Rosewill adapter.
If you care about your data, don't use this as backup. It cause me more problem than using USB or local drive.
- This is an excellent NAS
By A3CKI6VEH0HBMJ on 2008-02-10
I had the Netgear NV+ up and running in about 10 minutes. Very easy to configure, create directories and get all the computers on the network to see and use. We moved our Quickbook files onto the NAS NV+ and are stored for all computers on the network to access them from there. It's quick and safe because we are using the drives redundently in case one fails.
I am doing all backups of all non application files (documents, photos, ect.) onto the NV+ for each of the networked computers also.
- Nice, easy but slow
By A14YVY8UKCV1T8 on 2008-02-14
The item is pretty easy to use right out of the box, it wasn't too hard to configure for sharing. However, I'm unimpressed with the speed, it just seems slow. The NAS is plugged directly into a gigabit switch port, so I'm a bit surprised and disappointed to notice the speed difference.
- Love It
By ARHT4NKVRYYA8 on 2008-09-15
I have to be honest in saying that I was excited to receive this and get it setup on my home network to server as my central backup. Within days of operation one of the drives started complaining and the 'smart' errors starting increasing. A call to Netgear's customer support and a new drive was on its way - no charge - not even shipping.
It is now working great. It took some time to get it setup and configured they way I need to use it, but not it is working great!
I would recommend it to anyone.
- Pricey, but worth it
By A3OMJNYBG168ZU on 2008-10-15
The ReadyNAS NV+ is not cheap when compared with other storage options, but you may not be comparing apples to apples. The number of built-in features on the NV+ is quite impressive, and the ease of setup and use is fantastic. First, the NV+ is a real NAS, equipped with gigabit ethernet, so if you plan to share your storage device among multiple computers, keep that in mind. Some other storage devices have only a USB connection to hook to a single computer, or may include only the somewhat slower 100 megabit ethernet connection. Many modern computers come with gigabit ethernet by default these days, and it makes multi-gigabyte backups much faster. I personally am backing up two Mac laptops via Time Machine, and one Windows desktop through NT backup (when I remember).
Second, the NV+ includes support for multiple network protocols. It has SMB, AFS and NFS support, for seamless integration with Windows, Mac, and Unix systems out of the box. It also contains FTP and HTTP support so you can access your files remotely, and the rsync command, so you can easily schedule backups of Unix systems. In addition, although I haven't personally used any of them yet, it can act as a streaming server for iTunes media or other media servers.
Third, the expandable X-RAID setup is amazing. I bought my NV+ pre-loaded with 2x500Gb drives, which gave me plenty of usable space to start with. I recently found myself with an extra 500Gb SATA drive that I didn't actually need, so I decided to add it to the RAID. I simply flipped open the front cover, slid out the drive tray, attached the drive to the tray, and then slid it back in. The NV+ started rebuilding the RAID as soon as I slid the drive all the way in, and when it was finished, notified me that the new storage would be available after a restart. I restarted the NAS, and it now contains 916Gb of usable space. Incredible! This gives me great confidence in the expandability of the device for future use.
Finally, there are many other great touches to the NV+. It will interoperate with UPS devices connected via USB, and can automatically power down in case of an extended power outage. You can attach and share a printer or USB storage device to the included USB ports. There's a one-touch backup button on the front of the device that you can press to backup selected shares to an attached USB storage device. The NAS is quiet enough to keep in a home office, and so small that it will easily fit anywhere. It's dwarfed by my small desktop machines, and too quiet to be heard over their fan noise.
Overall I would recommend the ReadyNAS NV+ to anyone who needs a networked storage solution for multiple computers. It's easy to use, has a great feature set, and is expandable for the future.
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Netgear RND4250 ReadyNAS NV+ 1 TB Desktop Network Storage (2x500GB) Accessories
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| Product Features |
- Advanced Network Attached Storage device with 1 TB capacity; ideal for small businesses and work groups
- X-RAID technology for automatic data redundancy; supportsindustry standard RAID 0/1/5
- Built-in printer server, iTunes server and streaming media server for DLNA-compliant devices such as NETGEAR EVA8000, Sonos Digital Music System, Logitech Squeezebox,Sony Playstation 3 and Microsoft Xbox 363
- Whisper quiet operations; advanced power controls for energy-efficient use
- Measures a compact 7.9 x 5.2 x 8.7 inches (HxWxD); 5-year warranty
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