Netgear rolls out 4-bay ReadyNAS NVX
By Donald Melanson 
posted April 6th 2009 2:53PM
posted April 6th 2009 2:53PM
Netgear doesn't exactly go all out with the styling or blinkin' lights on its ReadyNAS devices, but that all-business exterior is no doubt just what some folks are looking for, and it doesn't look like they'll be disappointed by the company's latest ReadyNAS NVX model. According to Netgear, this one offers "double the performance" of previous NV+ models, which is apparently explained in part by the addition of iSCSI support, along with a number of other new features like an improved ReadyNAS "RAIDiator" operating system (fully compatible with Time Machine) and, of course, a whole range of other on-site and off-site backup measures. That won't exactly come cheap, however, as the base 2TB model starts at a hefty $1,500, with an extra $5.95 to $19.95 a month required for Netgear's ReadyNAS Vault backup service.
I have a ReadyNAS Duo. It cost around $340 with a 500GB hard drive in it. I simply can't understand what exactly they are putting into these higher end models that make them cost so much money.
exactly I have the same model but I would like more HD storage.
Wow! It's so nice, it almost makes we wanna built a pc completely and still keep a ton of money. Why are these NAS prices so arbitrary? Are they just trying to ripoff businesses? you could get tons of better options for that money.
Perhaps, but none of those options would feature wordplay anywhere near as great as 'RAIDiator'.
Not everyone that needs/uses a NAS knows how to build their own. A lot of people that use the ReadyNAS are professional photographers or video editors. They just want a solid out of the box solution. The ReadyNAS actually has a really good rep out there.
It looks like an 80s boombox speaker.
Yeah! that's what i was thinking m8
Obama NAS?
4 500gb drives for $1.5k? seriously?
I would hope that 2TB would be (for some reason) a RAID 10 with 4 1TB drives. For this much money, there better be redundancy. Although 3TB with RAID5 would make better sense.
So for $1500 - $400(hard drives assuming 4TB) - $450 (RAID controller) - $150 (everything else)...
I think I'll take my extra $500 and fully functioning computer and NOT pay $20 a month. Netgear....SHAME!
Thanks for making drobo look so good.
Really!?? The Drobo still costs around $400+ with no hard drives and no network
Drobo with 2TB was less than 700
The same day they announce this, they outsource their ReadyNAS support and fired us all.
lolz
As a ReadyNAS NV owner, mine has been rock solid for almost 3 years. Last summer I upgraded the original 4 drives to 4 1TB drives. No problems at all.
This new version offers some interesting things, like iSCSI, and it sports an intel processor (the original NVs have some custom processor). So, it should be a lot faster.
Though, it would be nice to see them offer a no drives version........
I second your statement, my ReadyNAS NV is pure peace of mind and a rock solid performer for over 3 years now and going strong.
ReadyNAS have been overpriced ever since Netgear brought Infrant a couple of years ago. You could pick up a driveless device for under 450 (I bought mine from Buy.com for 429 plus free shipping).
As soon as Netgear bought Infrant, you could no longer purchase drivesless boxes, and if you did, they were 600-700+.
I wold love to have another but at those prices, I'm better off building my own with WHS.
Meh... it's not white and doesn't have a fancy name like "TimeMachine".
Some people like gnarly looking black boxes with huge fan grilles, 1337 LCD displays and whirr-ing fans :P
I have the NV+ with 4x WD 1TB green drives in it that change speeds from 5400-7200rpm depending on load.
Great system, has Gigabit ethernet, runs linux and does a lot for you. I am surprised this one here is so expensive.
The Sun Sparc chip in the NV/NV+ is probably a lot slower than this Intel chip.. I am jealous! :)
WD Green drives do not dynamically change RPM depending on load.
Hey dtomlinson,
Couple of points:
- The spindle speed to the WD 'Green Power' drives varies with drive capacity as part of their proprietary "IntelliPower" scheme, it does not vary dynamically with load. See here for a more complete explanation: http://techreport.com/articles.x/13379
- As of today the Green Power drives are only supported with the Intel-based ReadyNAS lines (like the Pro and the new NVX). The SPARC-based lines like the NV+ require RAIDiator 4.1.5, use of prior firmware versions with these drives can lead to ATA errors and is therefore unsupported according to a note on the Netgear website: http://www.readynas.com/?page_id=82. RAIDiator 4.1.5 is due to be released this week but not available yet afaik.
Did the ReadyNas support crew really get fired?
yoh-dah posted an update RAIDator firmware today, or at least, someone posting as yoh-dah.
To clarify, they fired the level 1 support based in Southern California. Gave the contract to Slash, an Indian company I believe. The engineers and all level 2 based in San Jose should be there still.
Thanks. The ReadyNas forum crew is among the finest in the industry.
I have an NV+ and while it's a solid device it's horribly underpowered. It supports installation of addons such as squeezecenter but its cpu is so slow it's not usable. For the price of the device I sure hope this newer model puts in a decent cpu.
An HP Mediasmart EX-485 can be had for around $450 these days. That gives you 750GB of storage, a total of 4 hot-swappable drive bays, 10/100/1000mbps network connection, eSATA, USB2, and a copy of Windows Home Server.
$1500 for this is just stupid. Even if you actually need RAID it's an absurd amount to pay.
The $1500 is likely MSRP. Street prices are likely to bring the price down. The Pro Pioneer (6-bay, dual core) can found for less than $999. Other things to keep in mind about the NVX - 5 yr. warranty, 80+ MB/s reads & writes, hot-swap online horizontal and vertical expansion with X-RAID2... pretty nice stuff for the non-techie. The drives are also enterprise-class (not desktop-class) designed for RAID arrays and higher rotational vibration tolerances.
I purchased my NV+ about a year and a half ago and it was the best purchase I ever made.
For those that want a fast, reliable NAS with constant development and the best support, get a ReadyNAS. Even the oldest X6/600 ReadyNAS can be upgraded (for free) to run the latest firmware to take advantage of all the new features and add-ons.
So are there any reviews/testing for this unit?