Home > Consumer Reviews > Netgear ReadyNAS Duo 2-Bay 500 GB (1 x 500 GB) Network Attached Storage RND2150

Bought this in early May 2009. Setup was fast, easy, and painless. It immediately registered on my wireless LAN, so that all PCs in the house could access it. Transferred all our business and important personal files to with no glitches. It's such a relief to have our client files being backed up with no intervention on my part. I've got it on a UPS -- in a recent power outage, it shut down without a problem and restarted perfectly.

I'm sure you could find more nice-to-have features with other systems, but they're also much more expensive. This system just works!

I would say if your a basic non-nerd user and you want to spend the monthly subscription costs to run the device you'll probab ly be happy. If your Nerd-ish, you like the feature list because it does specfic things, then you will be disappointed. Numerous features simply are not there and will not be added to the product. A short list of non-features is here. For more complaints (and there are a ton of them from the user base) check out the netgear fourm here. [...]

1 Linux/UNIX clients. This is listed as a feature on the box, but it has been confirmed that clients for these OSs do not exist.

2. Sleep mode: This feature is listed in the demo video on the Netgear site, but it has been confirmed that the feature does not actually exist.

3. Synchronization mode for Desktop Mirror: This mode is listed in the Stora documentation, but it has been confirmed that the Stora does not actually have this functionality.

4: Mirror backup: The "backup" mode listed in the documentation is actually "mirror backup" (i.e. the Stora has an exact replica of the local computer folders"), but the mode actually functions as "backup". It would be nice to have the mode listed in the documentation, but if not, the documentation should be corrected since it's misleading.

5. Desktop Mirror over the internet: The documentation says that Desktop Mirror will work over the internet, but it has been confirmed that it does not.

6. SFTP functionality: I can't get this to work. I have not confirmed yet if it's my system, or another missing advertised feature.

overall i needed a device to hold data nad share internally so for hte most part i got what i want. If i wanted internet intergration, use of something besides a PC, or many of the security features, i would have returned the product.

I purchased this unit to serve as a network backup disk for the network I was building. It took me 2 months to get it to work, no thanks to Netgear support, which was worthless. They assume you are an expert in Network server technology! The information on the web about how to setup and use was useless. And, what was more frustrating, was the restrictions they placed upon there so-called "rebate." I missed getting the advertised rebate as it took me so long to set it up. I was about to return it to Amazon, even had the return mailing authorization. But, I finally managed to get it to work after two months of trial and error! So, if you have no prior experience setting up network servers, purchase something else. As I said before, Netgear instructions and support are non-existent. I had tried to get help from Netgear, but was effectively ignored!

I'll always purchase something else than Netgear in the future!

So far I am very impressed with the Netgear ReadyNAS Duo. Not only does this have more storage than both of my laptops put together, but it provides valuable storage for my family photos, videos, and documents. I was instantly able to access it from all three home computers. The documentation was light, I wished Netgear had been more thorough in providing step by step instructions to set up specific tasks. Instead, it actually took me several hours to set this up properly. Sizewise, this is extremely small even though it looks big in the picture. It takes up no more of a footprint than my wireless router, although it is taller.

This also serves as a print server, so I have been able to stop emailing myself documents. I just print from any home computer and the printer in the office prints the document.

I was also able to set up the photo server, so now my friends and family can access the kid's pictures and print them in full resolution, or order them online without the hassles of uploading to an online photo service, losing valuable time while the photos upload, and being limited in file size. With the ReadyNAS Duo I can upload the pictures straight from the digital camera, and they are the full file size without any loss of quality.

Since I am no longer storing my photos on my computer, and instead storing them on the ReadyNAS Duo, I will have to buy another drive to backup my ReadyNAS. It provides a good amount of peace of mind to not have to worry about losing family memories because of hard drive failure. That appears to be running about a hundred dollars.

Oh, one last thing. I also put my music folders onto the ReadyNAS Duo and now they play through my 1. Logitech Squeezebox Duet Network Music System right on my home stereo. No more need to make CD's or hook my mp3 player up to the stereo.... heaven!

List price is $399 and it's best price is about $250 on the net.

Lacks JBOD configuration ,iSCSI support and RAID 0 option.

It's at EOL and other competitors like Iomega(EMC) have a cheaper,more flexible configurations that come much better equipped (2 TB vs 500 meg) for $222 bucks.