We are hosting an extended 4 week Ask Me Anything AMA for the NETGEAR ReadyNAS line of products and we would love to answer your ReadyNAS questions. Best of all, posting your question below enters you in a sweepstake to win a ReadyNAS 214 with 4x 2-terabyte hard drives. *Update - 9/14 - The Winner has been contacted - We will announce soon. Learn more about NETGEAR ReadyNAS products for Home and ReadyNAS for Small & Medium businesses. Sweepstakes rules and alternative means of entry: How to ask a question and enter: In the discussion thread below post a question for our ReadyNAS team about ReadyNAS products. During the Questions & Answers and entry period: 7/26/2017 – 8/28/2017 a ReadyNAS rep will visit this thread and answer relevant questions Monday-Friday. After the Q&A is finished one lucky respondent will be chosen at random to receive a ReadyNAS 214! We look forward to your questions. Good Luck Update 8/29 - The AMA Period is now closed. Thank you to everyone for submitting their questions about ReadyNAS. Register to post your question

Um, I get this contest is a great way to get everyone use to the new forum but it's not effective for responding to questions. This whole conversation is listed as a single topic, so many of the people who are asking questions will have to scroll through all the responses to get answers, and that's not the best experience with a new forum. However, I would like to say I like the digs.

Rottenweiler wrote: Does the 214 run OS6? How does an ARM processor compare to Intel models? Can you use the 10TB drives in this system? Thanks. Simply put, Intel processors are 64-bit, ARM processors are 32-bit. Of course, a modern ARM processor outperforms against a 2004 Intel processor. So, you do need to look at the architecture, the speed, etc. etc. But in general, if you are buying a new product from the same vendor, it is safe to assume that a system based on Intel processor is faster than one that is based on ARM. In the example of ReadyNAS, you have a quad core ARM in RN212/214. It is still slower than a dual core Intel in a RN420 (422/424/426/428). The size of the drive does not have any relevance to the overall performance (tiny bit, almost not noticeable). It runs the same, slow or fast. It is the conduit (i.e. interface) between the HDD and the mother board in the ReadyNAS that determines the speed. Of course, the spec of the motherboard.

Tofu87m wrote:How does this model compare to the qnap 451+ as far as streaming plex and capturing and streaming gameplay to places like twitch, YouTube, ectThe QNAP TS451+ has an Intel based chipset which is perhaps similar to the ReadyNAS 314 or the newer 400 series, also on price about the same. ReadyNAS 214 has an ARM based chipset more like the TS431+, specs and price also similar. For streaming, I think the answer is much simpler: can the RN214 stream content and even transcode, and the answer is yes it can. If you want to know which has more processing performance, then the answer is also pretty easy in this comparison, and that is the QNAP TS451+. However, I think you need to consider what you are trying to achieve and figure out the best NAS for the task. With your current question I think they can both do that task quite easily.

daspiel wrote:Why NetGear over any other brand?ReadyNAS is generally very reliable and stable and as a central file storage it is excellent. Afterall, your data is what you value most! I'm not saying there are no issues, but I observe excellent stability for this basic function. I find the backup modes also very good, if a little confusing to start with. When expanding capacity, popping in an additional disk and have ReadyNAS x-raid expand automatically was seamless the times I have done it. The fan on the Duo v1 was noisy (so I changed mine), the NV+ v2 is not as bad but not silent. There is no way to turn the fan off for example when the disk are sleeping and the temperature is sufficiently low, which would make the unit totally silent when not in use. The newer RN200 series have larger fans that are quieter I believe, so less of an issue now. When I have looked elsewhere, let's say QNAP (I have one) and Synology (I don't have one), the community forum here is by far superior in my opinion. Always helpful and I don't recall a time where the pros were sarcastic or flat out abusive (which I have observed on some forums). Having said that, I do feel the ReadyNAS lacks advanced features compared to the others, especially Netgear provides little (useful) add-ons. There was a time when Netgear wanted to go for fee based add-ons (even for community contributors who did not want to charge), that was a real joke and fairly offensive to consumer level users. The community add-ons are limited, so I suggest you take a look for yourself in the appropriate sections to check if there are any features missing. From personal experience, the ReadyNas NV+ v2 ReadyDLNA had tagging problem in early versions, I raised the issue here and one of the developers created a patch to resolve it. That was rolled in to the next release. I haven't experienced any other issues, and I've had 4 NAS units over the last 10 or so years. I am a bit disappointed that Netgear end-of-lifed the NV+ just a few months after I purchased it, and in fact it was only on the market a short while. I do understand the reasons and I accept that sometimes you just have to move on. The NV+ has still served me well for about 4 years (purchased Jan'2013) and is still my main NAS, so I can't really complain. Personally I would highly recommend the ReadyNAS and my own next purchase will likely be a RN214, which I think offers best value for money, performance and features that I need. I've got in to the ReadyNAS ways of doing things and don't want to change, but I'm sure other NAS units are also pretty good. It will mostly come down to preferences on the interface and whether the unit has the features you need.

Danila wrote: hi! what can possibly convince me to switch to new model from my current model ? (RN 10400) Best regards, Danila The 104 is good as a basic file server or backup storage where speed is not a concern. Once you want to do more than that you'll really benefit from using a more powerful unit. I want our ReadyNAS customers to be happy. If you're happy with how your NAS is performing and what it can do now you don't have to rush into upgrading.In my opinion it's better to choose a unit that is more powerful than what you need than to choose one that's not powerful enough. I started out as a ReadyNAS customer before I joined NETGEAR. If I was buying a unit for myself now I'd buy the RN628X. At the same time I know the performance of that unit, the 8-bays and the price is way overkill for most home users and will remain so for years to come. I'm not the average user. We have a wide range of units to suit various needs. You can just move your disks across to the RN214 (it is advisable to get both units up to the same firmware first, put a scratch disk in the RN214, update the firmware if necessary, verify the firmware update was successful, power down both units, remove the scratch disk and move the disks across keeping the order the same).If you want to move to an Intel model (e.g. RN424) then I'd suggest uninstalling any apps you've got installed first. It's nice to know that you can move your disks to a newer ReadyNAS model when the time is right for you to upgrade whether it's now or later (of course it's best to check back when you do decide to upgrade to make sure that's still the case).

AMA - Ask Us Anything About ReadyNAS and You Could Win a ReadyNAS 214!

217 Replies

Replies have been turned off for this discussion

Chock3165
Aspirant
Aug 05, 2017
I'd like to know if there is a hookup for my house phone line because my phone is hookup up to my cable modem I've looking for a great modem so I can turn my other one in an save money
- mdgm-ntgr
  NETGEAR Employee Retired
  Aug 08, 2017
  Chock3165 the ReadyNAS is a Network Attached Storage device not a modem/router. You could ask your question in our CABLE MODEMS & ROUTERS section.
wobegone
Aspirant
Aug 05, 2017
I have used my ReadyNAS Ultra 2 with my TiVo for the last 5 years. Will Netgear continue support for TiVo device's going forward, on ReadyNAS 212 & 214 servers?
- mdgm-ntgr
  NETGEAR Employee Retired
  Aug 08, 2017
  wobegone wrote:
  
  I have used my ReadyNAS Ultra 2 with my TiVo for the last 5 years. Will Netgear continue support for TiVo device's going forward, on ReadyNAS 212 & 214 servers?
  
  There is TiVo support with OS6 (the OS that runs on our RN212 and RN214). See How do I create an archive of my TiVo data on my ReadyNAS OS 6 storage system?
wfreker
Aspirant
Aug 06, 2017
Does this device support iTunes?
- mdgm-ntgr
  NETGEAR Employee Retired
  Aug 08, 2017
  wfreker wrote:
  Does this device support iTunes?
  
  It runs forked-daapd for streaming to iTunes on your Mac/PC. This does have its limitations compared with running iTunes on your Mac/PC.
jmuston
Initiate
Aug 06, 2017
Any support for SSD caching?
- mdgm-ntgr
  NETGEAR Employee Retired
  Aug 08, 2017
  jmuston wrote:
  
  Any support for SSD caching?
  
  Not at this time. You could upvote this idea in the IDEA EXCHANGE FOR READYNAS
terrycloth
Guide
Aug 06, 2017
4x4TB (WD40EFRX-68WTON0) Raid 5. I use WinSCP to transfer data between my Windows home network and NAS, use symbolic links to make iTunes backups work with the NAS - 1 link per kid on the PC:
net use Z:\ "\\<my-nas>\data" /user:admin <pw> /PERSISTENT:YES
mklink /d "C:\Users\<kid>\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync" "Z:\RawBackups\iTunes\<kid>\MobileSync"

I installed Plex very easily and is very useful for my family. I am hoping NetGear can provide configured and ready-to-use apps and instructions that make the ReadyNAS products useful for the consumer market. Many other Netgear products are simple to own and use, and I am hoping you can make NAS accessible as well. So my question is about making the ReadyNas useful as a network black box, without having to work under the covers and understand the insides before using basic utilities.

My question relates to apps offered with "explorer"-type features, including Ajaxplorer, AjaxPlorer 4, Bzeeet, and Pydio. At the present time, these apps simply do not work out of the box. Instead, they are more like developer widgets, with documentation and community threads that have 1-line answers with OS commands like CHMOD this or that. There are no instructions on how to actually successfully set these widgets up to function as a way to search the NAS without looking under the hood, understanding each component, and guessing which package or feature to install, understanding what Netgear does when setting up shares, etc.

I realize NetGear does not control or document though these third party products, but I believe you could make your product much more usable (and therefore marketable) by filling in the gap, even if it means simply providing sets of user-friendly installation and configuration guides for these apps. I am talking about the type of guides that your marketing guy could successfully follow at home (sorry to anyone in marketing ;) ). So that means saying how to get to a command line if you have a command line step, and how to know if a feature is installed if it is required (rather than just saying package xyz is required).

So my simple question is this: What do you recommend I do to implement a simple search and explorer-type utility for my ReadyNas?

Thanks,

Dave
- mdgm-ntgr
  NETGEAR Employee Retired
  Aug 08, 2017
  terrycloth wrote:
  
  So my simple question is this: What do you recommend I do to implement a simple search and explorer-type utility for my ReadyNas?
  
  You may wish to try the new search feature in ReadyNAS OS 6.8.0 which is now available!
  
  Please let us know how you find it.
  - terrycloth
    Guide
    Aug 10, 2017
    Search is a great addition in 6.8.0. Trying it now...
    
    One thought - can you add the file path?
    
    Assume the NAS is used to transfer data from multiple computers and devices from a family or business. There are likely to be multiple ways files are organized, and duplication of data across backup folders.
    
    With a path listed, I can then consolidate photos if I search of "*.jpg" and I see that these are in many places on the NAS.
    
    With a path I can also de-duplicate files. For example, my test search was for photos labelled "2016*.jpg". If I see there are multiple copies of a particular photo, I need to be able to see the folder (s) containing the duplicates so I can clean up the NAS.
    
    I can do this on a file by file basis with the current solution, but with many TB of data, this becomes difficult.
    
    Nice addition, though! It solved my primary problem immediately.
    
    Dave
Joelfrancisco
Aspirant
Aug 07, 2017
2 questions:
1. Virtualization - Can it be used as an iSCSI target?
2. Desktop Backup App - Does it support Windows Server versions?
- mdgm-ntgr
  NETGEAR Employee Retired
  Aug 08, 2017
  Joelfrancisco wrote:
  2 questions:
  1. Virtualization - Can it be used as an iSCSI target?
  2. Desktop Backup App - Does it support Windows Server versions?
  
  1. We haven't got certification for the RN212 and RN214 but it might work. We'd recommend looking at our business range for this use case, possibly a RN520 series or RN620 series unit.
  
  2. For backing up a server you should use 3rd party software designed for backing up servers to get the comprehensive backup that you need.
DayHawkX6
Tutor
Aug 07, 2017
Hi,

This is regarding ReadyNAS 212 and product page states that it supports full HD 1080p transcoding capability. Is there any compatibility list of the supported formats? And what are recommended drives?
- mdgm-ntgr
  NETGEAR Employee Retired
  Aug 08, 2017
  DayHawkX6 wrote:
  
  Hi,
  
  This is regarding ReadyNAS 212 and product page states that it supports full HD 1080p transcoding capability. Is there any compatibility list of the supported formats? And what are recommended drives?
  
  It will transcode from 1080p to a fixed output resolution of 480p. Every media file is different so YMMV a bit. Different formats may require more processing power than others. We'd be thinking of videos at a normal frame rate e.g. 25-30fps.
  
  The disks are not the bottleneck for transcoding. You can use a disk from our compatibility list e.g. WD RED, SeaGate NAS etc. It's up to you which you prefer to use. Some disks are more suited to use in a NAS environment than others. I would avoid disks with "Green" features.
ITSYSTEMS
Aspirant
Aug 08, 2017
HI Netgear,

How does the Ready NAS connect to the public cloud storage, or does Netgear provide cloud storage ?
- mdgm-ntgr
  NETGEAR Employee Retired
  Aug 08, 2017
  ITSYSTEMS wrote:
  
  HI Netgear,
  
  How does the Ready NAS connect to the public cloud storage, or does Netgear provide cloud storage ?
  
  We've added support for using the NAS with some public cloud providers over time such as Dropbox, Google Drive, Amazon S3. You can configure this on the CLOUD tab.
  
  If you'd prefer not to use the public cloud for some things you can use ReadyCLOUD to create your own private cloud. Using ReadyCLOUD the data would remain stored on your NAS rather than on a server out on the web. If a direct connection cannot be established between your NAS and a client device then your data may need to be sent via our server.
LambdaBlue
Tutor
Aug 08, 2017
How much power does the nas use when it is idling?
3100
Guide
Aug 08, 2017
Wann gibt es eine Version von Photo II die auch auf der aktuellsten Firmware problemlos läuft ?

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AMA - Ask Us Anything About ReadyNAS and You Could Win a ReadyNAS 214!