My first NAS and I like it. I considered building one from scratch but I spend enough time doing that with my PC. I chose the ReadyNAS because it can back up my PC as well as remote backup family members (PC & Mac), has support for Squeezebox (used by my two Logitech Squeezebox Touch devices), TiVo support (useless unless DirecTV releases their promised TiVo DVR to replace their lame custom DVR). I picked the 6 bay one so I can start with 2 x Seagate Constellation ES 2 TB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s 64 MB Cache 3.5 Inch Internal Hard Drive ST32000644NS Bare Drive now and then add larger drives later as I need them and HDD capacities increase.
This review is a work in progress until the Ultra 6 Plus does everything I need it to do.
MAJOR LESSON LEARNED: Make sure you pick hard drives that are on the compatibility list:
I did make a mistake with my first two drives I got at the same time I pre ordered the ReadyNAS Ultra 6 Plus. Apparently Western Digital 2 TB Caviar Green SATA Intellipower 64 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive WD20EARS are not on the supported hardware list on the Netgear site. Sux, I wish I had noticed that during the day or two of research I did into NAS boxes. Maybe they need a simple how to buy guide that includes a link to the hcl list instead of springing it on you when the device arrives.
Installation:
1) You open the front cover, pop out some HDD enclosures (no tools needed) attach the drives to them using supplied screws (small philips needed) and slide them back in.
2) Attach power cord, hook up 1-2 ethernet ports.
3) Power up and during the 10 mins or so it formats the drives you install from a CD the RAIDar software to control the box.
4) Follow the RAIDar setup wizard, add some shares, change password, add self as a user.
5) Plug in APC 900VA 120V Backup-UPS XS900 (BX900) usb monitoring cable. It recognizes it and can even display an estimated remaining time left for it.
6) Update to RAIDiator 4.2.15 (x86) which updates the box firmware.
7) Coffee time as it spends about 5-6 hours doing stuff including syncing.
Everything is simplicity itself and shares are visible from the PC.
Problem:
The non-compatible drives did indeed not work. The ReadyNAS forums contain instructions to use "wdiddle3" to diddle the drives into working. This seems bad because you are disabling a feature on the drive you paid for and anecdotal evidence of it working seems inadequate. Instead I am upgrading to a pair of Seagate Constellation ES 2 TB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s 64 MB Cache 3.5 Inch Internal Hard Drive ST32000644NS Bare Drive. Way more expensive but they have 5 year warranties and better MTBF. As someone pointed out on the forums, the extra drive cost is insignificant compared to the cost of retrieving data off of failed drives. While I wait for these to ship I am up and running with a pair of Western Digital 2 TB Caviar Black SATA 7200 RPM 64 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive WD2001FASS drives from Fryes, which are identical to the constellations but lacking some vibration control features. Hopefully ReadyNAS will add more of the cheap WD Green line to the compatibility list.
One day I need to do the math of cheap RAID drives vs expensive RAED drives and the MTBF implications. RAED (Redundant Array of Expensive Disks) is: harsh on the pocket book; not in the spirit of RAID; not a real word.
Remote Access:
The ReadyNAS Remote software is quite nice for accessing from a remote location. Basically you install, follow a simple wizard, supply it with your email address and a user name. This gets stored on a NetGear server (I assume), since it takes about 5 minutes or so to become available. At that point, using the ReadyNAS web interface, you look up the email address and assign that person access and file space. They now have access and can mount folders they have access to. The email rigmarole is to get around needing the ReadyNAS on a static ip. In a couple of years after the ipv6 switch this kind of thing will no longer be necessary.
The process is simple when following the web documentation. Confusing if you do not RTFM. I like UI to be explorable, needing docs means the UI is flawed imo. Still you can get the job done if you do in fact read the manual. The registration delay of the email address is also confusing as it makes it seem like it is not working.
I did not fully explore the remote aspects yet for PC as the connection I was on (at&t premium dsl, prolly 4Mbps down / 128KBs up) was flaky as hell. Write speeds to the Readynas ranged from an acceptable +/75 Kbps one day to 15 Kbps the next. By the next time I try this it will be a Charter cable modem with 50Mbps down / 5 Mbps up. That should eliminate network performance from the equation. Sigh, if only Verizon did not stop rolling out Fios.
The process worked quite easily from a friend's Mac. There is support for time machine if you have a Mac on the local network. I do not know if it is feasible over the internet.
Having the ReadyNAS on a static ip made all this remote work easy as I could get to the admin page remotely.
Backup:
The install CD contains 3 licenses for "Memeo Pro". This is sketchy as there are no recent reviews for them and the ones from 2008 are terrible. Filled with misgivings I bailed on it. I do not know why Memeo is bundled. It does not show up on any of the many backup software reviews I went through.
Instead I am using the built in Windows 7 backup to store the entire system image and all files and followed directions to save my encryption certificates as well. This should enable a full system restore. Additionally for the media folder I am using Microsoft's free SyncToy 2.1(x64) to mirror the media on my PC. This way I, and iTunes, can muck around on my PC and then sync to the ReadyNAS so SqueezeBox can play my music.
If I had to use paid backup software I would likely choose something like True Image Home 2011 Plus or Symantec Norton Ghost 15.0 (1 PC).
Raid:
Regular raid modes 0/1/5/6 are supported. The default is a proprietary X-RAID2. X-RAID2 lets you replace or add a drive at any time and then repeat after the sync completes. The web site has a good animation that explores how it works. It also allows you to run with 1 or 2 disk redundancy. I think this implies a performance hit as this is not a hardware accelerated function. The flexibility you get makes it worth it in my opinion.
Squeezebox:
Upgrading to the latest SqueezeCenter server software is easy and straightforward by following instructions on the web. After upgrading, a few management settings are all that is required to get the server running. Voila, NAS based music streaming. Performance seems fine on the 133 GB of music I have ripped so far. However I need to go back and separate out the cover art into a folder.jpg file for each CD folder. This would add more overhead, if only when scanning. More on that later.
Performance:
I used Iometer to run some local tests with the ReadyNAS Ultra 6 Plus on a network mapped drive. Sequential writes were about 83 Mbps, reads were 41 Mbps. This is with no performance tuning like using jumbo frames, teaming both network connections, etc. Sadly my NIC does not support jumbo frames and teaming is impractical since I have only a single ethernet port on the PC motherboard. More after I buy some gear to support this.
Opening up the share in explorer and dragging some files (3GB music folders) to and from it has windows reporting 55 Mbps (maybe my own drives are slow or only 5400rpm vs 7200rpm for the Constellations). The initial rates range up to 80 90 Mbps and then drop over time. That seems to indicate initial caching effects skewing the average.
The highest rate I saw so far was 155 Mbps, for syncing operations on the NAS itself.
The read speed being half the write speed is weird. I would expect read to be double the speed due to dual disk redundancy. However I am using a proprietary ReadyNAS "X-RAID2" mode that allows easy 1 disk at a time expansion / replacement which may just not behave as I would expect.
Networking:
The NAS has two gigabit ethernet ports. They can be teamed to provide increased throughput and fail over redundancy (assuming your router / switch supports it).
Impressions:
* Noise. On boot up it is extremely loud. 70 80 decibels. After a few minutes it settles down to
I purchased my ereader a couple of months ago but it didn't come with a case. I tried keeping it in my purse so when I was out and had time on my hands, I could pull it out and read. However, by using that method it was never charged because it would get turned on while in my purse. I ordered this case to protect the glass from scratches and breakage, and also to hopefully prevent accidental activation. So far, it has worked and the ereader is always ready for use. The case is soft and durable. It came with a set of ear buds, another item the ereader didn't come with, which are great. The case also came with a clip on handle that is available if I decide to use it. I think this case is great (and the color isn't bad neither).
