Pre-purchase Questions - RN424

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Paul-NG wrote:

 

1) I see most RN424 listed (on amazon for example) as max 40Tb (4x10) capacity but NG lists them as max 48Tb (4x12)

• Is there newer hardware to allow 48Tb or is this a OS change to allow 48Tb

Neither.  There is no known limit on the max disk size.  Netgear datasheets generally use the largest compatible disk size at the time the datasheet is published (and don't update them just because a bigger disk comes onto the market).  Netgear's hardware HCL includes 3 16TB models, and the newer 18 TB drives that came onto the market last year are also likely to work. 

I do recommend using either NAS-purposed disks (e.g., WD RED Plus or Seagate Ironwolf) or enterprise class. 

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Paul-NG wrote:

 

2) X-Raid / Flex-Raid

• Have I understood the manual correctly in that X-Raid automates Raid expansions ie mirror/raid 1 to raid 5 when 3rd disc added, and flex-Raid lets you choose whats to occur or is there more to the differences than thats.
• Initially I want to have 2x 10T mirrored, and 2x4T mirrored which will start with just one 4T till I copy over the data
  Is this best suited to X-Raid or Flex-Raid or some other process

Is there a reason why you want two volumes?  With XRAID you could start with 2x10+4TB in a single volume - which would give you 14 TB of capacity with redundancy.  (2x10+2x4TB would give you 18 TB).

XRAID only offers one volume, and manages expansion automatically.  One limitation is that added or upgraded disks either need to be at least as large as the biggest disk in the array, or match the size of another disk that is in the array (or was in the past).  So if you started with 2x10TB, you couldn't add a 4 TB drive.   Another limitation is that vertical expansion isn't available if you use volume encryption.  Personally I don't recommend volume encryption - it really doesn't offer much in the way of added security, and it would preclude data recovery if that is ever needed.

FlexRAID gives you control over the RAID mode (and offers modes that XRAID doesn't), but is quite a bit more complicated.  One significant flaw in FlexRAID is that you cannot expand vertically. 

IMO XRAID is the best option for most users. 

One thing (a bit tangential) is that you should have a backup plan in place for the NAS.   RAID protection isn't enough to keep your data safe.  As your storage needs grow, you also should grow your backup capacity.  There are several options for backup, the cheapest is probably USB drives.  You do want to make sure they are CMR (not SMR).  SMR are fine for archival, but they can be very slow for backup.

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Paul-NG wrote:

 

3) Internet

Whilst i like the idea of having access remotely to my data and will likely set up the device for that I prefer to have my data inside my network behind a firewall and not directly connected to my router

• Having setup remote access directly connected to my router, if I move NAS behind my FW is there a list of ports/direction of flow to allow on a FW (I'm quite happy setting up port forwarding on router) ?
• or can you restrict Eth ports to specific volumes, ie from above could I restricted Eth0 to my 10T and Eth1 to 4T or even to specific shares (or LUNs)

 

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I'm not clear on whether your entire network is behind the firewall, or if you are connecting some devices that will use the NAS directly to the router.  

There is no comprehensive list of ports - but the various services are set up to use well known ports, so you can easily google the information needed for NTP, SMB, NFS, etc.  Some services (for instance FTP) do give you control over ports in the NAS.

There are some services (particularly DLNA and RAIDar) that require broadcast discovery.  Those will work for devices behind the firewall, but not for devices connected to your router.  The other services would require port forwarding in the firewall if you want to use them for devices connected to the router. 

If some of these services are used for remote access, you'd also need to forward them in the router to the firewall. But generally I don't recommend that.  Instead I'd go with a VPN - they are much easier to secure.  Many routers (and perhaps your firewall) support OpenVPN.  ZeroTier is another option, and there is an app for it on the NAS. 

Generally OpenVPN gives you full access to the home network, and doesn't use cloud services for NAT traversal (though it does require DDNS).

ZeroTier is more fine-grained - you set up a virtual network, and limit it to specific devices.  But it does depend on a cloud service for NAT traversal, and of course you need to trust it.

Both have free clients for Windows, MacOS, iOS, and Android.

Netgear does have their own cloud service for remote access (ReadyCloud).  I don't use it myself (performance can be hit-or-miss, and they don't provide as much information on security as I would like).  But it is worth considering, and many folks here are using it.