I've reached the point where i need to get a NAS - partially pushed into it by the death of my pc motherboard, meaning i may aswell completely rethink how the setup of my home system. I've spent a few days going round websites and forums and think i was heading to Readnas, but reached a point of confusion which i hope someone can clarify.
I started looking at the Duo2 but found a couple of websites that had it listed as discontinued. But then found statements on the web about it being released in November. Then i cant actually see references to it on Netgears own site - at least in the main area. So i think i may have chosen to investigate this product while its still in its release phase which is probabky confusing me. Any clarity any can add from those with some history of the product family would be good.
Some of the details i think ive picked up on are... Usb3 ports Latest v5 of Gui - Radiator?
But i did find a comparison sheet somewhere which said no Itunes Server which seems unlikely or a huge oversight surely? Anyone know for sue about this?
My other concern would be teething troubles as a result of going for a first release product but with the extensive forum support i suspect this would not be a major problem.
Does anyone actually have the product yet and can comment on my thoughts above?
I think it's pretty clear that not all features intended for the product made it into the first 5.3.1 release. As to what the features are that will be added we'll need to wait and see. Do note this comment: http://www.readynas.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=330426#p330426
sphardy wrote:
Neither SBS or Firefly are currently available for the v2 devices though there are ARM ports of both and so it is likely both will eventually appear
As a beta tester of the Duo v2, I'm very happy with the product and would recommend it.
Duo v2 is a nice piece of hardware offering, in addition to USB3 and the new GUI, much better performance than the 1st Gen Duo and - critically - support for larger disks (ie no 2TB limit)
There have been some support related requests already from new users - primarily basic setup questions or related to software features that are not (yet) supported. No major bugs.
My only caution is to double check the software feature set meets your immediate requirements - if there is no explicit statement of a feature being supported, presume that it is not - or be prepared to wait for some features like the iTunes server to be added via future firmware updates (Netgear has confirmed it will be). If it does meet your needs software-wise, then it is a good solid unit to be recommended
Thanks guys for both of your useful comments. I'll do a more thorough examination of features i actually need and wont assume if its in duo v1 its necessarily in V2 yet.
On the itunes front, would i be right that even without the full server support i could just use it as it currently stands as the repository of my content and would still be accessible from my pc in the normal way? So it would just act as though it was an external hardrive? If i understand right the itunes server functionality allows multiple clients to connect directly to the nas? if so, i can do without that and i may well go for the duo 2. After a tad more research...
The iTunes server can stream music to your Mac/PC directly - the NAS library looks like a Shared Library in iTunes - no other computer needs to be turned on except the one you are using to play the media
Else you configure a Mac/PC to access the media directly - like storing it on an external drive. That PC/Mac can then stream the media to other computers/iOS devices etc. This latter option offers more functionality (eg music and video support) but requires the computer to be turned on in addition to the Duo. This is currently the only option available to Duo v2 users
When ordering, just be careful of the model numbers. The Duo (v1 - model RND2000-100NAS) and the Duo v2 (model RND2000-200NAS) are both currently on the Newegg website for example. The Duo v1 is $180 while the Duo v2 is $200. The next model up, the Ultra 2 diskless (RNDU2000-100NAS) is $300 with shipping. It is more feature rich and is based on the Intel Atom processor. It has been out a little over a year now.
One does not have to worry about support from Netgear on the older products. There are still some of the original Infrant brand desktop ReadyNAS units in service from 2005, and they can run the same latest firmware 4.1.8 that runs on the Duo and NV+. While the Duo (v1) has been discontinued, it is not heavily discounted, and will still offer good service for years to come.
Thanks PapaBear. Choices makes my brain ache, but think im getting somewhere in narrowing things down. 🙂 Think i read a comment somewhere about the latest gui version being 5.x.something... And that this was only on the newer product and not likely to be available n the v1. I may have got that wrong, its just one of the many snippets floating around in my brain that im attempting to condense into a purchase decison! While i probably havent established why exactly i want the new gui version except for the possibly naive assumption that newer equals better, its one of the threads im grabbing onto. I will research more to flesh out why it might be better and not available to older products.
But i do accept that Netgears long term support if worth valuing and the forums here all seem positive. Although just to add a slightly negative perspective the other netgear nas product Stora seems to have many complaints about support. I havent got to the bottom of whether its because they are all uber geeks stuck with a simple entry levl product or because its fundamentally flaky. The thing that disuaded me was needing to have access to the Netgear server over internet to set up and configure. Sorry, rambling off topic! Onwards with Google we go...
The Duo v2 GUI (Raidiator 5.x) will not be ported to the Duo v1 - rather I would speculate it is highly likely that the Duo v1 will ultimately be phased out as it makes no sense for Netgear to maintain 2 competing but almost identically priced products and all focus will naturally be on the v2 architecture
Basic services on all ReadyNAS devices do NOT require access to Netgear servers via the internet, though many of the additional addons do - ReadyNAS Photos and Remote for instance in the case of the Duo v2
Ianlighting - keep in mind that while the Stora is a Netgear product, it is not part of the ReadyNAS line. This forum does not support the Stora, the general Netgear forum does that as best it can. Netgear bought Infrant Technologies (founder of the ReadyNAS line) about four years ago, which at the time had only the NV+ as a desktop model and several rack mount (commercial) models. To their credit, they kept the team intact and provided the support and resources so we see the wide variety of models we see today. Netgear had a line of NAS products which were discontinued, but then they brought out the Stora which has not really been well received. With the introduction of the Duo v2, the Stora line has been discontinued as well. My old NV+ which is still plugging along is an Infrant branded unit.
