Netgear RND2150 ReadyNAS Duo 500 GB Desktop Network Attached Storage

Amazon Customer Reviews

(5 out of 5)

RAID works, survives hard disk failure

What is Amazon Vine and why do these reviewers write so much stuff without saying anything? This review is for people who want to know only one thing: Does this device actually survive a disk failure? The answer is Yes.

My sister recently lost 2 of her external USB hard drives. She had to pay $3000 to a data recovery company to retrieve her data. I figure that $400 for a Netgear ReadyNAS Duo is small change, if it actually did what it claimed to do, which is survive a disk crash. The only way to know was to test it out.

I have about 40 GB worth of MP3 files stored on my Linux server, accessible to my Windows laptop using Samba as a network shared folder.

From my Windows laptop, I started copying the MP3 files into the \media share folder on the Duo. Over gigabit ethernet, I estimated a transfer speed of about 15-20 MB/second. More than I expected, considering the weak processing power of the embedded Linux computer on the Duo, and because there are 2 concurrent network copies going on, from Linux to Windows, then from Windows to Netgear. Gigabit ethernet is awesome.

While the copy was in progress, I inserted a second 750 GB hard disk (a Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 series if you are curious; my Duo came with one 500 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 installed) into the second slot. The Netgear recognized it and started to incorporate it into the RAID system in 2 steps: first, format the drive (an ext3 Linux filesystem I think), took about 2.5 hours; second, synchronize the data from the first disk to the second disk, took another 2.5 hours. During this time, the 40 GB MP3 file transfer continued without a hitch.

Next, I configured the Duo to enable NFS (Network File System) and mounted the /media folder onto my Linux box. Now I had access to both the original and the copy on the Duo. I ran a "diff -r" command to do a recursive binary diff between the two directories. Came out perfect, no file corruptions.

I went back to my Windows laptop, and started another 40 GB copy of my MP3 files to the Duo. While the write was in progress, I _removed_ the 500 GB disk. The Duo detected a disk failure within a few seconds, and sent off a notification email to my GMail account, warning me of a disk failure. You can configure the notification email address to send the message to, say, your SMS on your mobile phone. As before, the MP3 copy to the Duo continued without a burp.

I then inserted a second 750 GB drive into the first slot, while the copying was still in progress. The Duo formatted and synchronized the new disk, and after about 5-6 hours, I once again had a fully redundant RAID system. Did another 'diff -r' just to make sure the data was not corrupted. None found.

When upgrading from a single 500 GB to dual 750 GB disks, the proprietary Netgear X-RAID filesystem makes the process as painless as possible. After both disks are formatted and synchronized, all you need to do is click on a button in the admin web interface (don't remmeber the exact wording, something like "Expand Volume") to take advantage of the bigger disks.

In conclusion, I tested the Netgear Duo through a simulated hard disk crash and hot-swapping disk upgrade, and found that it performed perfectly, did not corrupt the files which were being written to it during the process. The Duo performs reasonably well (15-20 MB/sec write speed over gigabit ethernet) and costs only about $400, far cheaper than what you'd pay to recover your data after your disk crashes. It has an impressive list of other useful features (USB backup, USB printer, NFS, Rsync, FTP, Bittorrent, etc) that you can read about in other reviews. The most important question for me was, will it survive a disk crash? I won't know for sure until a disk really does crash, but based on my testing, I think the answer is Yes.

(4 out of 5)

Buit like a tank and oozing with functionality

Netgear's ReadyNAS Duo is one extremely solid piece of kit. From the moment you take it in your hands you'll be surprised at the solid weight, feel and case construction of this little black box. The ReadyNAS Duo feels almost industrial-strength and makes other PC hardware attachments with cheap plastic casing seem like toys in comparison. Right off the bat, as first impressions go the ReadyNAS Duo gets a big thumbs up for exuding sexy form factor design and quality in spades.

Setup couldn't be any easier. Getting it up and running took, literally, less then 10 minutes. Unbox the device, use the included ethernet cable to plug the device into your network router and install the Netgear software to your host PC. Bang, Bang, Done. Once I got my network to recognize the device (no problems there) I was really surprised at just how whisper quiet the drive is while in full operational mode. After spending a few hours transferring various media files I felt some slight heat radiating from the drive but nothing really to be concerned about. In fact, the low power consumption of the Duo is worth noting - in its idle state the Duo uses just 27 watts of power and only a few more when the disk is in use. In disk spin down mode, a mere 12w is used.

My current home network setup consists of a desktop PC, a wireless laptop, a series 3 TiVo, a PS3 and a PSP. The Duo is a terrific addition for my home needs as I was able to fill it with 30 gb's of MP3's, 15 gb's of photo images and a 100 gb's of home videos, etc. and still had hundreds of gigabytes to spare. Because the drive is networked and piped through ethernet cabling transferring large data files from the PC to the Duo is blazing fast. Magnitudes faster then going through USB2.0/firewire which is the speeds I was previously accustomed to. I've now been using the Duo for 2 solid weeks with zero problems or hiccups to report thus far. Using a NAS device for the first time has really been a nice change as I no longer have to rely on keeping the desktop PC powered up 24/7 in order to allow my various networked devices access to my music, photos, videos, etc. Those of you looking for a decent media server option to put your PS3 and set-top media boxes to proper use will find immense value and functionality from the Duo.

In any case I would highly recommed the Duo to anyone in need of a Network Attached Storage device. Sure, the price is a bit higher than your run of the mill external hard drives but what you are paying for is the solid overall construction of the Duo, a terrific 3 year warranty and oodles of various functionality to meet the needs of various types of users. In my 2 weeks of usage I've barely scratched the surface of what the Duo can do as my needs on a home network are fairly standard - but rest assured that the Duo has all the bells and whistles (data backup utilities, BitTorrent functionality not dependant on your PC running, Shadow backups, a full array of email notifiable alerts, easy upgradability, setting user storage quotas, assignment of user logins, power monitoring, etc, etc, etc) that you'd expect from such a RAID NAS device.

(5 out of 5)

The ReadyNAS Duo Is Extremely Cool

The ReadNAS Duo (RND for short) is an extremely cool addition to my network. I had it up and running fast with no problems. The web interface allows you to administer all the settings in both Wizard and Advanced mode. After the initial setup, the RND will show up in your network neighborhood on your network. You can then map a drive letter to it and start copying and sharing files. I moved all our pictures to this device and will eventually start using the picture sharing service. I also moved all our mp3 files to the media share so I could stream them to various devices on the network.

I added a second 500GB hard drive to the RND a week after I set it up. Adding the drive was easy. You just open the front door, pull out the empty cage, insert the drive and plug it back in. All without turning the RND off. You can give the RND your email address and smtp server info and it will email you status messages. When it was done formatting and mirroring the new drive, I got an email that all was well.

I was upset at first that you couldn't set the unit to Raid 0 and add a second 500gb drive to bump up the overall size. I wrote to tech support and the tech assured me (multiple times) that you could do a factory reset and then the unit would allow you to pick a raid level other than Raid-X. Over the next few days, I decided that a Raid X was a good idea since I put all our family pictures on it and having a backup sounded pretty good. So I didn't try setting it to Raid 0. After all if all you want is a terabyte drive you can get a WD one cheaper than the ReadyNAS.

The RND is able to run a bunch of different services. I put our mp3 library on it and use Sqeezecenter to stream to my Logitech Squeezebox Duet Network Music System. After updating the Squeezecenter software on the RND it worked great. This means I don't have to run Squeezecenter on a PC anymore.

What I really like:

- Running Squeezecenter for my Squeezebox Duet.
- Very small good looking unit.
- Ability to plug in USB drives and share them through the RND
- 1gb network speed allows very fast network transfers with a 1gb switch. I upgraded my switches and network cards in order to take advantage of this.
- Easy setup
- Automated backup jobs
- Enough settings and controls to make a computer geek happy
- Adding a drive is simple and the unit emailed me when it was done
- Having all my pictures and mp3s mirrored in case of a drive failure
- After you know the ip address of the unit, you can access the web interface from any computer on your network without installing any extra software.

Possible Concerns:

- Price - It seems high, but this isn't just a USB drive. It's a stand alone hot swappable raid device that runs various network services. It is not your standard home network add on. It can do a lot of cool things.
- Noise - I did notice the noise level, but it didn't bother me.
- Updates - The plugins/services that the ReadyNAS shipped with will need to be updated as soon as you get it. This is a new device and they improving and fixing things on a daily basis.
- I've had no hardware or software problems over the 3 weeks the unit has been up and running.
- When picking a drive to add to the RND make sure to check the drive compatibility chart on the NetGear site.

(5 out of 5)

What a great product and Amazon Price !

I purchased this Netgear ReadyNAS DUO RND-2150 to replace a D-Link NAS DNS-323. I wanted the ability to increase my drive size without having to restore the current files from an off NAS backup. (Not available with the D-Link product. I had read several reviews and I was impressed with what I had learned from the reviews.
My oreder from Amazon arrived within 2 days and I was up and running with the Originally Purchased hardware. The RND-2150 comes with 1 500 Gig HD. After I had set it up and got it working, I was up and running in 15 minutes, I copied the files over from the D-Link NAS and then checked to make sure everything was as it was supposed to be, I took down the D-Link NAS. My next step 3 days later, was to install a 750 Gig HD and see what happened. This is where the wonder started. The RND-2150 is hot swappable. So I installed the newer larger drive in the removable drive tray and plugged it into the device. The RND-2150 took care of the who thing automatically. Mirroring the new drive did take about 5 hours BUT the unit was still accessible while the mirroring was going on. A week later, I wanted to replace the 500 Gig with an identical 750 Gig. With the system running, I removed the 500 Gig, secured the new 750 Gig into the tray and plugged it in. Once again the RND-2150 was off and running automatically. Progress is monitored by a Windows Netgear Interface "RAIDAR" that comes along with the package and buy e-mail notifications sent out buy the RND-2150 as things progress.
Everything turned out just perfect after I did a reboot of the NAS after the mirroring was completed. The RND-2150 expanded the mirror to utilize the full size of the mirrored 750 Gig drives.
Now the 500 Gig drive is off to ebay and I am extremely happy.
I am using StorageCrafts ShadowProtect to do weekly backups of the 2 main home computers and I am using the included NTI Shadow for ReadyNAS to do realtime backups of both systems My Documents. Along with storage for the Music and Family Photos, this is a great product

(5 out of 5)

When Stuff is This Cool, I Get Excited

Netgear ReadyNAS Duo (Network Accessible Storage) Home Media Server for music, photos, videos, and it also doubles as an ideal backup server. It comes with a second drive bay with a removable rack, so you can easily make it a RAID secure environment, instantaneously making a mirrored copy of everything. It comes with NTI Shadow software, enabling each workstation in a network, whether it is a PC or a MAC, to be set up for continuous backup. This is way more than just a backup device. It thinks. With 256 Meg of SDRAM, and 64 Megs of flash memory built in, it becomes a backup, and media streaming server with a ton of usable capabilities.

Setup couldn't be easier. Plug the Ethernet cable into your router, and then plug the power supply into an electrical outlet. That's it. Press the button on the front, and the cool blue light goes on, blinking until it configures itself. Drop the CD into any PC in your network, it automatically scans and detects the ReadyNAS. Click on setup and customize it to your preferences, by turning on any or all streaming media options, including PS3, Xbox 360, and Squeezebox.

I immediately backed up my individual PC's to it using Windows backup. It worked without a hitch. Included in the package on the CD disc is "Shadow for ReadyNAS" for your Mac or PC, which is an advanced network backup application. For example you can use the Quick Restore feature in case you inadvertently delete an important file. It enables you to continuously backup files as you are working with them. Click on Quick Restore and choose amongst several earlier versions of the same file. You can also push the backup button on the front panel, and automatically do a complete backup of every PC in your network, in step fashion, doing one at a time.

For security purposes, access is password protected. When I first logged onto the ReadyNAS, it had a checkbox in order to save the password. After that I could back up the machine without having to worry about a password dialogue box interrupting a scheduled backup.

The ReadyNAS duo comes with a single 500GB Sata II hard drive. The duo means that there are 2 removable trays built in, one for housing a second drive such as the Western Digital WD5000KSRTL Caviar 500 GB SATA Hard Drive if you wish to take advantage of the RAID. RAID gives you the added security of mirroring your data instantly, and continuously, to another drive. If your first one should fail, you can hot swap it out with the secondary drive in only a minute, and not lose a beat. So the ReadyNAS duo is suitable for high demand applications.

If you wish to add additional storage, you can daisy chain a second drive through one of the ReadyNAS USB ports. Case enclosed portable USB drives such as the popular Iomega Desktop Hard Drive 500 GB Hi-Speed USB 2.0 External Hard Drive are available for only a few dollars more than the drive itself. I caution you against using a USB case enclosed drive for long term, always on use. They do not have the breathing space, or the air flow capacity of the ReadyNAS, nor do they have the built in email warning system to alert you to any problems. USB drives are good for spot transfers, enabling you to have a universal plug into any PC. Want to take some files over to your buddy's house?

With ReadyNAS photos, you can connect your digital camera directly into the USB port, and download them. Share your photos with the built in album, and postcard invitation to friends feature. The network recycle bin comes in handy if you inadvertently delete a file. Compatibility with the most popular media streaming devices, as well as file compatibility with PC, MAC, and UNIX makes the ReadyNAS the most flexible for media streaming, bar none. I finally have a backup device that enables me to do complete, and incremental backups, without having to keep a full backup server PC running. With its green ready power saving feature it draws only a quarter of a full PC's electricity.

I wish I had some detractions to report, but I don't. This thing is superbly engineered, utilizing the latest technologies, and it worked perfectly right out of the box. I am looking forward to making life more entertaining, and streamlined, by discovering the ins and outs of the many features. For example the programmable backup button, built in Torrent client... the list goes on. For me, I have spent years with tape backups, hard drive removable racks, extra hard drives mounted in other PC's, and this ReadyNAS is an ideal solution. I can finally get into a regular backup regimen, with complete, and incremental backups. With the continuous backup feature, I can even have the safety of every saved file being instantly recorded on the ReadyNAS. Sweet. If you have ever had a hard drive crash on you, taking years of data with it, you will truly enjoy the safety, and ease of use. (Not to mention being a great addition to your home media center arsenal.) I highly recommend it.