netgear-rnd4000-readynas-nv-v2-4-bay

I'd recommend the Ultra series (e.g. RNDU4000) over the NV+ v2 though the Ultra 4/6 don't have USB3.0

It's a NAS (Network Attached Storage) device. You need to hook it up to your network. It's not a USB disk.

Thanks for the reply

The ultra has 1gig of ram and some other features but is about £250 more. Is it worth the extra expense?

What are the downsides with the smaller spec nas?

Cheers

Ratti

I believe the x86 NAS is worth the extra expense.

The Ultra has an Intel CPU versus the ARM in the NV+ v2. The Ultra has a greater range of add-ons available for it.

Also, you don't need a USB card in your PC to connect to your PC. If your PC is a desktop, most likely it already has a 1 gigbit ethernet connection which you have used to connect to the router. However, the ethernet ports on the router are only "fast ethernet" not gigabit ethernet, so it will be a bottleneck, regardless of which NAS you use. I was faced with the same situation as my WNR2000 router had the same problem and it even slowed down my old NV+ (v1). A friend gave me a piece of advice which solved my problem - I inserted a switch between my PC and the router and connected my NAS to the switch. Then all the traffic between between the PC and the NAS avoided going through the router and getting slowed down. I would recommend either the Netgear GS105 or the better dressed GS605. That same eBuyer site has the GS605 for 20 pounds and the GS105 for 25 pounds.

I would stick with Netgear, I tried a 3rd party switch and it worked fine with my old slow NV+ (v1) but did not work properly with my newer faster NVX. Now that the x-86 and ARM based 64bit NAS units are out, I would be even more inclined to stick with Netgear.

Thanks for the reply. The switch tip seems a very good tip.

I'll have a look round for the higher spec price but it seems a lot of extra money. How long has the Ultra series been out and are they likely to be replaced soon?

Cheers

Ratti

The Ultra series has been out a little over two years. The previous version of the Ultras has been out for a year before it got replaced.
There is no announcement of a replacement. Based on the past product lines, there will be replacement in the future. (There is not ETA or details on what these replacements will have in them.)

You will still be covered by the 3 year warranty with the Ultra. :)

Thanks for the replies............

On reflection, due to price, lots of review reading and my main use will be storage I think I'll go for the rnd4000 after all. At present I have 4 or 5 external hard drives and I'd like to get things in one place and have some protection for hard drive failure. It will also allow me to play aboput with streaming etc and I can upgrade in the future. I'm now thing of getting 4 3TB disks with it and the switch. I want to be secure for 1 HD failure so Raid 1 or Raid 5
I've read a lot of reviews saying you have to configure the drives first is this done using the NAS unit?

Cheers

Ratti

It is normally a one click for the RAID configuration on the initial setup of the ReadyNAS. That would be the only drive configuration, and the reset of the configuration is on the NAS.