NETGEAR ReadyNAS NVX Reviewed

[claykin]

http://www.readynas.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=25161

 

[ablevy]

Well, it just showed up.

http://www.eaegis.com/items/data-storage/nas/sata/netgear-readynas-nvx~4-bay-nas/list.htm

Expensive even for what you are getting.

Alan

 

[skerik]

I see that the official NVX announcement came out today. Neither it nor the eaegis link show a BYOD option. I hope that will be addressed very soon - I'm trying to pull the trigger on a NAS and a BYOD NVX would be at or near the top of my list. (I have 3 1.5 TB drives in hand that were briefly in a QNAP TS-409 but it was defective so I'm back in the market.)

 

[thiggins]

Don't hold your breath on a BYOD option for the NVX. You'll have to go with either a diskless NV+ (not being discontinued at this point) or ReadyNAS Pro Pioneer.

 

[Unregistered]

The ReadyNAS Pro Pioneer seems to be the better deal at this point, unless you need iScsi and a few other features. I've seen it lately for as low as $1050.

 

[Osamede]

"Intel Advanced Embedded Processor"? Is that marketing-speak for "Intel Atom"? Which one?

 

[thiggins]

They aren't saying and haven't shipped my review unit yet.

 

[Unregistered]

They aren't saying and haven't shipped my review unit yet.

I would love to see your thoughts on NV+ versus NVX. All the sudden the NV+ seems pretty affordable with BYOD. The problem is, I had really decided on a QNAP TS-508 or 509+ (whenever that comes out) because I wanted the 5 drive. Decisions, decisions. For me things that are important are: AFP, Time Machine support, and fast network read times because I plan to use it as a movie server.

 

[thiggins]

I would love to see your thoughts on NV+ versus NVX.

The NVX will have much better speed and not have the modified EXT3 filesystem, which can't be read on most Linux systems.

Feature set, as with all ReadyNASes, is the same.

The NV+ has sufficient performance to be used as an HD movie source.

If you want more performance, but lower cost than the NVX, consider the ReadyNAS Pro Pioneer (driveless). NETGEAR has no current plans for a driveless NVX.

 

[Nixlimited]

The NVX will have much better speed and not have the modified EXT3 filesystem, which can't be read on most Linux systems.

Feature set, as with all ReadyNASes, is the same.

The NV+ has sufficient performance to be used as an HD movie source.

If you want more performance, but lower cost than the NVX, consider the ReadyNAS Pro Pioneer (driveless). NETGEAR has no current plans for a driveless NVX.

OK, so I logged in now--(you responded initially to my unregistered comment). At any rate, some more questions. If the NV+ is not readable by most linux systems, does that means something like my Popcorn Hour (video streamer) will not be able to read files off it? If so, that would be the end of my consideration for the NV+.

Right now I foresee my data needs to be around 2.5TB currently, but growing rapidly as I digitize my DVD collection. Thus, I have thought a 4-disc NAS would be good, but a 5-disc better since I plan to run RAID-5. Given that, what are your suggestions between the ReadyNAS Pro Pioneer, Synology DS509+, and the QNAP TS-509 pro (I had the model number mixed up with the synology in my previous post). I have read all of your reviews (sans the DS509+ because that is just coming out), but don't have the expertise to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Again, my goals are primarily for home movie storage to be streamed to things like the Popcorn Hour and perhaps the Netgear EVA9150 in the future. AFP is a preference because I run all Mac computers. Likewise, Time Machine is a perk for the same reason, but not that necessary--I already have USB drives and offsite back-up.

Also, though I have done some cursory reading about it, what if any benefit would iSCSI be to me?

 

[beisser]

They aren't saying and haven't shipped my review unit yet.

its an intel tolopai processor at 1.06ghz

 

[thiggins]

Thanks. Is that supposed to have higher performance or price vs. performance than Atom?

 

[beisser]

http://forum.hardmac.com/index.php?showtopic=774 should provide an interesting read.

since its a core based architecture i would assume that its faster than any atom-based stuff.

on top of that its a system on a chip while the atom is just a processor

 

[ablevy]

Nice review. It essentially confirms my opinion that unless you REALLY need iSCSI, the Pro Pioneer makes much more sense outside of a business environment.

Am I missing something?

Alan

 

[beisser]

Nice review. It essentially confirms my opinion that unless you REALLY need iSCSI, the Pro Pioneer makes much more sense outside of a business environment.

Am I missing something?

Alan

nope, thats what i think too..

 

[thiggins]

Link Aggregation

Although it should be obvious from the throughput results, using link aggregation doesn't buy you anything.

I didn't mention it in the review. But I configured the NVX in LACP mode, then ran the Vista SP1 filecopy test from the NAS testbed and another fast machine. Basically throughput dropped for each machine when both were run simultaneously.

 

[claykin]

Tim

Gotta love how Netgear has the best built in share backup solution, but the worst local interface setup to do those backups (no eSata). If only Qnap and Synology would include better share backup options...

 

[jalyst]

Is their firmware based on the GNU/Linux user-land?
If it is then hopefully longer-term it'll be possible to get most features unique to 'business edition' added to 'pioneer edition' through 3rd party hacks etc.

http://www.netgear.com.au/upload/product/rndp6000/readynaspro_comparisionchart_26feb09.pdf

I want the extra features of 'business edition' but I want to pick my own drives.
So annoying that they only give users that option on one of their products!

 

[Rynar401]

Performance issues

My setup...

Ok so I purchased the Netgear ReadyNAS NVX 'Pioneer Edition'
http://www.netgear.com/Products/Storage/ReadyNASNVXPE.aspx?for=Home+Networking
I am currently running 3 WD greens with 1.5TB each (down from 4 drives, one drive died within a day)
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=575
and I have a linksys wrt300n router
http://reviews.cnet.com/routers/linksys-wrt300n-router/4505-3319_7-31851121.html

I have 2 laptops connected through wireless G to my Wireless N router (I know I know I just havent finished the upgrade). One laptop (Dell XPS) I use to upload all my files to the ReadyNAS which is wired directly into one of the 2 gigabit connections the server has. The other laptop I have setup as a Media Center running WMC, My Movies 3, and streams from the readynas wirelessly.
My ReadyNAS is also wired from its second gigabit port to my Linksys wireless router.

My problem is..

No matter what I do I cannot get speeds any higher than 10mb/s. If I move 2 large folders then the bandwidth will be split at only 5mb/s each. I dont understand where the bottleneck is. Streaming is horrible and is jumpy and sometimes cant even play my DVD's digital libray. Others are getting speeds approaching and exceeding 70mb/s as shown here http://www.readynas.com/?p=1431#Performance I understand that my laptop only has a 10/100 fast-ethernet card and my router again does not support gigabit either, but I would expect better performance than this especially after spending over a grand. Anyone have any suggestions? Would greatly appreciated it. Im ready to replace my router and laptops just to fix this.

Rynar401

 

[thiggins]

A 100 Mbps connection will limit maximum speed to 12.5 MB/s, theoretically, somewhat slower in real life.

802.11g wireless will give you ~ 20 Mbps / 2.5 MB/s best case.