I purchased a readynas nv with 4 x 750GB drives in september of 2006 (I think the amazon order was for ~$3K). Overall, I've been impressed with open community built upon the readynas, the general design/capabilities of it, and that software upgrades have been continually provided at no cost -- even if several new features of newer units haven't been backported. I'm honestly not sure how much of the preceeding will continue now that infrant has been purchased by netgear...but netgear does seem to be heavily marketing the readynas and perhaps that means there is still a reasonable future.
That said, I have a few issues/changes: - I've been somewhat upset with the noise of the NV....I mean, the power/noise had substantiall reduced the use I have for it. I never realized before that infrant was making available the NV+ fanless PSU's available for the NV...it seems that it might make sense to order that -- if it can still be ordered? How much does it reduce noise? - On the other hand, is there any point in spending any $ upgrading the NV versus switching to something else? I'm OK migrating my data off the NAS and then back on. Can I move the drives to a newer unit to avoid buying all new drives with a new unit? I have two other 750GB drives from an older snap server - Are newer readynas units much quiter? Do any support NFS v4? How is the network teaming? - My primary purpose for the NAS is backups of a home workstation (I have about 7 x 2TB drives in a tower chassis). Ideally, changes in the data on that would be copied to the NAS daily. My workstation runs Linux -- I'm not sure if I would mount the readynas via NFS or iSCSI. I don't think any of the default readynas backup software automatically performs dedup + snapshots with solid linux support. - Performance, I'm just not sure how newer readynas units compare against other home office nas vendors - especially for nfs or iscsi. The lack of nfsv4 on the NV has been frustrating. - Drive trays, I've had some of these get stuck like other NV owners....was this issue ever fixed for newer models?
On the other hand, the fact that the NV has been running all this time and supported and giving me no issues other than noise is something that makes me highly consider just continuing with it or upgrading to newer model rather than switching to a different vendor or building my own unit.
I purchased a readynas nv with 4 x 750GB drives in september of 2006 (I think the amazon order was for ~$3K). Overall, I've been impressed with open community built upon the readynas, the general design/capabilities of it, and that software upgrades have been continually provided at no cost -- even if several new features of newer units haven't been back ported.
Good to hear your experience.
deploylinux wrote:
I'm honestly not sure how much of the preceeding will continue now that infrant has been purchased by netgear...but netgear does seem to be heavily marketing the readynas and perhaps that means there is still a reasonable future.
The ReadyNAS line is here to stay. NetGear purchased Infrant back in 2007 and the range of ReadyNAS products available has increased greatly since the acquisition. NetGear is a leader in the NAS market. See NETGEAR RANKED AS LEADING NAS/UNIFIED STORAGE VENDOR IN 2011
deploylinux wrote:
That said, I have a few issues/changes: - I've been somewhat upset with the noise of the NV....I mean, the power/noise had substantiall reduced the use I have for it. I never realized before that infrant was making available the NV+ fanless PSU's available for the NV...it seems that it might make sense to order that -- if it can still be ordered? How much does it reduce noise?
It can't be ordered. However some have had success replacing the NV+ (v1) fan with a Noctua fan. Not sure about the NV but it may work for this model as well. This kind of modification voids the warranty but your unit is already long out of warranty anyway.
deploylinux wrote:
- On the other hand, is there any point in spending any $ upgrading the NV versus switching to something else? I'm OK migrating my data off the NAS and then back on. Can I move the drives to a newer unit to avoid buying all new drives with a new unit? I have two other 750GB drives from an older snap server
The NV+ (v1) was recently discontinued. It was an evolutionary upgrade over the NV with the same OS and performance, but with a few improvements such as an LCD screen.
You can't migrate your disks across directly to a new ReadyNAS on the x86 and ARM platforms as the RAID format is different. I recommend buying new disks, but you could use the old disks you have and then transfer the NV disks across after you've migrated the data. I'd recommend deleting the partitions on the NV disks, then hot-adding (add while NAS is on) them to the new NAS.
2-bay and 6-bay units are a good choice if you want a quieter NAS.
deploylinux wrote:
Do any support NFS v4?
Yes. The new Duo/NV+ v2 (ARM) and the Ultra/Pro (x86) do.
deploylinux wrote:
How is the network teaming?
The ReadyNAS Pro Series supports this feature. I'd recommend the Pro 6 (RNDP6000-200).
deploylinux wrote:
- My primary purpose for the NAS is backups of a home workstation (I have about 7 x 2TB drives in a tower chassis). Ideally, changes in the data on that would be copied to the NAS daily. My workstation runs Linux -- I'm not sure if I would mount the readynas via NFS or iSCSI.
You'd have the choice of either on the Pro 6. You could try both and see which you prefer.
deploylinux wrote:
I don't think any of the default readynas backup software automatically performs dedup + snapshots with solid linux support.
No. There is the new ReadyDATA product but it is a 12-bay rackmount unit costing about $10k and is designed for server rooms where noise is no concern.
deploylinux wrote:
- Performance, I'm just not sure how newer readynas units compare against other home office nas vendors - especially for nfs or iscsi.
Don't know whether that's planned or not. Much 3rd party development for the Sparc platform discontinued a long time ago. The x86 (Intel) and ARM platforms are developed for by 3rd parties which makes it much easier.
deploylinux wrote:
- Drive trays, I've had some of these get stuck like other NV owners....was this issue ever fixed for newer models?
Yes. New models ship with drive trays with a rectangular button.
deploylinux wrote:
On the other hand, the fact that the NV has been running all this time and supported and giving me no issues other than noise is something that makes me highly consider just continuing with it or upgrading to newer model rather than switching to a different vendor or building my own unit.
Personally I'd recommend upgrading to the Pro 6 but the choice is up to you.
Hmmm just checked on a 4.1.9 beta release and it seems that it includes NFSv4:
Sparc-NAS:~# rpcinfo -u localhost nfs program 100003 version 2 ready and waiting program 100003 version 3 ready and waiting program 100003 version 4 ready and waiting
I didn't read all of mdgm's post (he will have only good information for you) but here's my six bits:
1. You seem to have a noise problem and that can be the fan (cheap fix) or one or more of the drives (expensive fix these days). If it's the fan, replacing it should be a no-brainer to do.
2. If you have had 6 years of trouble-free service from your NV, pat yourself on the back and thank Netgear and your lucky stars as that is an excellent track record!
3. I'm not clear on how a 4x750GB NAS backs-up a 7x2TB workstation, but in any case your NV is ready for retirement.
I'd get a new NAS and relegate the NV to some other purpose, maybe "backup this-or-that to it and turn it off most of the time" or something.
To exapand a bit on mdgm's description of the "button" on newer trays. On your trays, the round button pressed a lever that pressed down on the release for the latch. On the new trays there is a rectangular recess you put your finger tip in and then press down directly on the release. I have yet to hear of one sticking. (I have two older NVX units (32bit x86 vs the current 64bit x86 models) which was the first for this type of release).
I was also concerned (as I'm sure a lot of people were) when Netgear bought out Infrant in 2007 (shortly after I bought an NV+) but in this case it was a blessing for the consumer. They vastly expanded the offerings and now have 11 different desktop ReadyNAS models available vs the 1 when you bought your NV. There are 4 different 2 bay models, 4 different 4 bay models and 3 different 6 bay models. The Pro 6 that mdgm recommended is one of if not the most powerful desktop NAS at this time. But as in anything, the power comes with a price tag. Roughly $1000 for a diskless model delivered. Considering the features and power compared to your NV and it's price its a reasonable price. Then there is the 5 year warranty as well. You can save about $80 by going to the Ultra 6 plus, but it only has a 3 year warranty and lacks the business features but still has iSCSI.
Glad to hear about nfsv4 making it to the sparc boxes. Sounds like most of my concerns about NV have been addressed in future models and that the pro6 might be worth a purchase (even if I just move existing 750GB drives to begin with and later upgrade to newer gen seagate constellation es 3/4GB drives).
That really just leaves a few items to work through. How long to keep the existing NV box going before switching (with there be newer versions of the pro6 released soon?). If I wait up to 1 year, should I bother with trying to reduce fan noise - I actually have a spare noctua fan that has never been used.
Also, I'd feel a lot better with buying whole new readynas if I could get one with at least a single 10Gbps nic, preferably dual. I'm not sure what the plans are for this.
And then, there are just two points about backup tech -- the existing NV is nice for rsync but the cpu on the NV limits it substantially...I assume newer models will be able to sustain much higher throughput, but this might be something worth testing. Not having any kind of dedup is frustrating though...even if it was a software addon...might have to do the dedup on workstation and then rsync data files to NAS, but that would get complicated. Most of the newer linux backup tech use combinations of dedup and snapshots. I can understand though that netgear will be conservative in deploying that though...so I might have to settle for NAS running a few years behind newer linux tech (I see the x86 nas units just started deploying ext4, while fedora is starting to push btrfs, and LWN is reporting on backup software like obnam http://liw.fi/obnam/ ).
The Pro 6 that mdgm recommended is one of if not the most powerful desktop NAS at this time. But as in anything, the power comes with a price tag. Roughly $1000 for a diskless model delivered. Considering the features and power compared to your NV and it's price its a reasonable price. Then there is the 5 year warranty as well. You can save about $80 by going to the Ultra 6 plus, but it only has a 3 year warranty and lacks the business features but still has iSCSI.
As long as the Pro6 is low noise (<28db), there doesn't seem to be much point in considering any other readynas model then. It just comes down to how long to stay with existing NV versus buying Pro6 versus building a custom box. Custom box might give 10gigE upgrade options and allow for more cpu power and newer backup software, but probably would not be as reliable as the Pro6. Is the Pro6 also limited to just 1GB ram? Can it be upgraded to 4GB?
2. If you have had 6 years of trouble-free service from your NV, pat yourself on the back and thank Netgear and your lucky stars as that is an excellent track record! 3. I'm not clear on how a 4x750GB NAS backs-up a 7x2TB workstation, but in any case your NV is ready for retirement. I'd get a new NAS and relegate the NV to some other purpose, maybe "backup this-or-that to it and turn it off most of the time" or something.
The reliability of the NV and the ongoing support is the whole reason why I'm considering buying a new one! Although, it was quite a gamble buying the original NV back when infrant was just starting to build its reputation. Still, it's still here while other nas vendors have fallen behind.
The 7x2TB in workstation is raw capacity, that gets down quite a bit due to s/w RAID10 and other partitioning, plus of the provisioned space, about only 1/3 of it is full. So, the existing NV has been mostly OK to date. I'd like to get more room for future needs though.
I'm thinking of just moving the existing drives to the Pro6 if I get it to start with and then getting rid of the old NV. My garage as it is could almost be converted into a computer museum....my wife would kill me if I added yet another unit...and honestly this is for a home office. 1 good solid NAS that will last another 7 year run should be more than good enough for my needs. I've been there done that on running 50 different gadgets in the office...now a days, I prefer a few items that last a long time, don't break down, are upgradeable, and relatively quiet.... the electric bill is high enough as it is too 🙂
Personally I'd recommend upgrading to the Pro 6 but the choice is up to you.
Welcome to the forum!
Sounds like a good recommendation -- thanks for the extensive responses -- excellent community support. I'm curous though as I generally buy hardware that I expect to have a 7yr lifetime how much performance is going to be left on the table with ram of the pro units limited to 1GB, and no units with 10gigE by default, or even as an upgrade. If I knew the pro6 could have its ram upgraded to 4GB and NIC's upgraded to 10gigE later, that would make me feel much more comfortable shelling out the $ for something I plan to use for an extended period and not just replace a few years later.
Also, do the newer units have any kind of battery for the storage controller nvram? I wouldn't think that would add much to the unit cost given how old the tech is now - although I can see how it might a pain for customers who don't want to replace the battery every few years.
Pro BE was released late 2008, Pro 6 was released late 2010. Don't know when a future update for the Pro 6 would be released. Will have to wait and see what NetGear does.
I'd like to have the ability to add a 10GbE NIC or two too. They offer this on the 4200 (12-bay rackmount) but it'd be nice to see a desktop NAS with this option too.
Yes newer models such as the Pro 6 are much more powerful.
The Pro 6 can handle up to 8GB (2x4GB) RAM. Memory upgrades are unsupported. If incompatible memory causes data corruption NetGear will be unable to help.
Do remember that as the RAID format is different you can't simply migrate disks across. You'd need to transfer the data across your network or back it up then restore it.
Also note a few expansion limitations: Limit of 8TB of online expansion over life of volume e.g. if volume is 2TB at factory default, can expand to 10TB Cannot expand beyond 16TB. If you want a volume larger than 16TB you'll need to do a factory default (wipes all data, settings, everything) with the disks in place.
The Pro 6 uses software RAID. I'm not sure about what batteries are in the unit.
My garage as it is could almost be converted into a computer museum....my wife would kill me if I added yet another unit...and honestly this is for a home office.
Ha, ha! I'm right there with you. Do you have an IMSAI 8080 too? Three Toshiba Magnias? :wink:
Funny thing though, our home office is so crowded with gear that my wife doesn't notice anymore when I put new stuff in it! 🙂
