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Re: RN202/RN204 stability and longevity

aks
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

RN202/RN204 stability and longevity

I have a Duo v1 and NV+ v2, both still work. The NV+ was EOL'd shortly after I purchased it, it had a short shelf life, and software updates are appearing further apart now (it seems to me). The NV+ does also fall short in some areas, i.e. backup options (the Duo has more). It also seemed (to me) that OS 6 could just as easily run on the NV+ v2 platform, but Netgear chose not to support it. I do understand the trade off, but equally I am disappointed by such a short shelf life. Anyhow, that's done with, let's move on.

On to my question. I notice the RN200 is using OS 6.3.4, but the RN100 is using OS 6.2.4. My concern is that we are again seeing slightly older hardware being left behind. Are we about to see the RN100 series become EOL'd?

I have browsed through the forums, but since the RN200 has really only been available for a very short period, I am not seeing many questions. Are we still in the 'teething problem' phase, or is it essentially stable as it is very similar to the 100 series i.e. ARM based (Marvell ARM v7 based to Annapurna Cortex-A15 based)?

I am considering my next NAS carefully, there are many options/vendors to choose and whilst I am familiar with these forums (which are great), I am not so pleased with Netgear.

Come to think of it, what is the latest strategy on the NAS 'app store', are extensions essentially free-of-charge, or is the dream to still charge for these?
Message 1 of 9
RX
Luminary
Luminary

Re: RN202/RN204 stability and longevity

aks wrote:
On to my question. I notice the RN200 is using OS 6.3.4, but the RN100 is using OS 6.2.4. My concern is that we are again seeing slightly older hardware being left behind. Are we about to see the RN100 series become EOL'd?

I don't think that RN100 series will be EOL soon.

aks wrote:
I have browsed through the forums, but since the RN200 has really only been available for a very short period, I am not seeing many questions. Are we still in the 'teething problem' phase, or is it essentially stable as it is very similar to the 100 series i.e. ARM based (Marvell ARM v7 based to Annapurna Cortex-A15 based)?

Kindly check this forum link below regarding the advantages of RN200 series over RN100 series:
viewtopic.php?f=25&t=80692

There is also a review on the RN200 series posted here: http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/nas/nas- ... 2-reviewed
Message 2 of 9
StephenB
Guru

Re: RN202/RN204 stability and longevity

I have both the RN102 and the RN202.

The RN200 has much better write performance, and for normal file serving seems pretty close to the RN300. It also supports plex transcoding. 720p stutters occasionally (but is watchable), and 1080p fairly frequently (much more annoying). But SD media and music play smoothly.

If you are considering an RN200 series, check the pricing of the RN300 also. Often the equivalent RN300 is about the same price, sometimes it is actually less.
Message 3 of 9
krungkrung
Tutor

Re: RN202/RN204 stability and longevity

Hello aks,

It is true that ReadyNAS NV+v2 really had short shelf life compared to the OS6 and that is the only ARM based NAS with OS5 that has been released. All ReadyNAS released after the OS5 are OS6, like Ixa, I do not think ReadyNAS 100 series will be discontinued soon as that is the most basic ReadyNAS device, its difference from the 200 series is just the RAM. However, if you are to buy a ReadyNAS device, I recommend getting at least a 300 series for better performance compared to the ones for home use.

As for apps, ReadyNAS apps at http://apps.readynas.com/pages/?page_id=9 are for free, these are to be installed to ReadyNAS and not to any other HW, for iOS apps for ReadyNAS, if the app is developed by NETGEAR then it should be for free. There maybe some apps available from third party developers that are paid apps.
Message 4 of 9
StephenB
Guru

Re: RN202/RN204 stability and longevity

Though I don't work for Netgear (and have no inside info on this) -

I believe the decision to EOL all the legacy NAS was to consolidate everything around OS6. Since the RN100 runs OS6, I'd be very surprised to see an EOL announcement anytime soon. Even if it were replaced by the RN200, I'd expect that OS6 updates would continue to run on the RN100.
Message 5 of 9
aks
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

Re: RN202/RN204 stability and longevity

Thanks all, I have read all about the consolidation previously as I have been on these forums for a few years now. I still rattles me (quite a bit actually).

I specifically want an ARM based unit, and even more specifically a Cortex-A15 or I should say a higher performance than the NV+/RN100 which are similar in that regard. I did see the review, although brief it does look very good for performance, but features of OS6 on that hardware platform are less clear. I guess I am simply concerned about the feature set, the performance looks perfect (transcoding capabilities noted, and not too important for me (yet)). There is really only one other choice for a Cortex-A15 powered unit, and I am considering that one too.

About stability. I recall a few months ago some concerns with btrfs, which is still relatively new in Linux world. Has any issues really cropped up, including recovery is needed? Any other issues affecting stability?

Does anyone have real power consumption numbers measured on a real system? Although this is for home use, it will be on 24/7, with idle spin-down etc. Oh, idle spin-down is supported, right?

Thanks again.
Message 6 of 9
StephenB
Guru

Re: RN202/RN204 stability and longevity

I haven't monitored power use recently (and when I did it was before spindown). I've had no issues with btrfs stability.
Message 7 of 9
aks
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

Re: RN202/RN204 stability and longevity

Thanks
Message 8 of 9
mdgm-ntgr
NETGEAR Employee Retired

Re: RN202/RN204 stability and longevity

You can make your own guesses as to what may happen looking at past release history but we can't comment on what we will release in the future.

The 6.3.5 beta firmware is early access for the 100 series and 2120 which I think signals clearly our intention to bring a major update to the 100 series.

We have the 6.2.5 beta firmware for the 100 series and 2120.

The key difference between 6.2.5 and 6.3.5 is the newer kernel in 6.3.5. Some minor things are not yet working in 6.3.5 for the 100 series e.g. a backup job to a specific USB port.

I would definitely go with the 200 series over the 100 series.

BTRFS is stable and it has some great data integrity features. In my view you are far less likely to lose data using BTRFS than using EXT4 (which is what we used on older devices). Still backups are important. Don't store important data on just the one device. Note if the primary copy of data is on your PC, then the copy on the NAS is a backup. If the only copy of your data is on the NAS then that data is not backed up.
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