102/104 Win Compatibility

Sometimes the WoL packet is sent automatically I guess.

On my network I need to send it via a WoL utility. So I manually wake the sleeping device.

StephenB wrote:
On my network I need to send it via a WoL utility. So I manually wake the sleeping device.

That would be annoying. In the assumption I want to watch a movie, it might be necessary to start a PC just to wake up the NAS for the tv-set.

wquatan wrote:
- why is Windows compatibility specified as Vista onwards ? I can't imagine older Windows versions (2000 XP ...) can't access/use the NAS ? What's the reason for that ?

Windows XP is approaching the point where Microsoft no longer provides security updates for it. It is time to move on. Whilst they may work with the NAS NetGear can't support using the NAS with PCs running every version of every operating system.

wquatan wrote:
- suppose I have two 102. Can I , without any risks , put the disks from one 102 in the other one (in case of 102 hardware failure) ?

If the disks are fine, yes. Best to install the same firmware on both 102 units. However you should of course ensure you have an up to date backup. Disk failure is far more likely than the NAS chassis failing

Also don't forget the 102 has a 3 year warranty

wquatan wrote:
StephenB wrote: On my network I need to send it via a WoL utility. So I manually wake the sleeping device. That would be annoying. In the assumption I want to watch a movie, it might be necessary to start a PC just to wake up the NAS for the tv-set.

If the player doesn't automatically send WoL, that is correct.

Even if the player does automatically send WoL it takes several seconds for the NAS drives to spin up again after it is woken up. (This also applies to disk spin-down. The NAS isn't asleep, but it still takes a while for the drives to spin up so you can access your content).

My advice is to leave the main server up whenever you normally use it, and focus your most aggressive power-saving measures on the clients and secondary servers. On the main server, disk spindown with a long timeout (perhaps an hour) is one way to reduce power use off-hours. Power-down schedules are another, though you want to be somewhat conservative on the schedule.

Using WoL to wake the NAS makes sense if the NAS is a backup device (as do more aggressive power-down schedules). Though even there, the disks use most of the power, so spin-down with a long timeout gets you most of the gain.

Personally, I leave the Pro up 24x7 and use my Pro to wake my PCs. An add-on to let me do this through a Web interface. Generally I am doing this while away from home (following up the wake-up with remote desktop connection). I also use the WoL feature of the Pro to wake up the PCs for their automated backup. I could use the same feature to wake up the RN102 (before I back up some folders on the Pro up to it), but at present I am not doing that.

Unfortunately OS6 doesn't currently let you send WoL packets as part of a scheduled backup job.

mdgm wrote:
Windows XP is approaching the point where Microsoft no longer provides security updates for it. It is time to move on. Whilst they may work with the NAS NetGear can't support every operating system.

I don't need security updates on an (physically) isolated lan, but need to able, with my legacy OS'es (incl Win2000 WinXP Os2Warp), to access the NAS. Normally that shouldn't be a problem (especially WinXP) , but don't understand why Netgear does limit their compatibility list. Probably it's just for legal purposes. In fact it should be possible with "any" device to access the NAS, independent of OS / Version / Security Updates.

I haven't checked using OS6 with an XP client. There are differences in settings, protocol versions supported etc. As well as development, QA running it, support would need to be able to run supported operating systems to confirm issues.

You can confirm if OS6 will work with XP by installing the VM on a PC and testing it: http://www.readynas.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=70699 (though the VM is for the Intel version of the OS but if it works with it, it probably will for the ARM models - 102/104/2120 - as well).