moeronn

Thanks for the update. A NAS is near the top of my list of useful toys to get. Still a little ways off, but your info is very helpful.

Sly Raskal

iTrader: (1)

Thanx, hopefully I'll have more info for you soon.

If you get one in the near future, be sure to check out the ReadyNAS NV+, t's a newer model they introduced after I bought my NV.

And be sure to check out the hardware compatibility list on their website in the forums to ensure whatever stuff you buy will work with the NAS (if you don't buy a pre-built NAS). This also goes for network equip, memory, wireless technology, etc...



And if you plan on streaming MP3s in your home, be sure to check out the bundles at www.slimdevices.com or you can buy them separetely at a later date.

Sly Raskal

iTrader: (1)

Oh I forgot to mention, the reason why I didn't use RAID 5 as I had initially thought I would was because after doing some reading on X-RAID I found out that it is much more friendly in terms of scalability down the road.

Sly Raskal

iTrader: (1)

http://www.infrant.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10259

Infrant ReadyNAS NV/NV+ owners be sure to read this.

I forgot to post this when I heard about it.

moeronn

Thanks for the link. I'll check the one in our office.

Also, Infrant was purchased by NetGear. Hope this turns out to be a good thing.

Sly Raskal

iTrader: (1)

Yea, my co-worker just told me about the netgear thing. I had no idea, when did they buy infrant?

I hope to god it turns out to be a good thing.

Logitech bought slimdevices last year as well.

moeronn

Well, the ReadyNAS NV we have in the office took a dump. It was either the power supply or something else that shorted out. It took 3 business days of filing an electronic support request, sending e-mails, making several calls and posting in the forums to finally get an RMA - and another two calls to get the RMA expedited.

Next day advance shipping costs $50, but we should have it tomorrow. Having the X-Raid is great for when one of your drives go down, but you can't do a damn thing with the drives if the NAS dies. Thankfully, we have an external HD that we use to backup the NAS.

Sly - I would check to see if your serial number falls within the affected range. Even with the fan speed patch and/or reversal, you could very easily experience a failure. After doing a bit of reading on the Infrant forums, it seems the power supplies use inferior capacitors that are prone to failure. Backup what you can and be prepared.

FYI - since Infrant and NETGEAR haven't completed their consilidation, dealing with support is a royal pain. Posting in the forums and getting one of the Infrany staff to help might have helped move things a little faster than it would have otherwise.

Sly Raskal

iTrader: (1)

^^^ Sorry to hear about the issue but glad to hear that it is getting resolved.

Netgear support isn't that great to begin with and is one thing I think will kill potential sales of infrant devices in the future if Netgear will be consolidating the support for infrant devices into Netgear support.

as for the PSU, I did check mine a bit ago, and needed to apply the patch which I did. The one thing I wish I could do for it, which is impossible is add a second fan to increase the volume of air going over the drives and the PSU to keep the entire system cooler.

I guess all i can do is that it never fails.

moeronn

So, after getting the run around for several days, they express shipped a new unit that arrived today. Open up the box and it turned out to be a ReadyNAS NV+

Slid the drives in, turned it on, and everything seems to be working. No additional setup required.

Sly Raskal

iTrader: (1)

Proceeding to kick my NAS ...













Wow, guess the problem really paid off!

moeronn

Well, since this was a business file "server", it wasn't really worth the hassle of 4 days with limited productivity. If it was my own personal NAS, then I would be less annoyed that it was out for a few days.

BTW, it did notice that there was an improper shut down and had to do a full system scan. That took roughly an hour, but it didn't note any problems.

Sly Raskal

iTrader: (1)

^^^ You should see some improvement in response time on the NAS as the NV+ comes with 1GB of RAM opposed to the 256MB of RAM on the NV

Some have reported that the response of the Admin Interface is faster with more RAM in the box.

Sly Raskal

iTrader: (1)

So the shit has hit the fan...

I was wondering what was going to come about from Netgear buying Infrant.

Today I went on their site to see how much the memory add-on costs for my ReadyNAS NV. it said it's not available, so I went to the Netgear shop where it is all done now and they listed the ReadyNAS NV+ which was approx $650 before Netgear bought infrant. Now it runs approx $950 for the same exact device!

http://www.buynetgear.com/product.asp?sku=3679357


I'm glad I bought mine when I did, and so is my co-worker that bought it right when the acquisition took place but the pricing hadn't changed yet.

moeronn

Yeah, I noticed that the other day. When I looked, the diskless system was the same price as a 2x500GB system. It makes absolutely no sense and is stearing me away, at least for the time being. We'll see if they update their pricing to something a little more realistic.

If you get one with disks, you also get an iPod Shuffle or Nintendo wii (depending on which model) free by mail-in-rebate.

Beelzebub

When I need to do it I will just build my own.

500GB drives are only $100 so I can get 5 a powersupply CPU and memory and build the whole thing for 650 or so.

svtmike

Bastiches.

moeronn

These things are quite a bit more than just a Big-A$$-Disk. They have permissions, FTP Server, Media Server, RAID, Printer Server, etc. The prices now are high, but you still get a lot more than just a standard PC with lots of storage.

Sly Raskal

iTrader: (1)

I just ordered my memory upgrade from Fry's

I bought a Kingston Chip Model #KVR333SO/1GR

It's not listed as one that is supported on the infrant compatibility list, but the specs all match up and other's have bought this chip and have had good results.

If any of you need it for your Infrant ReadyNAS NV (NV+ already comes with 1GB) I'd suggest getting it, it's quite cheap:

http://shop1.outpost.com/product/438...H:MAIN_RSLT_PG

Beelzebub

I know

http://www.openfiler.com/

you can do everything one of those units can do and with usually a lot more flexibility and control than one of the ready made units provides.

This one is almost corporate level.

moeronn

Thanks for the link. They say "Openfiler is a serious tool meant for professional systems administrators." It sounds promising, but I don't think I quite qualify as a sysadmin. Would this be usable by someone with more than general knowledge of PCs, but not quite sysadmin level?

Sly Raskal

iTrader: (1)

So I've been running my NAS the last couple days with the upgraded memory and I must say, the jump from 256MB to 1GB has improved it's response drastically! Now I wish I had done it sooner.

Sly Raskal

iTrader: (1)

http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/n...readynas-line/

NiteQwill

Don't know much about the things. But what file system does it write in?

Reason being, I have a Mac and PC in my house and I want to be able to read/write with both OS'.

Sly Raskal

iTrader: (1)

Sick, just sick!

http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/29/n...-readynas-pro/

Pics at the link.

Beelzebub

I just bought 30TB for the office.

But home storage is getting sick.

Whiskers

I'm having trouble filling up 500GB...

stangg172004

i just got a 500GB and its 42% filled, thank you bittorent...

Billiam

So is Ifrant's X-RAID essentially the same thing that Data Robotics is doing with their Drobo product?

BTW, if you want to chew through disk space, try Photoshop edited DSLR images. They can easily reach 200-400 MB each.

stogie1020

Finlover has some useful posts...

moeronn

fixed

I'll have to look at those specs a little more later. I also heard they had released a 2 disk home version, but haven't looked into it yet.

Still thinking about what, if anything, to get for home. Especially now that my desktop (and print share computer) is having hardware issues. It just reboots randomly and doesn't always post now. It's been about 5 years since it's last upgrade, though.

moeronn

Since that 6-bay netgear ReadyNAS Pro isn't out yet, I think this may be a possible solution for me:

http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=667&sec=1

Billiam

If you're looking at items in that price range, then I'd probably spend the extra $'s and get the new Drobo over that D-Link enclosure. Of course I'm comparing list prices. If you can get the D-Link for a decent chunk off of list then it really isn't a fair comparison.

moeronn

D-link can be had for ~$425 shipped from Amazon.

Will have to look into the Drobo.

The main drawbacks to the D-link over the Netgear ReadyNAS NV+ are:
- only 1 USB port
- USB port can only be used for UPS or printer - cannot be used for external HD

I'm also pretty sure it isn't quite as feature-rich, but for less than helf the price, it is more than what I need.

Billiam

I think the new Drobo is probably going to cost you a good $150-$200 more than that in NAS configuration.

moeronn

Drobo is interesting, and definitely geared toward the less tech-savvy. Not quite clear on how it spreads out data without RAID, but might be similar to Netgear's xRAID. However, the lack of built-in ethernet (need the drobo share) kills the deal.

#1 STUNNA

Y'all are a bunch of amateurs! I got a 500gb filled to the brim.



In related news they came out with a new drobo today and it comes with a firewire 800 port.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/08/d...n-mini-review/

#1 STUNNA

and no e-sata FTL!

Sly Raskal

iTrader: (1)

http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/06/n...-readynas-nvx/

moeronn

Better performance sounds good, but $1500 is the base model? So no diskless option? Also, what's with the required monthly service fee. :thumbsdow

At least the NV+ diskless is back down around $600.

#1 STUNNA

^I assumed that the monthly fee is for an online backup program for the NAS.