| | |  | Computer Accessories | Home » » NETGEAR ReadyNAS NV+ 4-Bay 2TB (4 x 500GB) | | | | | | | Description: | | At last, there is a Network Attached Storage device for small businesses and home offices that allows you to quickly and easily add capacity or swap out drives without down time. The automated RAID expansion is made possible by our patent pending X-RAID technology while hot swap support allows you to replace a disk without powering down the system. Leading performance is assured with our custom network storage microprocessor and a Gigabit Ethernet network port. ReadyNAS couples out of the box deployment and easy management with robust file serving and data redundancy. | | | Features: | |
• Advanced Network Attached Storage device with 2 TB capacity; ideal for small businesses and work groups
• X-RAID technology for automatic data redundancy; supportsindustry standard RAID 0/1/5
• Inbuilt printer server/iTunes server/streaming media server
• 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
• Servers compliant with DLNA-compliant NETGEAR EVA8000/Sonos Digital Music System/Logitech Squeezebox/Sony Playstation 3/MS Xbox 367
| | | Product Details: | | | Product Length:
| 8.74 inches | | Product Width:
| 5.2 inches | | Product Height:
| 7.87 inches | | Product Weight:
| 10.14 pounds | | Package Length:
| 14.0 inches | | Package Width:
| 12.6 inches | | Package Height:
| 12.5 inches | | Package Weight:
| 19.2 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 85 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 85 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
45 of 45 found the following review helpful:
 Fast, works great with Windows and LinuxDec 01, 2007
By JohnK-Seattle-WA
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.
33 of 34 found the following review helpful:
 So far so goodAug 16, 2007
By Timothy J. Troske
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.
20 of 21 found the following review helpful:
Buy this oneOct 20, 2007
By Colin Harrison
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.
28 of 31 found the following review helpful:
 Power Supply Melts/Fails, Customer Service Won't ReplySep 04, 2007
By MasterTech4523
"CambridgeTech"
I am not happy with this NAS. While it's a good product, it's something most of us need powered all the time. When I smelled something burning from it a year into owning it, I called customer service. They said they had a "bad batch" apparently and issued a new power supply. Or so I thought - it's been a month with no NAS and they still have not sent the part, which I have to install and replace myself by the way.
They didn't seem too concerned that a product they currently sell it melting for there customers. A NAS likely holds some of the most important data you have - can you trust something they ends of melting/burning itself??
NETGEAR needs to clean up it's RMA process, help customers and respond to simple requests.
9 of 9 found the following review helpful:
Power failure after 1 yearOct 18, 2008
By Sleepingdog
It seems to do all it is supposed to do though a little slow as far as I am concerned. Yet after less than a year the power supply unit failed and after checking on line this is a common problem. There is no quick fix or replacement. This makes me very nervous about the stability of this product.
See all 85 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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