a 3rd architecture? seriously?

no comment...

I was initially surprised too.

However I know plenty of people who aren't passionate about network storage but might be willing to get some if it's reliable and cheap. This is demonstrated in that the Duo and NV+ are popular products. The Intel platform is great but too pricey for these users.

As for what lies ahead yoh-dah and chirpah have said on Twitter that RAIDiator 5 won't be coming to the Sparc boxes. Chirpa has added no ETA for x86.

yoh-dah's also said the RAID format is different so you can't migrate from another ReadyNAS platform to ARM or vice versa.

More info will likely be coming over the next few days or weeks as more people get their hands on the new boxes.

As a beta tester of the Duo v2, I must say that I'm very impressed with the device (though I still wish it had a display on the front). It supports 3TB drives (GPT and 4k sectors), Windows 7 and Mac OS X Lion from it's very first firmware release. A great NAS device for those who want cheap, reliable high capacity network storage.

One should also consider that the release of the Duo v2 allows NetGear to kill off the Stora (see http://www.wegotserved.com/2011/11/09/netgear-refreshes-entry-level-readynas-duo-nv/) so I think it will actually reduce fracturing of development and lead to greater efficiency.

Of course the Stora is developed by a completely separate team, but NetGear having a single storage brand makes a lot of sense.

TeknoJnky wrote:
The duo/nv+ should have been discontinued as soon as the ultra lines were released...

Sure, but it's cheap to build, and (as evidenced here) they DON'T support it anymore so aren't spending anything there either.

So they'll keep selling them until people stop buying them.

mdgm wrote:
yoh-dah's also said the RAID format is different so you can't migrate from another ReadyNAS platform to ARM or vice versa.

Awesome! Can't wait for the dozens of future threads on how to migrate from duo2/nv+2 to ultra/pro!

More info will likely be coming over the next few days or weeks as more people get their hands on the new boxes.

Sure but none of that will change the fact that development resources are now split across 3 architectures, assuming this is not the death blow to sparc devel. And while I'm sure we all expect sparc support to stop eventually, it still leaves resources split between ARM/x86.

It supports 3TB drives (GPT and 4k sectors), Windows 7 and Mac OS X Lion from it's very first firmware release.

well that should be a given, if it didn't it would be dead in the water.

A great NAS device for those who want cheap, reliable high capacity network storage.

Well no doubt they will sell a ton at those prices, and then eventually we will hear all the complaints about how crippled they are compared to the other devices and not directly migratable to x86 devices or compatible with x86 addons. /pity the addon devs having yet another arch to support (or not support).

But then again, maybe we are wrong thinking that x86 is the future, perhaps ARM will take over all the high end devices as well.. :rofl:

maxblack wrote:
TeknoJnky wrote: The duo/nv+ should have been discontinued as soon as the ultra lines were released... Sure, but it's cheap to build, and (as evidenced here) they DON'T support it anymore so aren't spending anything there either.

Duo and NV+ v1 are still supported. They recently received a firmware update 4.1.8 (http://www.readynas.com/RAIDiator_4_1_8_Notes) adding Mac OS X Lion support. It's just there's a limit to what they can do with it. I would expect there will still be more firmware updates to come, likewise focused on maintaining existing features. New purchases of the v1 still carry a 3 year warranty and qualify for support like they did before. There's also still plenty of help available on the forum.

TeknoJnky wrote:
Awesome! Can't wait for the dozens of future threads on how to migrate from duo2/nv+2 to ultra/pro!

It's an unfortunate problem, but there's nothing that can be done about that. I do hope NetGear takes some steps to make the migration as smooth a process as possible. Having said that one wouldn't expect people to do such a migration for a little while yet.

TeknoJnky wrote:
Sure but none of that will change the fact that development resources are now split across 3 architectures, assuming this is not the death blow to sparc devel. And while I'm sure we all expect sparc support to stop eventually, it still leaves resources split between ARM/x86.

There are similarities between RAIDiator for all 3 architectures so for a lot of problems fixing it one platform will make it relatively easy to fix on the rest. The fact that RAIDiator 5 isn't coming to Sparc and Photos II couldn't be ported to it, not to mention the recent infrequency of firmware updates, are indications that development for Sparc has been slowing down.

TeknoJnky wrote:
Well no doubt they will sell a ton at those prices, and then eventually we will hear all the complaints about how crippled they are compared to the other devices and not directly migratable to x86 devices or compatible with x86 addons.

Well you can't have everything. You can't expect to get the features of say a $1000 product when you pay $200. The Duo v2 and NV+ v2 provide good value for money and are not targeted at advanced users like yourself (or me).

TeknoJnky wrote:
/pity the addon devs having yet another arch to support (or not support).

Actually from what I remember speaking to WhoCares? I think he's quite excited about the opportunity of developing addons for ARM and wasn't surprised that NetGear's chosen to release devices on the platform.

TeknoJnky wrote:
But then again, maybe we are wrong thinking that x86 is the future, perhaps ARM will take over all the high end devices as well..

We'll have to wait and see. ARM is a simple design, energy efficient and reliable and much cheaper than Intel. Established architectures have died in the past, being undercut by cheaper alternatives, so it could happen again, but that doesn't mean it will.

From looking at Google+, yoh-dah's comment about RAID modes was saying different RAID mode in Sparc vs ARM.

x86 and ARM both use X-RAID2. I believe migration between ARM and x86 still isn't possible though, at least at this time.

TeknoJnky wrote:
mdgm wrote: yoh-dah's also said the RAID format is different so you can't migrate from another ReadyNAS platform to ARM or vice versa. Awesome! Can't wait for the dozens of future threads on how to migrate from duo2/nv+2 to ultra/pro!

Less than 12 hours for the first v1 to v2 migration question: viewtopic.php?f=24&t=58701 - surprised it was that long actually.

Doesn't appear to be such information in the FAQ yet

There have already been questions much earlier about migration on social media sites such as Twitter and Google+. yoh-dah did invite people to ask him questions there.

That explains the apparent delay - I don't twitter