I have been a ReadyNAS user from the old days of Infrant (ReadyNAS NV+)
I have had ReadyNAS Pro6 and Ultra6, as well as a 214 and deployed a few other to friends and family.
Due to a variety of reasons I am considering buying a RN4312S but I'm somewhat disappointed to see there have been no updates to that model since it was launched in 2016 (4 years is a long time!). On top of that, one of the selling points for that model is the expandability with a RD4000 pack which seems to be EOL.
So it makes me wonder Netgear is still serious about the ReadyNAS range and whether I should take the plunge on a VERY expensive bit of kit which may be deprecated tomorrow.
I would be grateful for some sort of reassurance or information from either the ReadyNAS team or other members of this community.
On top of that, one of the selling points for that model is the expandability with a RD4000 pack which seems to be EOL.
I think you must mean the EDA4000. That goes back to ReadyData, and was launched back in 2012. I don't believe they were very popular (based on not seeing many posts from people using them here).
Given the rapid growth of disk capacity, I don't think that's very surprising. Back in 2012, 4 TB was the largest available drive. Now we are up to 16 TB.
Due to a variety of reasons I am considering buying a RN4312S but I'm somewhat disappointed to see there have been no updates to that model since it was launched in 2016 (4 years is a long time!).
So it makes me wonder Netgear is still serious about the ReadyNAS range
Netgear hasn't said anything about their strategy (generally they don't). They have added the RN422 series and the 4360 rackmount after the major 2016 refresh. Overall they seem to be on a 4 to 5 cycle - unclear if Covid-19 will slow that down or now.
The fact that the EDA2000 and EDA4000 were staggeringly overpriced likely had something to do with their lack of popularity, too.
It is unfortunate that Netgear has not chosen to support third party SAS drive chasses since the EDA2000 and EDA4000 were discontinued. I have successfully connected one to a converted RD5200, but I believe one (or more) would work the same with the 4312. But the chassis and drives do not show up in the GUI even though the NAS is clearly aware of them (and shows them in RAIDar, even). So, I have to use SSH to create volumes. Then, I see the volumes in the GUI and can do everything else from there. The Netgear CLI commands to manipulate volumes also expressly support multiple chassis, as documented in their --help display.
Interestingly, I have just asked for a quote for an RN4312S and the supplier says it's been EOLed.
This means, to me, either an updated model coming up or the end of the Rackmount ReadyNAS offerings. I'll wait a bit longer to see what happens but may end up jumping ship to Synology 😞
