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Netgear RND4250 ReadyNAS NV+ 1TB Gigabit Network Attached Storage (2 x 500GB)

RND4250 ReadyNAS NV+ 1TB Gigabit Network Attached Storage (2 x 500GB)
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Most recent User Reviews for

Netgear RND4250 ReadyNAS NV+ 1TB Gigabit Network Attached Storage (2 x 500GB)

  • Reviewed by: sierra_nevadas

    09-15-08

    Duration of ownership: 1 Months

    Strengths: Easy to use; great user community; good tech support; easy to upgrade RAM

    Weaknesses:Expensive; uses older technology

    Overall Evaluation: I had an original Infrant ReadyNAS before Netgear bought them up. I sold it when I got a Windows Home Server, only to regret the decision afterwards. As a result, I bought a replacement, now with the Netgear name. The only difference between the Netgear and Infrant boxes is the name on the front of the box! Oh, and the price is considerably higher!! If you shop around, this is probably one of the more expensive NAS boxes. I think prices will come down soon, as the competion is heating up. What the ReadyNAS has going for it is a great user community, excellent forums and good technical support. I easily upgraded the RAM from 256MB to 1GB, using instructions found on their support web-site. I use the X-RAID setup, and it's really easy to do. I replaced the two 500GB drives with four 1TB drives, and the process is a breeze. At one point I had a bad drive, and the replacement was also quite easy. Hot swap is supported, so I just pulled out the offending drive. I waited a few minutes for the system to recognize this event, then inserted the replacement drive. The system did a resync, and after about 8-hours, I was fully RAID protected again. Meanwhile, I was still able to use the system, albeat with reduced performance.

  • Reviewed by: mschwaberow

    03-23-08

    Duration of ownership:

    Strengths: -Compact Form Factor-Reliable-X-RAID allows easy expansion-Intuitive web interface-Several file sharing protocols for ease of use-Fantastic tech support-Great expandability through use of add-on

    Weaknesses:-Louder than expected-Slow when initially browsing the shares in Windows, then speeds up-Must reboot between add-on installations

    Overall Evaluation: This is a great little box that does everything it advertises and more. It's speedy (20MB/s write, 34MB/s read), tiny, and just all around great. It's very flexible. There are several add-ons that allow extra functionality such as a download manager for http and bittorrent downloads (works as advertised) and a photo gallery (also works well). The company also provides an add-on that allows root ssh access as well as an apt-get tool so you can install nearly any linux package out there. I've installed php in addition to the already included MySQL and Apache to allow for a great little web server that can run all kinds of tools (gallery2, Joomla, etc.). One minor annoyance is that you have to reboot the box between add-on installs.I recently added a third 500 gig drive to the device. The process was nearly seamless, but there was a snag after the drive was initialized and expansion began - an error dialog came up with some cryptic error. A quick post to the ReadyNAS forums received an even faster response from a member of the ReadyNAS team (on a Saturday night, no less) - reboot. After that, everything worked fine.Overall, a fantastic product that allows for all the hacking and tweaking you'd like to put into it. The support on the product forums is exceptional.

  • Reviewed by: scbv

    03-16-08

    Duration of ownership: