NETGEAR ReadyNAS Ultra 4 (4-bay, diskless) Network Attached Storage, latest generation RNDU4000 Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)It has been a while since I've gotten a new NAS system, and I am totally impressed with this unit. It has been almost totally painless. Now all the computers at my house can have plenty of backup storage, and easily share all the data, video, photo, and music files you are likely to have.

MY ENVIRONMENT

I am a Computer Engineer - been in the field for 35 years, so I'm fussy about my hardware. I have a house hardwired with CAT5 plus a WiFi router. The main machines are Macs, but there are some Windows computers too. This unit supports Time Machine - and the support works perfectly and painlessly. I also have a couple of DLNA media devices, so that is an important feature. The ReadyNAS also lets you plugin USB drives and they instantly become available on the network as well - so all my old external USB drives are not useless with this upgrade.

THE GOOD (Great, actually)

* This device is as close to plug and play as I've seen in a long time. There is a somewhat lengthy setup - but we're dealing with Terabytes of disk space that has to get organized and set up properly for the X-RAID striping.

* You can plug in new drives to expand capacity as needed.

* Works seamlessly on a mixed Mac/Windows/DLNA media environment

* Redundant storage keeps going even after a single disk failure. I feel all my photos and videos are now safe (although I still keep an extra off-site backup, just in case.)

* Fast - almost as fast as a directly connected USB, but now available to all the computers in the house.

* Can install extra software to securely access your data from the web anywhere.

THE LESS THAN GOOD

* There is a setting on the Network Interfaces called MTU. The default setting didn't work quite right for Macs - changing it to 1492 fixed things. But a call to NETGEAR's support actually solved the issue, so I'd rate their support very good.

* Not cheap - but I've spent years generating all my video, photos, and music - and I think the easy interface to this all is worth the price.

* The concept of 'Shares' is not really explained as well as I would have liked.
WHICH UNIT TO GET?

I decided I would spend a bit more for this unit - it is the latest technology - over the older NETGEAR units. I decided the 4 disk unit and single core unit would probably have the best cost/benefit ration. With this unit, using Western Digital 2 TB Caviar Green SATA Intellipower 64 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive WD20EARS (they seem to work flawlessly so far - even though the aren't yet on the compatibility list for this unit), you can get up to 6TB of redundant storage (recovers from a single drive failure). I'd guess they will eventually support 3 to 4 TB drives.

Click Here to see more reviews about: NETGEAR ReadyNAS Ultra 4 (4-bay, diskless) Network Attached Storage, latest generation RNDU4000

Product Description:
The NETGEAR ReadyNAS Ultra series deliver the power you need to run bleeding-edge applications and the flexibility you want to store, share and protect your prized multimedia collections. Two Gigabit Ethernet Ports deliver ultra-fast connections, while three USB ports offer the flexibility for users to connect other devices with a USB connection (e.g., printer servers, external USB storage devices or digital cameras). These multimedia desktop storages are ideal for media enthusiasts with large digital media libraries who want to take their media files wherever they go. X-RAID2 - Manage volume expansion automatically as you add new hard drives or replace existing drives with larger capacity drives. ReadyNAS Remote - Get secure drag-and-drop remote access without complicated network setups. ReadyNAS Vault - Backup critical files off-site for added security and peace of mind, then access and restore them remotely online. Rsync - Replicate and synchronize files between two ReadyNAS devices. TiVo compatible - Archive your favorite television programs and play them back to any TiVo DVR in your home. Media shifting with Skifta - Access multimedia content from your ReadyNAS while you're away from home on connected DLNA devices. Transcoding with Orb - Convert multimedia content for optimal streaming on mobile devices. Automatic backups - Back up three computers (PC or Mac) continuously using Memeo Premium Backup and restore any previous version of a file with a simple right-click.

Get 6% OFF

Want to read more honest consumer review about NETGEAR ReadyNAS Ultra 4 (4-bay, diskless) Network Attached Storage, latest generation RNDU4000 now ?