NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
Leave ReadyNAS, possible replacements?
Given that Netgear appears to be abandoning this product line, and given that even WhoCares is giving up on it, I am going to consider alternative solutions to replace my aging 524X. I hope to hear...
ReadyNAS is a basically compact PC. You can run whatever you like on it. The trick is to reach the video output and config BIOS to boot from an external device (often an USB stick). Or via serial, telnet, reach the internal flash, etc.
What you choose depends on your needs and how powerful your machine is.
The most popular choices for a replacement OS are:
- OpenMediaVault
- unRAID
- TrueNAS
- Xpenology
- Standard Debian
RN524 looks like a good candidate for a new OS:
https://www.netgear.com/support/product/rn524x#docs
eton wrote:
The trick is to reach the video output
The RN51x and RN31x NAS have hdmi video out, but other models (like the RN524) do not. So this part could be difficult.
Since Netgear has abandoned their storage products. They should take responsibility for their products and customers and write detailed guides how to access the hardware and boot up third party OS on each NAS model.
Preferable release of technical documents of the hardware. And also release all versions of ReadyNAS OS (and RAIDiator) as open source on Github or Gitlab.
- Sure would be nice if they open sourced OS6 but I really doubt they will.
No doubt that if I am going to be able to run an alternative solution it will have to be something that can be run headless, like readynas os can.
I’m not too hopefully about trying to repurpose this hardware with a different OS unless someone like WhoCares figures it all out. Far more likely I will just use it as is for as long as I can in some capacity a few more years and then buy something new but I’m not sure what right now.
Hi,
I'd like to test an alternative OS following some severe issues my Pro6 is having with OS6. Likely a HW fault but I want to explore the "OS bug" path.
My NAS has an intel 6600 and 8GB of RAM. I only use the NAS as file storage. I also run iDrive and I see it's not available for anything but the main brands. It's available for linux though? But I can find an alternative, that's not a deal breaker.
I am thinking of openmediavault - I looked into TrueNAS and it's got silly HW requirements.
Would anybody recommend anything else for my NAS? Would openmediavault support RAID expansion so I don't have to reset my whole RAID if and when I add or upgrade a drive?
Any indication on how to install using the internal USB storage? I can use an external one but if I could re-use the internal one, that would be great.
I do have VGA output if necessary.
Thank you!
I think OpenMediaVault is a good choice. That it's also Debian based gives you a leg up on the learning curve. I think it also supports BTRFS (it's been a while since I looked at it). I'll likely switch to it if I abandon ReadyNAS OS. Doing the switch on our existing hardware is a lot easier for those of us with ReadyNAS that have, or can have installed, a monitor port.
Thank you. I ordered a small but fast (given it's USB 2.0!) USB stick to use as a boot device.
I'll install, test and report back 🙂
Do you think iDrive - which has a Linux version available - could be installed?
NETGEAR Academy
Boost your skills with the Netgear Academy - Get trained, certified and stay ahead with the latest Netgear technology!
Join Us!
