In order to maintain a consistent feature set across all models, Netgear has decided to start on a clean slate. Therefore, ReadyNAS OS 6.0 is not going to be made available for any of the earlier models (including the Duo v2 / NV+ v2).
These new NASes have been a long time coming. NETGEAR said the reason for the delay was that its team was heads-down developing the new ReadyNAS OS 6 that powers all the new models. This new OS is a complete break with the past and features a unified feature set that will be available on both Intel and Marvell ARM-powered models. All current ReadyNASes will not be upgradeable to the new OS.
Wow, what a kick in the gut this is. I've been holding out hope (against reason) that after the dust settled Netgear would still take care of the x86 units but I can see now we are SOL. I can understand dropping the lowest end of their line but an x86 Pro 6 BE isn't worth the time to port their lovely new OS to? No wonder Netgear employees stay away from the forum, the few 'legacy' users left would have some choice words for any that would dare show their faces here.
Maybe the Jedi Council Alumni can let us in on a few secrets to the current (hmmm old) models. I.e. the pioneer models can be converted to pro models. Is there more? We were f.cked by Netgear, let's return the favor.
Sure. It is just a Marvell/etc SATA controller. So you would see all the disks, and do as you like with them. Remember its software RAID, no hardware RAID changing things up.
"ReadyNAS OS 6 will only run on new ReadyNAS products. There is a fundamental file system change which would make upgrading units with data already stored on it difficult in most cases and impossible in other cases. Since we can't risk user data in an upgrade, we have decided not to support any upgrade path to the new ReadyNAS OS 6 features."
"Eric, yes that option was discussed but even if all the warnings and labels we could provide... people will still over write their old data. And zero data loss is always the goal. So ultimately we decided against it."
Interesting, though I'll admit I don't understand what makes their implementation of BTFRS unable to convert EXT4 to BTFRS. I wonder if "we have decided not to support any upgrade path" means "not possible" or "not easy". I would totally be OK with running unsupported OS6 and factory defaulting the unit to get there.
"There will still be softwares releases and bug fixes for the existing products. The feature set will never become equal however. There are features in ReadyNAS OS 6 which cannot be supported in the 4.x or 5.x software."
I'd be curious to find out which features. Besides the eSATA hardware changes obviously. Because the PowerPoint slides out there for the new release even show ReadyNAS OS 6 running on a ReadyNAS Pro 4.
I don't understand what makes their implementation of BTFRS unable to convert EXT4 to BTFRS
I wonder if it would have to do with the software RAID implementation. I can recall in the past, issues related to things like block size changes, where there wasn't a way to adjust the data in place. So I'll accept that there are reasons why a translation isn't possible in this case. That they would use that as the reason not to support any kind of upgrade path does bother me a little.
As I was pondering this situation in the shower this morning, it occurred to me that if I have to upgrade platform, to a completely different add-on platform and having to reconstruction my solutions for things like automated torrent gathering and viewing through PLEX (for example), that when my next upgrade opportunity comes it would make sense to fan out and see what else is out there now.
Breaking the upgrade path is as much about projecting good will toward customers as it is technical feasibility and breaking away to support new functionality. Netgear's taking a bit of a risk here. I guess the success of the new platform will tell how much it paid off.
Obviously the pro has enough horsepower to run it, since it runs on the 1.2 Ghz ARM with less memory. I don't know the impact of other hardware changes (I declined to disassemble it!).
Converting the file system might be rather hard to do in-place.
was thinking about converting my HP microserver into an OpenIndiana+Nappit based NAS to replace my NVX BE (which I was going to go through in the lake..... boooooo!!!) - unless of course I can upgrade to 4GB in my NVX BE and run OpenIndiana on it instead..
btw.. can I take my configured md based raided disks in my NVX and drop into any Linux box and have it work.. or is there some infrant/netgear magic involved?
I've got an older N36L with 8Gb - should still be ok - not sure what I could do with my NVX then... perhaps turn it into a door stop or paper weight.. it send it back to Netgear with a note "returning for shit-canning".
Yeah, I guess that's a spooky part... finding someplace to land your data during upgrade. Given the sizes you can achieve with a NAS, it's likely that most will wind up with at least two... and perhaps one serving as a backup target for the other. My little NV+ could have done that, but the speed difference going to the Pro 6 was substantial.
If i'm not mistaken, there already was similar issues when 3TB disks came around, and the partition had to change. I admit the difference is greater, but is it really too risky ?
Ya its not much diff to the 16TB expansion issue. If you want over 16TB on a 3200/4200, you have to factory default it anyways. So their excuse is invalid.
I guess i opened the can of worms on Facebook, but at least we have answers, even if we don't like them...
"Understandable comments from everyone. The new ReadyNAS OS 6 features are significantly more advanced than the competitive products available. Hopefully that will help retain existing ReadyNAS users when they purchase their next NAS. Bug fixes are coming for the legacy products"
Not that anyone who works for Netgear will ever read this but...
CONGRATULATIONS! You've pissed off someone who influences a large number of purchase decisions, recommendations and even home users choice of networking hardware. You've got yourself on my black list for this. Along with everyone else pissed off by this mistake, you'll probably lose more money than it would have cost to back-port the new software.
I can not see any technical reason why the new version shouldn't be supported on the high end devices such as the Pro6. I wont be recommending any Netgear products in the future.
I'm not impressed. Orphaning all existing hardware and users does not fill me with confidence in moving forward with Netgear. There is no comment or commitment regarding support for existing users. There are so many outstanding bugs and issues in the current products.
To create a clean new slate all existing hardware is to be abandoned even though it is technically possible for many current models to be upgraded. I understand that existing data can not be migrated. So what, declare this limitation and users will find a way to store their data while each unit in their possession is upgraded. It is not as if Netgear don't already have a track record of forcing users to factory default their unit for a number of reasons. This could be a justifiably valid reason.
Netgear abandon current customers and dangle new hardware for us to purchase. Recent purchasers of now defunct products should be livid. How long before Netgear abandons these new products and dangle another new device to which every one will be encouraged to change over. The decision to not provide an upgrade path was a huge mistake. By allowing this decision to go unchallenged we will only encourage Netgear to pull the same trick again in the future.
On current indications I will no longer be recommending Netgear NAS products to any of my clients, associates or friends.
