Another ReadyNAS or something else?

I don't have direct experience with other manufacturers, however it is true that OS6 is currently in a "user frustration" zone. Many things I took for granted with radiator just don't work with os6 and the unit's connectivity is not stable on my lan even though everything else is ( including 2 othernon os6 readynas units).

I did a lot of research and synology was a clear number 1. The reason I went with another readynas was the forum support , it is still far better than qnap and synology. It is the forum support that has really helped me the most over the years.

I'm actually looking at the same decision. My Ultra4s are full and I have at least 3x2TB drive lying around unused.
I was considering 316/516 but the drastic changes to OS6 seem to be a rocky road, and I'm not sure of the benefit to me for this product line.

It is a good thing to start new, fresh untethered to old technology. But that means you bring no good will and a small subset of you client base to the new party. Your new product gets judged against all the other players on a new field. What will follow is the community of support and products you've built. And that has been weak. Weak apps, weak support for the evolution of even your own apps. That doesn't look good for the future of a whole new environment.

The add-ons for the Ultra were attractive, but 3 years later they have NO REAL VALUE to me. The ReadyNAS VPN client performed poorly and was barely supported. The tuntap secret of fixing it on the Mac was buried in a 4?5 year old post by a user. I replaced it with the FTP server--which has limited performance, but works reliably for us. The Plex client requires more CPU than it has to transcode--so that got moved to 3 year old Dell Insprion 410 (ZinoHD, $600 mini PC)--which handles everything we demand from the Plex server. The itunes/firefly server barely works, and I believe the original development team killed firefly in ?2009? So no hope of it ever working right. I have dropbox on there, but the service dies out and I've no clue that files aren't updating.

The new cloud shares might eliminate the FTP, but only if it handles large, resumable downloads. The ReadyRemote became useless because an SMB transfer of a 600Mb software image would get interrupted and you'd have to start all over again.

I have yet to see anything to guarantee me that the 516 would handle multiple PLEX transcodes. At least then, I could move the server off the Windows 7 Zino. The $500 difference between 316 & 516 is all CPU and memory. If I don't have KILLER APPS to run, nothing justifies a $500 upgrade to the CPU/Memory.

Synology looks like they might be more polished on the apps side, but I have to see if that is true. Netgear looked better than they were, too.
With Synology I could do a 8-bay for less than the 516, which would be quite nice.

I think both Qnap and Synology make great devices. For UI slickness nothing beats Synology, even if Qnap (and to a much lesser extent NTGR) have functional interfaces and most of the functions. I recommend Synology for the following reasons:

* NTGR have not shown commitment to existing users
* NTGR have shown a disturbing attitude to app developers (who make most of the interesting apps)
* NTGR have obviously released OS6 much long before it was anything close to stable or feature-complete
* NTGR have chosen a new and unproven file system for the new OS, a file system that has many well-known bugs
* NTGR have introduced features and "services" that are simply unneeded and/or irritating and/or malicious; registering needed at the slow Genie store, call-home functions that are hard to disable, etc.
* Many of the Synology packages are both awesome and easily installed/administered. I'm specifically thinking of the VPN app and the mail server app, which package several hard-to-configure items in a "for dummies" fashion.

It's clear that NTGR have worked up a significant backlog during the years; what we are seeing is a perfect example of what is called "technical debt" and frantic attempts to fix it, with (likely) a way too small staff.

With the soon to come 6.1.1 release I think NTGR have a good product.
Only think missing is the APPs that Synology have.

I think ReadyNAS is more a business product and Synology is a home product.

Confession: I have a heavily "Netgeared" shop, so tend to look there first. Commercial, Pro and Prosumer versions have all been rock solid over about a 7 or 8 year period. I switch failure and it was replaced without question.

That said, the purchase of the 314 has been disappointing and given I am still in my refund window it may still go back, which will start me on the look for replacements for my aging NV+ v1 boxes. It's a shame, as I said they have been rock solid.

The problem is two fold at this time. I had added Ultra 4+ to the mix and now, in less than 2 years, I find it is EOL'd with no plans to support it under the new OS, no plans to extend some features such as replicate that could easily be put in place for the still servicable and quite capable units. Even without the shortcomings of the new OS, that kind of support of loyal customers gives me pause.

The current stable version of the OS is woefully lacking. At least they have heard some of the complaints, and I have been told by support that the beta 6.1.1 should fix some concerns when it is released. I'm not adverse to testing betas, and as of now data is still being migrated to the new unit so it is not critical, but again some of the bugs and features that this release corrects, should never have been allowed to get out in the wild.

Although synology boxes in the range of the 300 and 500 series may be more home oriented, they have add-ons and features that would be very welcome on the ReadyNas, and clearly the hardware can handle it.

So I am conflicted, if you are just starting on the NAS journey, I hate to say I would look elsewhere and compare to see what is really important for the network environment in which the NAS will function. Look at long term stability. I must say that my older Netgear products have functioned well, even when I tinkered with them - adding memory and root access. Thank goodness although half of my units are still under warranty, I have not had to use it.

In the end, I think I am just disappointed in the direction the company seems to be taking. I'm only a small business, and with the forum community, this really felt like a home, with products that suited my situation. It just seems I've been left dangling a bit. Thank goodness for the community.

olest wrote:
With the soon to come 6.1.1 release I think NTGR have a good product. Only think missing is the APPs that Synology have. I think ReadyNAS is more a business product and Synology is a home product.

Actually many of the packages on the Synology are geared directly and only for business. ERM, CRM, Ticketing system, WebCommerce, Domain and Directory functions-- these have little home function other than as a development for a professional. Not to mention all the web tech (drupal, wordpress, tomcat, apache, java, etc).

I was considering Synology BECAUSE I saw more business possibilities. I could probably move my website & blogs to my house and save annual costs. It's clear that Netgear is more the home/enthusiast product.

My worry with synology is in the bad reviews I read. Most of them catalog failures that ended with a complete loss of all data--something Netgear has never allowed in 3+ years for me. This is despite two disks faulting in a single unit and a corrupt OS (I believe because the OS partition filled up, a Netgear Oops for certain).

The second worry is that many of the severe problems couldn't be handled y U.S. Synology support, and was bumped up to the next tier, available from Taiwan. The time zone difference alone will stretch out any resolution. I don't think I read any review were Taiwan got involved and a positive outcome was reached.

So... there may be poor raid resiliency and questionable support. Not a good combo. I can live with questionable support. The resiliency is worrying.

I guess you'll get opinions based on one's own experience. In my case, I have a 3 year old Duo and a 9 month old NV+ v2. I stayed with Netgear because, well just because it was what I chose first time and it has not let me down. I use both units at home with relatively lightweight use. File serving mostly.

I am however troubled by many recent changes to how Netgear handle customers.

However, from what I've read the new OS (6.x) doesn't appear to be quite ready for primetime.

For sure this is not too robust.

I expect that Netgear will eventually iron it out

Well, if they introduce another new hardware upgrade, they will drop support for the current units like a brick, i.e. Duo/NV+ v2 units are no longer getting upgrades. This is really poor, especially since the v5.3 sw was never "finished" in the sense of all the features you'd reasonably expect to have.

I'd like to hear if anyone has any insight into its competitors (e.g., Synology, Thecus, and QNAP), although they seem to have issues too.

Personally I like the look of QNAP, but Synology appear to have the better software package. I say appear because I have no experience and I've really sifted through their respective forums. Maybe the grass is not greener!

The post royalef "My worry with synology is in the bad reviews I read. Most of them catalog failures that ended with a complete loss of all data", which would be very bad indeed :( . I've not seen this anywhere, but I haven't looked that hard yet.

There is a bug fix release 5.3.9 coming for the Duo/NV+ v2

Yes, I understand there is a bug fix release coming soon, which is good. There are some tricky bugs, especially the "duplicate" share deletes all your data bug.

I like the support I get here on the forums, don't get me wrong, but the v2 products have had a very short shelf life. This is poor. Synology DSM and QNAP QTS both appear to support quite old units and in fact have significantly more functionality in the front ends. If I was starting from scratch, as I did 3 years ago, then I would seriously consider both of these, but I have no experience so possibly I'd end up in the same boat anyway.

royalef wrote:

olest wrote: With the soon to come 6.1.1 release I think NTGR have a good product. Only think missing is the APPs that Synology have. I think ReadyNAS is more a business product and Synology is a home product. Actually many of the packages on the Synology are geared directly and only for business. ERM, CRM, Ticketing system, WebCommerce, Domain and Directory functions-- these have little home function other than as a development for a professional. Not to mention all the web tech (drupal, wordpress, tomcat, apache, java, etc). I was considering Synology BECAUSE I saw more business possibilities. I could probably move my website & blogs to my house and save annual costs. It's clear that Netgear is more the home/enthusiast product. My worry with synology is in the bad reviews I read. Most of them catalog failures that ended with a complete loss of all data--something Netgear has never allowed in 3+ years for me. This is despite two disks faulting in a single unit and a corrupt OS (I believe because the OS partition filled up, a Netgear Oops for certain). The second worry is that many of the severe problems couldn't be handled y U.S. Synology support, and was bumped up to the next tier, available from Taiwan. The time zone difference alone will stretch out any resolution. I don't think I read any review were Taiwan got involved and a positive outcome was reached. So... there may be poor raid resiliency and questionable support. Not a good combo. I can live with questionable support. The resiliency is worrying.

What is the most important job for a NAS to do in a business?
Keep your data safe or provide apps that can/should be running at a real server?