NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
Open Question to Netgear - What are Your Intentions?
I have been a forum member and ReadyNAS owner since December of 2009. Certainly not as long a many of the add-on developers such as super-poussin and whocares, not as long as some of the more experienced users like claykin, mdgm, dbott76, TeknoJnky, sphardy, Papabear, fbmachines and stephenb and obviously not as long as the jedi - Yodah, Chirpa, Chewbacca, Jedi Knight, Han Solo and Oom-9. There are many others in each group I have unintentionally omitted but I write now because I am concerned for the future of the ReadyNAS line.
I don't post much anymore but have never stopped reading (daily) the ReadyNAS forum. I've committed my own money, that of the company I work for and that of my friends and collegeues that listened to the purchase of a ReadyNAS. From the Duo to the Pro - I use daily and depend on quite a few to do their job and I will say they have done that and done it well. What concerns me is that direction the forum has taken since the departure of Yodah and Chirpa. While both continue to provide support (and while other Jedi also do their best) it would seem judging from the comments of users and Jedi alike there has been a fundamental shift in Netgear's priorities. So fundamental I now question whether Netgear is the right choice moving forward. To wit:
As many have stated the forum was or is the reason to choose Netgear over the competition. I submit given Netgear's stance (the board itself is regularly unavailable) the forum can no longer be valued as it was in the past.
Existing issues are no longer being addressed, discussed or even acknowledged by Netgear staff as readily as in the past. I would submit this lessens the value of Netgear support further decreasing the value of the ReadyNAS line.
Existing web features such as the web simulator have been removed by Netgear without official communication and without remediation. This affects future purchases, reducing the user base therefore reducing the need to spend money on existing users.
Problems we have lived with - (iTunes server / forked daapd, ReadyDLNA, USB3 operation, Photos I and II, ARM add-ons (or the lack thereof), loss of Bittorrent, RAIDiator v5 for x86, lack of a directory / LDAP server, requiring workaround, registry hack or command-line fixes for common issues) - the list goes on - have not been properly addressed. I don't care about most and the ones I do don't bother me that much but there is an expectation when you purchase a product that it live up to the marketing and your own expectations and I would submit that may no longer be the case.
ReadyDATA hardware and software (what some existing programmers might be spending their time on) might be great - I will never know. For one, it is somewhat more expensive than a ReadyNAS but more importantly why would I give my money to a company that has begun to abandon an entire group of product enthusiasts that have have helped make the ReadyNAS line what it is today?
You can search the board to find support for any point I referenced but I think for most just a reminder is enough. Note I am in no way unhappy with the performance of any of the many ReadyNAS units I own and work with on a daily basis. I strongly feel like I am witnessing a protracted death of a product I feel has value and it is for this reason I'm asking Netgear -
What are your intentions?
I don't post much anymore but have never stopped reading (daily) the ReadyNAS forum. I've committed my own money, that of the company I work for and that of my friends and collegeues that listened to the purchase of a ReadyNAS. From the Duo to the Pro - I use daily and depend on quite a few to do their job and I will say they have done that and done it well. What concerns me is that direction the forum has taken since the departure of Yodah and Chirpa. While both continue to provide support (and while other Jedi also do their best) it would seem judging from the comments of users and Jedi alike there has been a fundamental shift in Netgear's priorities. So fundamental I now question whether Netgear is the right choice moving forward. To wit:
As many have stated the forum was or is the reason to choose Netgear over the competition. I submit given Netgear's stance (the board itself is regularly unavailable) the forum can no longer be valued as it was in the past.
Existing issues are no longer being addressed, discussed or even acknowledged by Netgear staff as readily as in the past. I would submit this lessens the value of Netgear support further decreasing the value of the ReadyNAS line.
Existing web features such as the web simulator have been removed by Netgear without official communication and without remediation. This affects future purchases, reducing the user base therefore reducing the need to spend money on existing users.
Problems we have lived with - (iTunes server / forked daapd, ReadyDLNA, USB3 operation, Photos I and II, ARM add-ons (or the lack thereof), loss of Bittorrent, RAIDiator v5 for x86, lack of a directory / LDAP server, requiring workaround, registry hack or command-line fixes for common issues) - the list goes on - have not been properly addressed. I don't care about most and the ones I do don't bother me that much but there is an expectation when you purchase a product that it live up to the marketing and your own expectations and I would submit that may no longer be the case.
ReadyDATA hardware and software (what some existing programmers might be spending their time on) might be great - I will never know. For one, it is somewhat more expensive than a ReadyNAS but more importantly why would I give my money to a company that has begun to abandon an entire group of product enthusiasts that have have helped make the ReadyNAS line what it is today?
You can search the board to find support for any point I referenced but I think for most just a reminder is enough. Note I am in no way unhappy with the performance of any of the many ReadyNAS units I own and work with on a daily basis. I strongly feel like I am witnessing a protracted death of a product I feel has value and it is for this reason I'm asking Netgear -
What are your intentions?
66 Replies
Replies have been turned off for this discussion
- I've largely given up hope of getting fixes so I've just jumped ship to the Asustor AS-608T NAS with 8 x 3TB WD RED's for 16.4TB in RAID-6 - as I hope with the power of Asus behind it they will invest for the long term and won't drop existing customers like Netgear have.
Although new players in the market, its as good as the ultra 4 I have now and shows lots of promise if a little rough round the edges in a few places.
Let the exodus begin. - 4.2.23 public beta is now available: http://www.readynas.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=70385
If you find any issues with that beta as usual post in the public beta forum. - When I was looking to buy a NAS more than 2 years ago, I knew that ReadyNAS was an option, but didn't want to consider it. Why? Because it was a Netgear product, and I've found Netgear support to be sometimes almost OK, but usually pretty darned bad. The only Netgear products I would buy are the cheapie gigabit switches for home use.
But while researching the various NAS products, the enthusiastic ReadyNAS users kept making me think that maybe it was an OK product, but no no no no... no Netgear stuff for me.
Then I found this forum. Holy smokes! Real enthusiastic support! From users! And third party app support that seemed to cover all sorts of things I never considered asking a NAS to do! So I bit the bullet, and bought an Ultra 6. I totally LOVE it! And I posted some of my experiences here as well so that others could know what I'd run into, and contribute to the community.
A couple days ago I saw a killer deal on an Ultra 6 at a local Fry's, and thought about checking to see why there was such a big price drop. I then saw the new models and features, and thought "hmmm... sounds nice". (Sure I'd like some new features on my Ultra 6, but I don't feel ripped off or anything.)
Then I came here to get the REAL scoop on the new models and features.
Um... yikes! This forum seems dead now. It used to be a happy, thriving place, but now it seems sad and lonely. The whole reason why I bought my NAS is effectively gone. Which means that for new issues I'd probably have to rely on standard Netgear support, and yeah, I don't feel like sticking my eye with a pointed stick any more than necessary.
Companies live and die by how well they are able to develop and maintain loyalty. This forum was it for me. The community is not gone, but it's certainly feels like it's on life-support. That's OK, things change. Fortunately, I can change too. To a different brand.
I still love my ReadyNAS, and I still hate Netgear. I always had it in the back of my mind that Netgear might somehow ruin this forum, and get ReadyNAS support to fall in line with how they support their other products. Looks like they're doing it. It's just too bad that they have delusions of adequacy when it comes to support.
It was great while it lasted!
(BTW, to others who have mentioned Synology - we have 2 of them here at work and neither of them support scheduled surface scans. So if a drive is going bad you won't know it until you access the file on the bad spot, or if you're really really unlucky, when it's doing a rebuild when a different drive fails, at which point the rebuild will probably fail. Better hope you have a good backup when that happens! Make sure any NAS you get allows you to schedule surface scans!) - Very well put.
But as you pointed out, this forum is mostly enthusiasts and a handful of talented 3rd party developers.
My point is: You are preaching to the choir. - Yeah. {Sigh...}
I wonder if Netgear is concerned about the 3rd party devs bailing out on the platform. - I'm just as upset with netgear, but I have to give them credit for their new top system having extra horsepower. The i3 processor is an important benefit for my workload. The synologies are all 2.13Ghz atom processors which are really low end laptop processors that can't keep up with heavy audio/video workloads. It would actually be a step down from my pro6 running an e7600.
steve - After that, you have the QNAP TS879-Pro with 8 disks and a core i3, but it's 2200€ diskless.
- With the appearance of a few Jedi Council today (maybe from the recent critisism?), I'm bumping this thread to see if they decide to step up.
NETGEAR, state your commitment here... tiranor wrote: After that, you have the QNAP TS879-Pro with 8 disks and a core i3, but it's 2200€ diskless.
Btw, synology also has a core i3 NAS, the 3612, but it's also 2200€ diskless (with 12 native bays and a max of 36 disks).
And chirpa, as their intervention only relates to the new products, and minor bugs/questions on the legacy ones, i would not raise my hopes...
They post that, but still fail to communicate in the many threads like this one specifically calling them out... This thread started six months ago... Come on guys!https://www.facebook.com/AllAboutReadyNAS/posts/183339985150659 wrote: Appreciate all the folks that post issues on facebook. Continue to do so if that is your preferred communication method. But if you would like faster responses to your questions, please post your questions on the ReadyNAS forum http://www.readynas.com/forum/
NETGEAR Academy
Boost your skills with the Netgear Academy - Get trained, certified and stay ahead with the latest Netgear technology!
Join Us!
