NetGear ReadyNAS Pro - Should It Stay or Should It Go?

blitz on 08/05/2023 - 10:40
Last edited 08/05/2023 - 11:41

I have a ReadyNAS Pro Business Edition RNDP6350 this one - review here. It currently has 12TB fitted, but to be honest I haven't used it much and it's spent most of its time in a cupboard.

But now I'm in need of a NAS, and I'm wondering if this unit still cuts the mustard. It runs its own proprietary OS, and NetGear has long ago discontinued both the unit and the OS.

My use case is exclusively periodic storage - no streaming or other services, just secure photo and document storage. But given its age, I wonder if I should just get a newer NAS with a more flexible OS and features. Any advice would be helpful.

Edit: it also appears that the ReadyNAS (well RAIDiator anyway) still requires SMB1 to connect from Windows 10.

Poll Options

  • 1
    It should go (there will be trouble)
  • 10
    It should stay (it will be double)
Computing NAS NetGear

Comments

  • Boioioioi on 08/05/2023 - 11:34
    +2

    What is the harm in using it and trying out? If you find yourself wanting more features then upgrade at that point in time. Not hard to move the drives across to something newer.

    If you are worried about reliability, run the drives in RAID 1 so you have a copy of the same data on both drives. If the nas fails just replace it.

    You will know more what you actually want after using it too. Buying based on what you think you will need often results in wasted money

  • BanannaMan on 08/05/2023 - 11:43
    +1

    Honestly no reason not to keep it, your use case is low effort despite the age
    Again as previous comment, use in Raid (remember Raid isn't a backup solution)

    • hmac on 08/05/2023 - 12:54
      +1

      remember Raid isn't a backup solution

      What is a good backup solution?

      • Chandler on 08/05/2023 - 13:10
        +3

        Multiple, non-linked copies

        3-2-1-1-0

        • ≥3 copies
          • ≥2 media types (hard drive, DVD, etc)
          • ≥1 off-site
        • ≥1 air-gapped
        • 0 errors

        RAID is good for drive failures, but sucks in pretty much every other situation where you would want to restore a file from backup:

        • deleted a file? RAID copy also got deleted
        • modified the wrong file? RAID copy also got modified
        • file corruption? RAID copy got corrupted too
        • ransom-ware? RAID copy got encrypted too

        Backups should not be linked to the source data. Cloud services (OneDrive, Google Drive, etc) are good for off-site copies, and as they also provide versioning of files can "count" as a backup but strictly speaking since they're linked to the source files, and you may not discover issues/faults with the files until you're past the retention period of their versioning, the standard implementation of these services isn't a proper backup.

        Plug in a USB hard disk, copy over your important photos, files, etc. You now have a second copy: your first backup. Take it with you - it's now an off-site copy.
        Burn your photos to a DVD. You now have a third copy, on a different media type.
        You've now ticked the boxes for the 3-2-1 rule, and the first extra rule (air-gapped) of the 3-2-1-1-0 rule if you leave the USB disconnected except for when backing up.
        Try and restore a few random files/photos from your backup: you've now ticked the last box (check for errors). Yes, there could be other errors with the backup, and I hope there's tools to do a more thorough check, but if you do all this your're doing a lot better than most people (me included!).

        • hmac on 08/05/2023 - 14:34

          Thanks for the info.

          isn't the point of RAID to have a backup? I guess deleting a file or editing it is user error

          • BanannaMan on 08/05/2023 - 16:47

            @hmac: The idea is to build in redundancies for hardware failure and business continuity.
            RE Back up - Personally I use another file server to backup everyone and then all the important stuff on the cloud as well.

            Finally 1 more copy of everything offsite on my brothers NAS. I've lost everything before and now I'm officially paranoid.

  • blitz on 08/05/2023 - 14:18
    +1

    Thanks indeed, everyone, for the useful suggestions. It'd certainly be cheaper to keep it, so that's what I'll likely do. If the RAIDiator software gives me grief, I'll make a decision then. Thanks everyone!

  • rumblytangara on 08/05/2023 - 14:24
    +1

    Unless you can specify what new features you want that don't exist on the Netgear, there's no reason to replace it.

    It's not going to be connected to the internet, so "not supported" shouldn't matter. If you just need a big area to dump files, then just fire it up.

  • andrek on 08/05/2023 - 18:15

    I had ReadyNas 102 for, I don't know, maybe 10 years? Already upgraded drives twice to a larger size. Why buy something new when the current one does the job?

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