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

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.

There are countless ways one can use this product. The built-in BitTorrent functionality, for example, makes this a standalone seeder or leecher that can work in the background while other machines are differently tasked or offline. While I'm not using it that way, I certainly appreciate the potential.

We use it, effectively, as a desktop replacement in the capacity of a print and file server. We back up from the laptops automatically and regularly to the ReadyNAS using Windows Live OneCare 2.0. We have our printer hooked up directly to it, which gives us the freedom of being able to place it virtually anywhere in the house -- not something that would have been practical had it been tethered to a large desktop computer. The ReadyNAS has a small footprint, and it's virtually silent, so placement potential is nearly unlimited.

While 500GB doesn't feel like a lot of storage space these days, it's easy enough to replace the drive. Access for such a change couldn't be easier as you simply open the front panel, release a carriage, attach the drive to it, and slide it back into place. A second slot is available in the case for the sake of data redundancy.

You control the ReadyNAS through a browser interface on any other computer on the network, much the same way you might connect to and change the settings for a router or cable/dsl modem. The UI is intuitive and well-organized, and it's a breeze to enable new services (such as the aforementioned torrent handling, or the Logitech Squeezebox Duet Network Music System server), or disable old ones.

Perhaps the best part of this product is that you don't have to be technically adept to get it online and working, but for those who are, there are a wealth of options and settings available to tweak and configure as you see fit.

The reviews on an item like this are going to be as varied as the different uses people have in mind for the ReadyNAS. If you have a few laptops around the home or office, and want a centralized file and print server, then I can offer the experience that this one has served me very well in that capacity.

My ReadyNAS Duo shipped with a version of the BitTorrent client that has been known to use 100% CPU even when you are not using it. This caused my device to be VERY slow for the first day I used it. Prior to sending it back to Amazon for a refund I did a little digging and eventually found a version that fixed the issue. I was a bit disappointed with the issue and the amount of research it took to fix (Netgear does not have anything on their site about it. I eventually found something in a forum).

After updating the device everything is working great and I am quite happy with the speed and capabilities it has. I had a single-disk product that died after 14 months on a 12 month warranty. When looking to replace it, I was looking for something that had drive mirroring, something longer than a 1 year warranty, and something with a few extra features. For me, the ReadyNAS Duo seemed like the best value.

Things I like:
* 3 year warranty
* Simple drive mirroring
* OS X Support
* BitTorrent client
* It emails you about issues
* Support for talking to a UPS
* Easy to setup but there are a lot of advanced options if you want to tinker

Things I don't like:
* Out of the box experience for me was poor
* It is a little loud (see my comment to this post for more details)
* The web interface could be faster and easier to use

For those who buy the diskless version, additional installation steps are required. This I learned the hard way.

After you attach it to your network, and fire up RAIDar (this is a utility provided by NetGear for initial administration), RAIDar will report Corrupt Root. Upon reading this, I read through a number of different NetGear run/supported sites looking for a solution. At first, I assumed the firmware was bad. I attempted both the TFTP and USB reinstallation methods, but neither fixed the issue. The issue was the drives themselves. They needed to be pre-initialized by the firmware prior to their ability to be fully initialized by the system.

Performing this pre-initialization is easy. With the unit turned off, find a paperclip and use it to depress the reset button on the back. Keep depressing while depressing the power button on the front. Keep depressing both. The lights on the front will flash after about 5 seconds. Keep depressing both. The lights on the front will flash a second time around 30 secs. Cease depressing. This will initiate the pre-initialization. It will do its thing and then shut itself off when complete. You can fire it back up and begin the true initialization within RAIDar.

For my system (two 1 TB drives X-RAID), the initialization took about 4 hours.

I am so far very pleased with the product. I have forced a RAID failure and it recovered as expected.

I hope this is helpful.

My old WD MyBook's drive motor was dying. I put everything I could on our three computers, filling every disk to the brim. Then I sent our a HELP message on the Digi user site.

After receiving a recommendation from a fellow Pro Tools user, I bought this unit - specifically for its unique "mirroring" feature. Drive #2 copies Drive #1 constantly, so if one fails, all your information the other is intact.

I bought a third drive to swap out periodically. My godson 600 feet away keeps it boxed on his shelf, "off-site." So now our information is safe, after all these years.

These units are small and QUIET! and really easy to use - they're even searchable with Mac OS X and Windows.

Two caveats (but not flaws):

First, check [...] for compatible disk drives. At first I got a WD featured on Amazon as a "companion" purchase and it didn't work - 14 ATA errors. I got two more like the one that came on the unit, and it works like a charm.

Second, in my hurry to get a safe backup off-site, I removed Drive #1. NEVER remove Drive #1 -- when you put it back, it will be reformatted and then it will copy Drive #2!!! ALWAYS swap out Drive #2.

I repeat: Leave Drive #1 where it is, forever. If it does fail, don't worry: Drive #2 still has all your information. Get a new drive, and PUT IT IN DRIVE #1!!! (always leave your third disk off-site, where it already is, be safe).

Repeat: If Drive #1 fails, Do NOT put Drive #2 in the #1 slot. It will be reformatted. LEAVE IT IN #2 slot, put your new, empty drive in #1, and you're back in business. In two hours they will be totally mirrored.

Sorry to be so repetitive, but we're talking about ALL of your information here. And think about getting another drive and Netgear case for off-site, you will sleep better at night.