8 Questions Other NAS Companies Hope You Don’t Ask

April 7, 2009 by yoh-dah
Filed under Featured, News & Events

Choosing a proper NAS device for your office or home has never been more important in light of the current economy. Pick the wrong one, and what may seem like a bargain can quickly end up wasting precious time and resource, and worst, compromising your company or your personal data. Data specs don’t always tell the whole story. We urge you to ask the right questions so that whatever device you end up purchasing will work as expected, especially and more importantly when something goes wrong.

Here’s a list of questions you should ask.

1. How safe is your online expansion?

NAS companies will tout support for RAID volume online expansion. But look a little deeper and you may find that a power loss during the RAID migration phase can cause serious data loss. Hard disk sizes increase at incredible rates, and the time to expand a volume can take an inordinate amount of time, increasing the risk that a power failure can be catastrophic to your data.

The award-winning ReadyNAS X-RAID and X-RAID2 automatic expansion takes the complexity out of expansion to avoid user-induced errors, and it keeps your data safe at every step of the way by journaling the process. In fact, you can power down the ReadyNAS during the expansion process, and it’ll continue where it left off when the power returns.

Don’t take chances with your valuable data. Make sure if the device you’re considering purchasing supports online expansion that the expansion won’t compromise your data.

2. How comprehensive is the backup capability?

A NAS device should be your central backup station, period. Yet, in order to cut cost, other NAS companies either don’t provide backup software for your clients or provide ones with limitations. Additionally, the backup function provided directly on the NAS device itself may be lacking.

The ReadyNAS comes a unified backup strategy consisting of the following:

Client to ReadyNAS backup using the included and easy-to-use CDP (Continuous Data Protection) backup software with versioning support. With versioning support, any previously saved version of any file you’ve modified can be restored. The ReadyNAS includes backup software for both Windows and OS X operating systems.

Embedded Time Machine support for your Mac allows the ReadyNAS to be discovered by Time Machine the same way that it works with Time Capsule. The two big differences here are that you’re now backing up to a RAID-protected storage system instead of a single drive, and the speed at which you can backup to the ReadyNAS is several orders faster than with Time Capsule.

The ReadyNAS has a self-contained web-based Backup Manager that allows you to push and pull backup data between the ReadyNAS and any device on the network, whether that device is local or somewhere on the Internet. The comprehensive backup system allows for backing up over CIFS/SMB, NFS, FTP/S, HTTP/S, Rsync, and allows backing to/from a USB storage device.

Backup jobs specified in #3 can be coordinated to work with the built-in snapshot scheduler. Snapshots allow for backups to be a point-in-time “snapshot” representation of your data rather than one that is constantly being changed.

With the one-touch backup button on the front, one or more backup jobs can be set up to run manually when the need arises without needing to enter the management screen.

Once data has been backed up to the ReadyNAS, you can set up remote replication between two ReadyNAS over Rsync, either over an SSL tunnel (available on Business-class ReadyNAS) or over hardware VPN.

Alternative to #4, data on the ReadyNAS can be backed up to an offsite secure datacenter using ReadyNAS Vault. With ReadyNAS Vault, management of the backups are done in the cloud so you can change backup setups without having direct access to the ReadyNAS, and you can recover any revision of data from the cloud to wherever you have Internet access. ReadyNAS Vault is an included feature in all ReadyNAS devices.

You may be considering a NAS device with higher data protection because you have encountered data loss in the past, and you know the frustration involved in the recovery process if that was even available. Make sure the device you select has carefully thought through your backup requirements and can offer a good backup solution that will work for you.

3. How extensive is your media streaming support?

Other NAS companies are content with slapping a third-party DLNA server with their firmware and calling it a day. If you encounter a problem, it’s unlikely there would be a solution any time soon.

That’s not the way it works with the ReadyNAS. In fact, the ReadyNAS team decided there was not one DLNA service out there that would satisfy our user base, so it wrote one. We think our new ReadyDLNA service is more compatible with more DLNA devices than any other DLNA-certified servers out there, and our customers tend to agree. Sony PS3, Microsoft XBox 360, and the latest DLNA TV’s work great with the ReadyNAS. And with ReadyDLNA, your Tivo can now stream photos and music straight from the ReadyNAS.

And that’s just DLNA. We support other services like Logitech SqueezeBox devices, Sonos Music Systems, NETGEAR EVA 8000/9150 hi-def media players, and iTunes clients.

So if you will be using your NAS as a central media repository, make sure it is aptly able to stream to your various media players.

4. How can I access my NAS remotely?

Other NAS companies may have supported FTP and recently added WebDAV support. Or perhaps a web-based file manager. But that’s typically the extent of remote access that they will provide.

The ReadyNAS has had all these options for a couple of years now, and we think they’re sufficient, but we feel having to learn and start a new file manager, mess with the router setup, and work within the confines of what the services provide are not quite the same experience as what you are accustomed to in the LAN.

With the upcoming ReadyNAS Remote, the way you share and access your data remotely will be identical to how you do so in your local environment. Once the ReadyNAS Remote service is started, all you do is drag & drop using the familiar Windows File Explorer and/or the Mac Finder. There’s no complicated VPN or router setup involved, and you as well as other family members and friends now can have remote access to the ReadyNAS, with identical share security and permission that’s been setup in your LAN environment.

If remote access to your ReadyNAS is important to you, ask how easily that can be done, and see if the solution is as elegant as ReadyNAS Remote.

5. Does your firmware support third-party add-ons?

The ReadyNAS has more third-party add-ons than any other NAS. To date, there are more than 60 community and commercial add-ons that can provide it with additional features to custom tailor the ReadyNAS to your content. The template-based SDK for developers is free, and with it, add-ons can be written in practically no time.

6. How will you support me if I run into problems?

The ReadyNAS is supported 24/7 through NETGEAR’s worldwide support infrastructure. In addition, the ReadyNAS is supported through its community forum where the ReadyNAS developers, QA team, support engineers, and community faithful regularly frequent. It’s the most comprehensive support system you’ll find from any company, period.

7. Where can I learn more about your products?

Other NAS companies will hand you the marketing brochures or product specs if you want to learn more about their products.

We think you deserve more.

In addition to the rich community forum, www.readynas.com is the main community site for all ReadyNAS products. You’ll find the latest news and events, detailed product information, useful how-to’s, compatibility lists, reviews, case studies, technology spotlights, testimonials, download links, user manuals, FAQs, add-ons, and developer’s corner, all in one place. No other NAS company dedicates a site to their products like NETGEAR.

8. What’s your warranty?

ReadyNAS comes with the longest warranty of any NAS systems shipping today. Consumer ReadyNAS systems have a 3-year warranty and business ReadyNAS systems have a 5-year warranty, backed by a publicly-traded American company. Check the other companies and decide whether you want to risk your data with anything less.