Product Description

Directly streams music photos and video to existing network mediaplayers without a computer Creates a personal webpage to easilyshare photos with friends and family.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26004 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: NetGear
• Model: RND2150-100UKS
• Released on: 2008-03-30
• Platform: Windows XP
• Dimensions: 4.63 pounds

Manufacturer's Description
The ReadyNAS Duo is perfect for homes with more than one computer. Unlike a USB drive, the ReadyNAS connects to the network and is simultaneously accessible via all connected Windows or Macintosh computers. If there is a broadband Internet connection and a home router, the ReadyNAS can be set up to provide secure access to all the stored files remotely via the Internet.For added protection of stored data, an optional second hard disk drive can be installed. The spare hard drive will keep an extra copy of all the data and instantly take over if the first hard drive should fail.Advanced media streaming support allows the ReadyNAS to directly serve media, with no PC required, to devices such as the NETGEAR EVA8000, Sonos Digital Music System, Logitech Squeezebox, Apple iTunes clients, Sony Playstation 3 and Microsoft Xbox 360.Officially licensed BitTorrent client allows downloading to occur without the need for an additional computer. A Web-based interface facilitates download management from computers, and a special NETGEAR Digital Entertainer interface allows management from the EVA8000.

Box Contents

Customer Reviews

Excellent redundant storage product
I bought one of these recently. I decided to opt for the ReadNAS Duo 500GB model and bought a second 500GB (Hitachi) drive as it only comes with one disk initially. Obviously to have a fully redundant setup you need 2 disks.

Its pretty easy to get it going. Mine is plugged into my wireless router so its available on that network. Speed is acceptable over wireless but obviously better over wired networks. But to get the best out of it you do need to tweak it as it doesn't come with optimised settings out of the box.

Check out www.readynas.com for lots of useful How-To's and a good user forum. In fact I would say that is an essential site to look at.

If you can read and follow instructions then it should be fairly straightforward to setup. Do check that website for the hardware compatibility list. Not all disks are compatible - especially the new low power disks. I expect they may bring out a firmware upgrade for those at some point.

Disks are meant to be hot-swappable (not tried this yet) and are very easy to install.

I haven't tried the video streaming yet as I bought this primarily for backing up digital photos & media but the iTunes server works well and I can also log into mine remotely from anywhere over HTTPS.

Last bit of advice. The Bit Torrent downloader works well but remember that it also allows uploads as well. I saw my ADSL router going crazy with traffic and when I looked I'd uploaded over 1GB in 1 day. Might not seem like much to many but I don't necessarily want that sort of traffic over my connection so I shut it off.

I think this is a really neat bit of kit and as it can be upgraded (there is a firmware upgrade to allow disks greater than 2TB) its pretty future proof for a few years - unlike a PC! Its also quite quiet. 2 disks will run louder than 1 but its only really noticeable in our front room at night when everything else is switched off. Also it runs at no more than 36-37Deg C and only burns around 35 watts with 2 disks which is way less than a PC server.

Really Good
This unit is realay very good.
1 It was simple to set up.
2 My Vista based PC found it and all its shares and it simply just worked.
3 I have had it now for a couple of months and it has been flawless.
4 I have just added a second redundant disc, my unit came with 1 500GB disc, and again nothing could be simpler. The discs are hot-swapable so I just ordered another identical disc to the one that was supplied Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 - Hard drive - 500 GB - internal - 3.5" - SATA-300 - 7200 rpm - buffer: 16 MB (Bulk). The unit automatically detected the disc and synched up. This took about 2 hours but again the unit just does it - great.
5 If you want a simple, easy to use, idiot proof unit then this is the one.

Not quite as easy to set up as you may think
The problem with reviews is that you either get those who love things saying how good they are or those who have had a problem moaning. In my case, I got my Ready NAS Duo 500GB to work and run although its automatic back up has proven less than depenadable due to the unit overheating. The RAIDAR and Frontview software is not great, Vista's 'red shield to scare you' coming up when I installed the software and accessed it via IE7. Even my MAC said 'whoa, something is up here'. Of course you can work round set up problems and as a previous reviewer pointed out the support forum is helpful. But these days most of us just want something that does what it says without having to get help. If you like messing around, fine. This unit can be set up to a range of useful things. But if you want 'plug and play' with slick, easy to use set up, forget it. It may also help if you work in a fridge. Boy, my NAS really has got all hot and bothered in the past few days (June/July 2009), emailing me that it really does not feel at all happy.

Post script: Turns out the fan on my unit failed.