ReadyNAS as a DROBO?

[imahawki]

I don't really need a NAS. What I need is a device I can share from my primary PC (iMac) which is very flexible in how the storage can be expanded. What I need is a Drobo. But I've read review after review after blog after forum post after rant about how buggy they are and how slow they are.

So my idea after narrowing it down to Synology and ReadyNAS is that ReadyNAS x-raid2 seems a little better than synology's hybrid raid. So I want to buy the ReadyNAS Ultra 6 and start with four or five 2TB drives and set up the entire thing as one big pool and connect it to my iMac via iscsi. If I do that can I still expand it with a 5/6th drive or larger drives without problems? Are there any problems with sharing an iscsi drive with other PCs, and streaming data that's on it to Apple TVs, etc.

 

[stevech]

I don't really need a NAS. What I need is a device I can share from my primary PC (iMac) which is very flexible in how the storage can be expanded. What I need is a Drobo. But I've read review after review after blog after forum post after rant about how buggy they are and how slow they are.

So my idea after narrowing it down to Synology and ReadyNAS is that ReadyNAS x-raid2 seems a little better than synology's hybrid raid. So I want to buy the ReadyNAS Ultra 6 and start with four or five 2TB drives and set up the entire thing as one big pool and connect it to my iMac via iscsi. If I do that can I still expand it with a 5/6th drive or larger drives without problems? Are there any problems with sharing an iscsi drive with other PCs, and streaming data that's on it to Apple TVs, etc.

I'd go Synology or QNAP.

 

[imahawki]

Any particular reason, especially when, to the best of my knowledge QNAP doesn't even offer the expansion flexibility I said I needed?

 

[thiggins]

I haven't used Drobo (that may change soon), so can't comment on its bugginess or lack thereof. But with Synology or NETGEAR, expansion is done one drive at a time and you need to let the RAID array rebuild between each drive change. While the array is rebuilding, you are at risk for losing it if something goes wrong.

So please make sure you have critical data backed up on another device.

iSCSI is a different matter. iSCSI LUNs are usually created within a RAID volume and don't automatically resize.

Sharing an iSCSI target also isn't straightforward, especially when it comes to simultaneous access to files.

I would stick with plain old SMB / NFS / AFP file sharing.

 

[imahawki]

I haven't used Drobo (that may change soon), so can't comment on its bugginess or lack thereof. But with Synology or NETGEAR, expansion is done one drive at a time and you need to let the RAID array rebuild between each drive change. While the array is rebuilding, you are at risk for losing it if something goes wrong.

So please make sure you have critical data backed up on another device.

iSCSI is a different matter. iSCSI LUNs are usually created within a RAID volume and don't automatically resize.

Sharing an iSCSI target also isn't straightforward, especially when it comes to simultaneous access to files.

I would stick with plain old SMB / NFS / AFP file sharing.

There are internet posts abound complaining about Drobos. Even if people don't have a critical issue (data loss) they complain that they are slow. I've seen numbers in the 40s and at best in the 70-80MBps even over eSATA, which is really, really slow. The culprit seems to be the fact that their special BeyondRAID is software based and the processors they put in their units aren't fast enough to allow for read-writes to happen quickly.

That said, it seems like many of the complaints I've seen are older (2009 or 2010) and the most complaints are around the original Drobo. BUT to be clear, I've still seen complaints about the 2nd gen Drobo S.

Honestly a DROBO would be the ideal solution for me... if I could feel comfortable using it, it would be great! Because I'd like the storage directly attached to my main computer where I do photo editing. If ISCSI is going to be difficult to make work (it has to be shareable easily) maybe a DAS is a better option for me to start with.

EDIT: NM to the DROBO comments. I just looked over on their forums and people are still complaining about 30-50MB max speeds regardless of model. Not to mention it looks like their support is abysmal. I won't be getting one.

 

[thiggins]

You can find complaints and kudos on the 'net about every product. The key is determing whether the posters know what they are talking about and whether their problems are due to their own naivete/ignorance.

70 MB/s is not "really slow" for a NAS. With a Gigabit connection the max you'll get is a little over 100 MB/s and that's for large continuous file transfers. Transfer speeds for smaller files or folders will be slower. Look the difference in the NAS Chart NASPT benchmarks for File and Directory transfers.

No NAS is going to approach the speed of an attached drive due to the overhead of network file systems and the slower physical connection (Gigabit Ethernet vs. PCIe).

I agree that an attached solution would be better. You can buy RAID enclosures that connect via eSATA or now Thunderbolt. You just won't get your automatic volume expansion.

 

[imahawki]

You can find complaints and kudos on the 'net about every product. The key is determing whether the posters know what they are talking about and whether their problems are due to their own naivete/ignorance.

70 MB/s is not "really slow" for a NAS. With a Gigabit connection the max you'll get is a little over 100 MB/s and that's for large continuous file transfers. Transfer speeds for smaller files or folders will be slower. Look the difference in the NAS Chart NASPT benchmarks for File and Directory transfers.

No NAS is going to approach the speed of an attached drive due to the overhead of network file systems and the slower physical connection (Gigabit Ethernet vs. PCIe).

I agree that an attached solution would be better. You can buy RAID enclosures that connect via eSATA or now Thunderbolt. You just won't get your automatic volume expansion.

True, but if you read my edits, people aren't getting 70-80, they're getting 30-50. So they're getting HALF the speed of a good NAS with a direct attached solution. That's not acceptable IMO.

This would be pretty simple for me if I didn't have the associated costs of backing up whatever I ended up with. I'd buy a good NAS or a Pegasus RAID with Thunderbolt and be find spending a grand or so on this. But I'm really struggling to figure out how to back it all up that won't cost me as much or MORE as the primary storage solution.

 

[stevech]

True, but if you read my edits, people aren't getting 70-80, they're getting 30-50. So they're getting HALF the speed of a good NAS with a direct attached solution. That's not acceptable IMO.
.

With what file sizes? As said earlier, 70MB/s and up happens only with big sequential reads, such as video files.

 

[imahawki]

With what file sizes? As said earlier, 70MB/s and up happens only with big sequential reads, such as video files.

I'm honestly not sure... I'd be happy to solicit testimonials from owners. If the Drobo has finally hit its stride, I'd be happy to own one as I think it works best for my needs. But I read a lot of bad stories online (such is the nature of forums etc. though, people show up to complain).

 

[thiggins]

Maybe you should consider archiving to Blu-ray as part of your solution.

 

[stevech]

IMO: Drobo (and ReadyNAS) is the stereotypical consumer product that's strong-on-marketing, weak-on-engineering/performance. The fact that you're here on this forum says you may not need to pay the premium.