The ReadyNAS NV+ by NETGEAR is a compact and attractive four-bay Network Attached Storage (NAS) device that can easily handle the storage needs of a home or small office. After putting the ReadyNAS NV+ to the test, we have concluded that it is an ideal storage solution for small offices or work groups with limited IT resources that require networked expandable RAID storage and advanced "server" features such as print and media servers, system monitoring with email alerts, and integrated backup management capabilities. (NOTE: This model does not include hard drive disks.)

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Overall Rating:

Pros: Compact design, easy-to-use, built-in RAID capability including X-RAID, provides media streaming for wide variety of devices, excellent online forums for add-ons and support

Cons: Insufficient user manuals, add-on software does not always have complete feature set

At a Glance Capacity: No disks included
Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 8.7 inches (HxWxD)
Warranty: 5 years

The ReadyNAS NV+ houses four drive bays in one compact, attractive enclosure. View larger. Out of Box Impressions and Design Features
Taking the ReadyNAS NV+ out of the box, we couldn't help but be surprised at how compact and solid feeling the device is. Imparting an air of quality workmanship and sturdy reliability, the NV+ measures a compact 7.9 x 5.2 x 8.7 inches (H x W x D) and is a hefty 10 pounds without the disks installed.

The styling is attractive, with a metallic "cheese-grater" look that is reminiscent of Apple's Mac Pros, a design that also allows for heat dissipation. A door panel opens for easy access to the four drive bays, each of which is on its own tray with an easy-to-load push-button mechanism, making disk installation a cinch.

Below the panel door is a backlit LCD display that shows status info such as the IP address and drive capacity. The power button sits on the upper left of the front face, next to four LEDs that give the status of each hard drive, a USB port, and a button labeled "Backup." The back of the NV+ sports a carrying handle, two USB ports, an Ethernet port, the system reset switch, power connector, cooling fan, and Kensington Lock security hole. Overall, the design is attractive, smartly laid out, and clearly labeled. Unlike many other NAS devices that you want to hide in a corner or in a closet, the ReadyNAS NV+ adds a handsome touch to the work area.

Initial Setup and Configuration
Our test unit had four pre-installed 750 GB hard drives for a total of three terabytes of disk space. The drives are hot-swappable, which means that they can be swapped out one-at-a-time without shutting down the NV+, and which also means that upgrading or replacing the drives–if necessary–will be easy.

Share your files, USB disk, and printer with all your computers and networked media player with the NV+. The NV+ supports the industry standard RAID 0/1/5, as well as NETGEAR's own proprietary X-RAID, which supports single volume auto expansion with redundancy against a single drive failure. X-RAID makes the device future-proof, as you can simply swap out a smaller capacity installed drive for a larger one, and X-RAID will automatically copy over all the data.

The initial hardware set up was as simple as plugging the AC cord into the wall and connecting the Ethernet cord into the local network. Installing the included RAIDar software let us find the drive on our network, from which we were able to bring up the Web-based control panel. Set up required an easy jaunt through the Setup Wizard, and once completed, the drive appeared on each of the networked computers as expected.

The unit is pre-configured in X-RAID mode, which worked fine for us; we were literally up and running in minutes. The only snag was that the manual gave the wrong user/password to log into the machine, but a quick online search revealed the correct input information.

After we had the X-RAID running successfully, we reconfigured the drive to a RAID 5 configuration. Like X-RAID, RAID 5 reduces overall storage capacity by about 25% but offers redundant protection so everything continues to function even if one of the drives fails. The actual reconfiguration through the control panel took only a few minutes, though the entire process took over eight hours and necessitated deletion of all the existing data on the drives. (Don't worry! The ReadyNAS NV+ did all the work itself after we left the office for the day.)

The one complaint we had during the set-up procedures was with the documentation. In fact, the manual is the weak link of the package. The NV+ has a lot of functionality that is not very well explained or simply not mentioned. Fortunately, the ReadyNAS has its own NETGEAR-supported community Web site (www.readynas.com) with FAQs, forums, firmware updates, add-ons, and other goodies. We found the process of downloading firmware updates and add-ons quick and extremely easy.

NETGEAR's FrontView web-based control panel makes configuration and administration simple. View larger. Web-based Control Panel
The Web-based control panel gives the administrator full control over the system. From it you can check the status of the machine, set the security settings, create user and group accounts, configure streaming services, update firmware, and much more. With processes that took more than a few minutes to complete, the ReadyNAS NV+ sent us email notifications at the completion of the tasks so we could continue with our other work in the meantime.

The control panel is clean and intuitive, eliminating the need for administrators to fiddle with a Unix command line to check status or change settings. Though some configuration and management issues can arise that better documentation could easily address, as long as the administrator is comfortable searching out information online when necessary, he or she should find managing the ReadyNAS NV+ relatively easy.

Our Performance Review
We ran the NV+ as our primary file server in our small workgroup — consisting of both Macs running OS X and PCs running Windows XP — without any problems or complaints of performance. We were able to access the server to work with, copy, and move files around seamlessly, with no hiccups to speak of. Our computers were all able to connect easily via CIMB and/or AFP protocols. Additionally, the ReadyNAS has support for the Network File System (NFS), but we did not test this as we do not run a Linux/Unix environment.

However, our one caveat is that we do not work heavily with media files such as large video files, so we cannot say for certain if the performance would be acceptable for use in, say, a high-performance video lab or similar setting.

Hard disks are installed on separate drive trays, making upgrades simple. View larger. One important feature we needed was the ability to work remotely. To do so, we downloaded a WebDAV add-on from the ReadyNAS community Web site that allows for drag-and-drop file access to the ReadyNAS NV+ through an Internet connection via HTTPS. While we were easily able to connect to the ReadyNAS NV+ remotely, an apparent limitation or bug in the current firmware resulted in some problems with privileges. Specifically, when we revised or created files and folders remotely, they became "read-only" and required permissions to be manually changed through the control panel. A post on the ReadyNAS message board confirmed this behavior, which, while not a deal breaker, is certainly inconvenient.

Though the RAID configuration we chose has built-in redundant storage, we nonetheless decided to create nightly backups for even more peace of mind. We connected an external USB drive to the front USB port, and once the drive was recognized, it was a matter of seconds and a simple push of a button to schedule a daily backup of our main work folder.

Built-in FTP, iTunes, and Other Features
The NV+ features many add-ons and extras that we were able to easily install, either through the control panel or by downloading software updates and documentation from the ReadyNAS community Web site.

The ReadyNAS includes a built-in print server and an FTP server that were easy to set up. It also features a built-in Web server, which we successfully tested by creating simple Web pages. The built-in iTunes streaming server worked like a charm. After copying over MP3s into the designated folder, the songs automatically showed up in the iTunes folder of the networked computers.

The ReadyNAS NV+ also has built-in support for Squeezebox music players, UPnP AV devices, and streaming playback of videos, music, and photos from networked DVD and media players. Based on the ease of use with the iTunes server, we assume a similarly uncomplicated process. The ReadyNAS also has a built-in BitTorrent client, add-ons for a photo slideshow application, SSH access, and much more.

Included Back-Up Software
NETGEAR bundles a five-user license for EMC Retrospect Professional for Windows and a five-user license for EMC Retrospect Desktop for Macintosh. After installation on a desktop, we could easily automate and schedule backups of our desktops onto the NV+. EMC Retrospect is a pro-grade backup software offering powerful features superior to many bundled backup programs.

Conclusions
The ReadyNAS NV+ is a powerful, attractive, and flexible Network Attached Storage device that would work great in a home setting or even a small-to-medium office setting. It offers much of the functionality of a dedicated server, while requiring a small amount of space. Since set up is mostly plug-and-play, it does not require a dedicated IT personnel to manage, which is a huge bonus for home use or for a business on a budget.

As noted, the manual does not give all the answers. Fortunately, the strong online community and Web forums offer excellent support and services. And finally, the ReadyNAS NV+ is backed by an industry-leading 5-year warranty, so you can rest assured that you'll be protected should anything go wrong.
new price:$550.00
Product Details
11 x 9 x 13 inches ; 10.1 pounds
12.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
B000VA3TXY
RND4000-100NAS

This review is from: NETGEAR RND4425 ReadyNAS NV+ 1 TB Desktop Network Storage (4 x 250 GB) (Personal Computers) It's a little more expensive than other brands I've seen, but I'm very happy with it and didn't mind spending a little more to get exactly what I wanted.

It works great with my Linux and Windows computers at home (and also works with Mac, although I don't have one to test with). For Windows you map a drive through Windows Explorer, for Linux you run "mount" using NFS.

I was able to share and use the same files/directories on both operating systems without any problems. The fact it works so well with Linux was a big reason I bought this over other brands I looked at. However, note that according to its documentation, its print server only supports Windows and Mac clients. For me that's less of an issue since I primarily use my Linux for development and can print everything on Windows.

It came ready to go out of the box, the disks were already set up for X-RAID, their proprietary RAID technology that's basically RAID-5 but manages volume expansion so you can add/replace disks more easily. It also offers RAID 0, 1 and 5, although since it has 4 disk drive bays and drives are so cheap now, I'd recommend only using RAID 5 or X-RAID. It's hot swappable so you can replace disks without shutting it down. If a single drive fails, you can replace it without losing any data (except RAID 0).

If you want to use RAID 0/1/5 instead of the default X-RAID, change it before you move files to the system (or back them up first), since according to their documentation changing it will erase all of the data.

It supports gigabit ethernet speeds, but my PCs don't yet, so the transfer rate copying files to the ReadyNAS was about 3-4 MB/sec, and about 9-10 MB/sec copying from it. According to CNET's editor review, they were able to write a 5 GB test file to it in 18 minutes, and read the file back from it in 13 minutes (the 13 min read time was the fastest of any of the NAS servers they tested).

The RAIDar software it comes with found it on the network right away. Among other things, RAIDar shows you the current RAID status, disk usage, fan speed, and the temperatures of the unit and each drive.

The web interface provides alot of control over it. One feature I really like is that you can configure it to send alerts to multiple email addresses (and text messages to your cell phone) for various conditions such as drive failures, excess temperatures, disk quotas exceeded, power failures (if UPS connected), etc. Another feature I like is an option to let the drives sleep after a configurable period of inactivity.

With the latest firmware, I was also able to use SSH to connect directly to its filesystem. Obviously you want to be careful if you do this to avoid changing/deleting system files. That would not be good.

Only a few issues so far:
- I can't access the ReadyNAS while connected to my office's VPN, but that's a security "feature" of the VPN software to secure the company's network and also to prevent IP address collisions. Just thought I should mention it in case other people have the same problem. The VPN software is configurable to disable this, but turning it off leads to other problems since my home network subnet is also used at work (they tell us to use a specific subnet at home to avoid collisions but my router doesn't allow changing the subnet).
- The web interface uses javascript alert pop ups for every confirmation, which gets a little tiring. But I can live with it, considering how much control the web interface gives you over the ReadyNAS. Hopefully they'll change this in a future firmware update.
- Its built-in SMTP to send the email alerts didn't work for me; I had to provide my own email account's SMTP settings to get it to work. Their user guide indicated that some network issues require this, although I'm not sure why mine did.
- As mentioned above, the print server doesn't support Linux.

I haven't used all of its features yet, but so far I really like it and am glad I went with this one.

UPDATE 10/29/08: The latest firmware updated the web interface. It doesn't work with Firefox 3.0, but I have the IETab Firefox extension so I set it up to use Internet Explorer.

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars So far so good, By Timothy J. Troske – See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   This review is from: NETGEAR ReadyNAS NV+ 4-Bay 2TB (4 x 500GB) (Personal Computers) I bought an NV+ 1GB with no drives and populated it with my own seagate 500GB 7200.10 drives, which saved me about $150 over the price of buying a 2TB unit.

Results so far are very good. Installing the drives and getting the NAS up and synchronized was easy and went just like the instructions said. I started at 9pm and by morning the unit was initialized and ready to receive files. Using the X-Raid setting the device shows 1.3TB available for storage.

I set it up to share media, documents, and software/drivers within our home network, a combination of wired and wireless-G. Other than the hours it took to move 500GB of videos/music/photos from the desktop via 100-Base T to the NV+, performance in accessing files with the wired desktop and 2 wireless laptops is very good. Home movies stream to wireless laptops without loss of frames or hesitation in playback.

The iTunes server is a nice feature and works very well with all our PCs. Another good feature is the SMTP server to email warnings and info to my cellphone-it sent me a message the first night after it completed initialization and synchronization. However, I hope I never get another message from it because it will probably mean bad news.

I successfully backed up 2 laptops and 1 desktop to the backup share, but I'm still trying to figure out how to back up the NV+ itself so I can store backups off-site.

So far a great unit. Small, attractive case, easy to set up and use.