Netgear ReadyNAS Duo Review

Netgear ReadyNAS Duo For Home Network Storage

Page Highlights:
Product Snapshot	Review Video
Product Application, Pros & Cons	Feature List
Bottom Line	Where To Buy
Review Detail	Related Products

Ideal Application:

- Home network storage / home media server, SOHO (small office / home office)

Pros:

Netgear ReadyNAS – Solid, reliable, feature rich, easy to use
Compact, energy efficient
Cheapest way to get into the ReadyNAS family for a home NAS
High speed gigabit ethernet (10/100/1000)
Hot swap, redundant drives (if configured RAID1)
External USB support
Supports Windows, Mac & Linux computers
Attach a USB printer to share
Handles media sharing, streaming well
3 year warranty
Active online support forum

Cons:

Limited to 2 drives
Not the latest ReadyNAS x86 technology, see Ultra 4 for more mulitmedia functions
256MB RAM (see my video to upgrade to 1GB)
Lacks front display
External power supply (most competitors do too, though)

The Netgear ReadyNAS Duo is a nice entry level product that gives you most all of the features and advantages of a network storage device in the ReadyNAS stable yet at the most affordable price. The newer multimedia functions like Orb, though, require Intel x86 processor which the Duo does NOT have.

Recommended configuration is RAID1 for data redundancy to help protect valuable business data, expensive music collection or irreplaceable family photos between backups. Keep in mind if you store video that 1TB can get gobbled up pretty quickly.

Review Detail:

The Netgear ReadyNAS Duo is the least expensive way to get most all of the benefits of having what I feel is the best network storage solution on your network. The ReadyNAS product line that will make setup and maintaining your NAS an enjoyable experience. It is not Intel x86 powered, though, so the latest features you see Netgear advertising do not apply to the Duo.

The Duo is limited to two SATA hard drives internally. It supports SATA I & SATA II hard drives, but does not boast native support for SATA II. This means you can use SATA II but do not expect the increased performance they have the potential for.

You can attach external USB hard drives and create shares on those drives as well. Keep in mind that performance will not be as high as the internal drives, nor will there be benefit of RAID technology on those external drives.

One of the benefits of buying any ReadyNAS product is the auto-expandable X-RAID technology. The Duo has the original X-RAID while newer models have X-RAID2. While you can configure the 2 drives as either a larger 2TB data store (RAID0), doing so means that if a hard drive fails you lose data. This is not acceptable to me, but you can decide for yourself.

RAID1, on the other hand, allows 1 hard drive to fail without losing data. The unit can easily be configured to send you an email when this happens allowing you to immediately backup!, then replace the failed drive and restore data redundancy. The downside of this is that the Duo then offers you only 1 terabyte of storage instead of 2. But what good is a huge data store if you cannot depend on it?

Uses:

The ReadyNAS Duo makes an excellent home network storage device for storing data on redundant drives, sharing data, photos both within the home and even with secure remote access via the internet. Display photos, movies or other multimedia on your PlayStation or XBox; attach to the NAS for access to music libraries played with iTunes, Squeezebox, etc. Use the built in BitTorrent for downloads.

If you have a small business where you need to either store data on a more reliable platform than just your PC or need to share files with coworkers, the ReadyNAS Duo is a great entry level network server to start with. The ReadyNAS can function as your file server, print server, DHCP (network addressing) server and provide software and storage for individual PC backup.

Backup Options:

The Netgear ReadyNAS Duo really shines, as all model in the ReadyNAS family do, when it comes to data backup. Remember, RAID1 is NOT data backup! It is data reliability and availability. RAID1 (otherwise known as mirroring) means that hopefully you never have to restore a backup due to media (drive) failure. It does not protect you against data corruption (virus, power loss) or accidental deletion by the user.

Let’s face it, network attached storage is all about your data. So to make it available and reliable, we use redundant disk technology (X-RAID in the duo). To make sure we do not lose it to fire, theft, natural disaster or even our own error, we back it up.

Backup with any ReadyNAS network attached storage device can be done using any combination of the following methods:

Local backup to an attached USB hard drive
Backup to another ReadyNAS unit, local or in a remote location
Online backup (in the cloud backup) using the built in support for ReadyNAS vault online backup service based on ElephantDrive technology

Where To Buy:

Netgear ReadyNAS Duo RND2000 Diskless (0 x 0GB)	0TB	Get the Lowest Price on a RND2000
Netgear ReadyNAS Duo RND2110 (1 x 1TB)	1TB	Get the Lowest Price on a RND2110
Netgear ReadyNAS Duo RND2210 (2 x 1TB)	2TB	Get the Lowest Price on a RND2210
Netgear ReadyNAS Duo RND2120 (1 x 2TB)	2TB	Get the Lowest Price on a RND2120
Netgear ReadyNAS Duo RND2150 (1 x 500GB)	500GB	Get the Lowest Price on a RND2150
Netgear ReadyNAS Duo RND2220 (2 x 2TB)	4TB	Get the Lowest Price on a RND2220

Review Video:

Features:

Hardware:

Intel IT3107 CPU

256MB RAM

2 Hot-swappable locking disk trays

10/100/1000 Ethernet port

3 – USB 2.0 ports

SATA I & II drives supported

Kensington latch

Dimension (H x W x D): 142 x 101 x 222 mm (5.60 x 3.98 x 8.70 in)

RAID:

Auto-expandable X-RAID

RAID levels 0/1 (Flex-RAID configuration)

Multiple volume support (Flex-RAID)

Hot-swap support

Background sync and Smart Sync resume

Life Support mode

Volumes:

Single volume auto expansion (X-RAID)

Journaled file system

User and group level quotas

Disk set can be migrated to NV+/1100 models

Network File Services:

Windows, Mac & Linux client support

CIFS/SMB for Windows & Mac OS X

AFP 3.1 for Mac 9 and OS X

NFS v2/v3 for Linux/UNIX

HTTP and HTTPS for web browsers

FTP and FTPS

Rsync

WebDAV

ReadyNAS Remote

Print Sharing

Media Streaming:

ReadyDLNA

SqueezeCenter

Network DVD player compatible

Apple iTunes server

Sony PlayStation® 3

Microsoft® Xbox 360, MCE

Sonos Digital Music System

Netgear EVA Digital Entertainer HD

Network Security:

User security mode

Windows ACL

Encrypted network logins

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)

Network Options:

DHCP or static IP

NTP

WINS Server

DHCP Server

System Management:

RAIDar™ discovery and monitoring agent

Frontview™ Setup Wizard and Advanced Control

Configurable performance options

Device health status

Comprehensive enclosure and disk monitoring

Email alerts and event logs

Network UPS monitoring

Backup:

Integrated Frontview™ Backup Manager

Programmable backup button

Backup over CIFS/NFS/FTP/HTTP & Rsync

Backup to/from USB Disks

Built-in support for Time Machine

Syncing between multiple ReadyNAS devices

Full and incremental backups

Built-in support for ReadyNAS Vault™

Software Included:

NTI Shadow for ReadyNAS (Windows/Mac)

ReadyNAS Photos

Embedded BitTorrent client

USB Device Support:

Hard disks and flash drives

Support for FAT32, Ext2, Ext3, and NTFS

Cameras

Printers

UPS

Power:

Approximate 35 Watt usage

External Power supply

Disk spin down option

Power on scheduling

Automatic shutdown initiated by UPS low battery

Warranty & Support:

3 Year coverage

Exceptional online support forum

Related Products:

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