ReadyNAS Vault : great but overpriced!

I agree. I saw the note today -- but when I saw how small "home" was (for $6/mo - or $72/year), I was shocked.

$72/year for 5GB of backup? That is about 1 DVD ($0.19). Add postage to mail my backup anywhere (in US) and we have a grand total of $0.61 to back up almost 5GB.

Repeat for 12 months (1 backup per month!) and we're still talking about $7 / year

For one year, $72, I could almost buy a 1TB hard drive, mail it to my parents, and incrementally back up to them over the internet -- and have a lot more than 5GB.

Mozy.com, 5 bucks a month for unlimited. I used the free service (2 gig limit), seems to work alright.

To be fair, we should compare similar services...
ReadyNAS Vault is not to be compared against a service which doesn't allow direct Online backup from the NAS (this is an important enabler).
Nor it should evaluated against sending an Hard Disk, every month, to your Parents... :)

This is why I keep asking why such service is so overpriced versus competition (LaCie offer) and regarding expected data volume usage (we are backing up a NAS here! As Netgear Marketing says, this is a vault and contains "Gigs" of "precious" data).

Edited: Typo and clarity]

Just saw this too and thought I'd have a look at what this would mean practically for me. I have 1 very full NAS, but in terms of real data that is invaluable to me and that I would hate to lose, let's say the 500GB of photos, music, and video that would be impossible or extremely difficult to replace.

To use this service (instead of or as well as external USB drives) would cost me $250 per month or $3K per year? (How many Duo's would that buy?)

BTW: It would take 5 months to upload unless I pay extra for the professional service? (but what's an extra $180 [12months * $15] when paying $3K for storage) And mean having to screw around with my video files to overcome the 5GB per file limitation.

Doesn't matter how easy to use this service will be - this pricing is prohibitive

I have to agree, this is way too expensive. Carbonite is much cheaper with unlimited storage. Netgear needs to revise its pricing plan before I sign up.

I don't understand why people keep suggesting Carbonite. You cannot use Carbonite to back up a readynas (or any network-attached drive). Their FAQ says it is not allowed.

Am I missing something? Do they actually allow it or is there some loophole?

DISCLAIMER: I am an intern at ElephantDrive, who provides supporting infrastructure to the ReadyNAS Vault. Sorry for not making this clear at original post-time.

Hello GearHound,

Nope, we are comparing costs. That's all.
And because mentionning Carbonite is more than relevant as LaCie is proposing similar service, with their NAS, but with a true/cheaper flat fee (see my post at the beginning), considering data volume you might want to get secured online.

Gearhound,

I love the idea of the readynas vault. Currently I have a second hard drive on my PC which I use for video editing, but I keep all my files on my NAS which is mirrored. I copy those critical files back to my second HD on my PC and use carbonite to back that data up. Its not the most efficient, but its very cost effective.

Carbonite has indicated on their site they are working on a model (waiting to see the cost) to allow NAS devices to be backed up. Of course it will most likely be through a UNC path, and I'm hoping they will keep their similar price plan.

I'm hoping the folks here at netgear will consider a more realistic pricing plan. If you look at the amount of data the NAS is designed for their pricing plan is not appropriate for the data storage they provide on a NAS device to be affordable.

If it was I would sign up and dump carbonite.

Here's what I don't get: ReadyNAS Vault is powered by Elephant Drive. Elephant Drive costs $50/yr for unlimited storage for one computer with a 1GB max filesize:http://www.elephantdrive.com/welcome/home.aspx.

I get that ReadyNAS Vault doesn't require a PC. But if I want to backup 50GB, do you really expect me to pay $360/yr ($5.95/mo + 0.50/gb over 5gb) for direct backup from NAS when I can do it from my PC for $50/year? I could build a server and run Elephant Drive off that for the same price.

Here, here!

Not sure if anyone with pricing influence would possibly be looking at this site (they probably think we are just a bunch of grumps!), but if only this service was priced competitively, MANY more customers are out here sitting on the sideline!!!

I personally love my readyNAS duo and with solid surge protection and a ups online, the only way that I lose is if 1) a burglar breaks in and takes it, or 2) the entire place burns down. Both are fairly low risk, and with a need of around 50gb for permanent long-term backup (which will obviously increase over the years ahead, especially with a digital camera that now takes 14 mp shots) this vault service is simply too expensive.

In the meantime, I'll use a less expensive (though probably inferior) service.