NAS DRIVES

SBASHAKUS

Welcome to the Community!

Does it make sense to use NAS as a backup drive to PC's? 

While you can use the NAS to have backup of data from your PC, it is still not enough and a common misconception that having a backup on a NAS means it is secured. RAID helps you or protects you from failures but backing up data with multiple copies on different devices or on a cloud is always a best practice to preent data loss.

If the PC drive failed, can I simply remove the drive from the NAS and replace the one in the PC?

In general, can I take a HD out of the NAS drive and put it into a PC with all the data retained?

If no, how do I get the get data off the drives if a NAS drive fails?

No, the disks will not be accessible just like a normal disk would. YOu will be able to use it on your PC if you have a Software that will help you run the RAID config or atleast you can use a recovery software to take out the data on the RAID disks. Example of Recovery software would be ReCLAIMe or R-Linux

Does Netgear proprietary RAID preclude reading these drives outside of THEIR NAS drive?

Any RAID drive will need software or be configured to be read outside their device.

Please explain pros/cons of these setups (Flex-Raid vs X-Raid) with failure scenearios: 

Kindly check this links regarding X-RAId and Flex-RAID

https://kb.netgear.com/22802/What-is-X-RAID-and-how-does-it-work-with-my-ReadyNAS-OS-6-storage-system
https://kb.netgear.com/22808/What-is-Flex-RAID-and-how-does-it-work-with-my-ReadyNAS-OS-6-storage-system

-What happens if 1 HD Fails?

on RAID1,RAID5 your NAS will go on degraded mode where the protection kicks in, You still have access to your Data.
On RAID1 setup, you will have the mirror disks take over and will have to replace the failed disk. Same with RAID5, RAID5 allows 1 disk failure and you will be able to get the data under degraded mode. Backing up data and Replacing disks upon failure is always a priority.

JBOD/RAID0 setup does not have protection which means, getting 1 disk to fail gets you no data at all. There might be chances to recover but slim to  none.

-What happens if a 2nd HD fails without attending to the 1st one yet?

RAID 6 configuration can withstand a two disk failure but RAID 1 RAID 5 or RAID 0 will get your data inaccessible/lost/

-What happens if the NAS device fails? (Am I forced to purchase another NETGEAR due to proprietary RAID?)

Purchasing the same model or architecture is recommended and you will just have to plug in the disks and boot. Purchasing a different platform you will need assistance to have your data accessible on the new device.

-I have 4TB of photos and would like a network shared area for files & documents too.  I own a domain as well. How do I create a shared drive using my domain name?

Please see 
https://kb.netgear.com/19864/How-do-I-map-a-network-drive-in-Windows

Please let us know if this is what you are looking for. Or if you want to use your domain/web to share your files.

HTH

Regards