Easy to set up NAS

[sketch2099]

I’m looking to buy a 2-bay byod NAS that will work for backups, media serving, torrent d/ling, remote access, and most importantly EASY to set up. I just want something that WORKS. I bought a ReadyNAS Duo three weeks ago, and holy crap it has been the most pain in the butt thing to set up. I’m a decently smart guy (engineer) and if I don’t know how to work something I make sure to give it my best effort, but I’ve spent 3 weeks on the phone with tech support (absolutely useless) and I’ve got several threads going in the readynas forums but no one is able to help me simply access my shares. Looking around their forums, it seems like this is a common problem with vista and windows 7 users, and no one, not even tech support, knows how to fix it.

So after returning that cheap pos, I’d like to spend more money if it gets me a NAS that just works. Again, just works. That means easy setup, intuitive user interface, and features (back up, torrent, remote access) that are easy to use.

I was thinking the Synology 209, simply because it seems to be the best out there in my price range, but one thing that is missing from the smallnetbuilder review is commentary on how easy it is to setup and use. Also considering waiting for the new iomega iconnect usb sharer, because damn that seams like a great way to turn my external hard drives into a nas. But of course, who knows how easy it is to use.

Looking for any and all advice.

 

[thiggins]

I don't comment on ease of use in reviews unless it is really bad.

I find the ReadyNAS fixed width, framed GUI a pain to use due to the constant scrolling required. But otherwise, its setup is about the same as other products in their price range.

I haven't had a problem accessing my ReadyNAS NV+ shares via Vista or Win7. Be sure your network type is set to Private or Home Network in your Win7 systems.

I'd start with making the ReadyNAS shares public (no login required). Once you get access, then switch to protected shares.

Can you connect to the ReadyNAS via its IP (Start > Run >\\ip_of_Readynas)?

 

[sketch2099]

thanks for the tips, but unfortunately i've already gone through these steps and it didn't make a difference. the problem i'm having is more typical of duo users, i didn't look to see if nv+ or pro owners were having similar problems.

 

[thiggins]

I'd find it odd if it's system specific, other than Intel vs. Infrant processor based. But the Duo and NV+ are both Infrant based.

Could be firmware version related, though. I'm running RAIDiator 4.1.5 [1.00a043] on the NV+ if that helps.

Can you connect to the ReadyNAS via its IP (Start > Run >\\ip_of_Readynas)?

 

[claykin]

I’m looking to buy a 2-bay byod NAS that will work for backups, media serving, torrent d/ling, remote access, and most importantly EASY to set up. I just want something that WORKS. I bought a ReadyNAS Duo three weeks ago, and holy crap it has been the most pain in the butt thing to set up. I’m a decently smart guy (engineer) and if I don’t know how to work something I make sure to give it my best effort, but I’ve spent 3 weeks on the phone with tech support (absolutely useless) and I’ve got several threads going in the readynas forums but no one is able to help me simply access my shares. Looking around their forums, it seems like this is a common problem with vista and windows 7 users, and no one, not even tech support, knows how to fix it.

So after returning that cheap pos, I’d like to spend more money if it gets me a NAS that just works. Again, just works. That means easy setup, intuitive user interface, and features (back up, torrent, remote access) that are easy to use.

I was thinking the Synology 209, simply because it seems to be the best out there in my price range, but one thing that is missing from the smallnetbuilder review is commentary on how easy it is to setup and use. Also considering waiting for the new iomega iconnect usb sharer, because damn that seams like a great way to turn my external hard drives into a nas. But of course, who knows how easy it is to use.

Looking for any and all advice.

What is your Readynas forums handle name? I searched Sketch2099 but it didn't come up.

Is your problem over wireless? If so, see here:

http://home.bott.ca/webserver/?p=226

 

[sketch2099]

i'm logged into that site as mercatus, and i have everything on a gigabit network

 

[syno.franklin]

I was thinking the Synology 209, simply because it seems to be the best out there in my price range, but one thing that is missing from the smallnetbuilder review is commentary on how easy it is to setup and use.

Hi sketch2099

If you would to see some articles on how to setup file sharing on the DiskStation, please refer to the following articles

How to create a user

How to create a share

How to access data on the DiskStation from Windows


The complete full information about File Sharing on the DiskStation can be found here

You may also contact our online pre-sales support for further questions.

Hope this helps, and have a good day.

 

[sketch2099]

Great! Thanks, these will be really helpful for me. I ordered my 209 yesterday and it will be here Tuesday (just in time to use it with my oppo bdp-83 se, a recent firmware upgrade allows it to access media files on any dlna server). Can't wait to get it up and running. Spent this week trying to get the readynas duo working and still couldn't get it to work. it goes back this weekend.

 

[claykin]

Great! Thanks, these will be really helpful for me. I ordered my 209 yesterday and it will be here Tuesday (just in time to use it with my oppo bdp-83 se, a recent firmware upgrade allows it to access media files on any dlna server). Can't wait to get it up and running. Spent this week trying to get the readynas duo working and still couldn't get it to work. it goes back this weekend.

Good luck with the Synology. Hope it works better for you. Also good luck with the DLNA and media sharing. It can be quirky getting some file types to play. DLNA is a loosely applied standard.

Syno.Franklin rocks for responding so well to this post. I only wish Syno reps would respond as well and timely on their user forums.

 

[claykin]

i'm logged into that site as mercatus, and i have everything on a gigabit network

Regarding your "access denied" issue, are your NAS usernames the same as usernames on your PC's? if so, are you using the same passwords on the NAS and PC?

Depending on what type of security you are looking for, its easiest to setup the NAS username to be the exact same username and password as the Windows desktop user.

Or, you can setup different usernames and passwords and login to the NAS shares using Windows. If using Home edition of Windows you can write a .bat or .cmd file to execute auto login. I can help you with the instructions on how to do that if you don't know.

What you don't want to do is setup NAS usernames that are the same as the Windows desktop but with different passwords than the Windows desktop. This is a no no with any network share.

 

[sketch2099]

yeah, that syno.franklin post made me feel pretty good about going with the synology nas.

i did try both, created new user names and passwords, and used my existing windows usernames and passwords to no avail. didn't even have access to my shares with my admin username/password.

depending on how the setup goes of the ds209, i may hit you up for those auto login instructions.

 

[sketch2099]

wow, so so so much easier to set up and use the ds209. really glad i got rid of that readynas duo.

quick question, raid 0 or jbod? i've got two 1tb drive and want as much space as possible. i don't need redundancy on the actual NAS as i've got two seperate 2 tb back up hard drive, just want good performance for streaming media.

 

[thiggins]

I'd set up each drive as its own volume. If one of the drives in either a RAID 0 or jbod array fails, your data will be gone (unless you can mount the drive on a Linux machine and manually recover data).

 

[sketch2099]

I'd set up each drive as its own volume. If one of the drives in either a RAID 0 or jbod array fails, your data will be gone (unless you can mount the drive on a Linux machine and manually recover data).

is it even possible to set up each drive as its own volume? i've been trying to figure out how to do this with the ds209, but haven't figured it out yet.

btw still loving my ds209. currently trying to upgrade it from a raid 1 array with (2) 1tb wd green drives to 2 basic volumes with (2) 2tb wd green drives.