I am seriously considering purchasing a ReadyNas NV+ network backup system to hook up to my cable network router. What would be the advantages and disadvantages of using a NAS vs a non-nas system? What would be the best ReadyNas configuration? Does Netgear have the best - bang-for-the-buck Nas systems?

Couple of comments. First, I've owned the ReadyNAS NV+ for a year now. It has run continually with 4 Seagate 500 Gb drives in it in a RAID 5 configuration. It has never failed. I've upgraded the software several times over the web and from that perspective it has been problem free.

It has 1.5 TB of usable space. I keep RAW images on it and currently there are about 60,000 RAW files from a variety of cameras on this as well as some backups from other machines on the network.

I intend on keeping the box and likely this fall will upgrade the drive sizes on it to 4 1 TB drives (likely Seagate but you have to check the hardware compatibility list). What I have found is that using it (even on a gigabit network) is too slow for useful work on many large images in LR and PS. So I've changed my workflow slightly.

What I do now is to keep a 1st copy of all my image files (mostly RAW) on a local HD. I also have my LR catalog local and this allows rapid access to data. Each night I use SynBack to synchronize my local directories to the REadyNAS and so I have a backup of all my files (and catalogs) on the network server that is also available for others on the network to use. This works seamlessly.

Once a week I also mirror the ReadyNAS directory to an external eSATA 1 TB drive for a 3rd copy of my images and working directory structure.

All in all, I like the system and am happy with the purchase. I wish it were faster and would actually love a system that could be accessed by both eSATA and ethernet. Small issue.

Thanks for your reply Jon. I decided to go with the Drobo because of its total ease of use on Macs and PCs. I didn't get the Droboshare which is a NAS because I don't think it would serve my purposes right now and I want to wait for the 2nd generation Droboshare which I am sure will have better performance. I could always add it later.

I had a couple of questions regarding the ReadyNas so I called the company and was connected with someone in India. The Drobo company is a US company offering support in the US. Besides, the Drobo seems like a great product and I've heard some great things about it. A couple of people I know use the Drobo 1st and 2nd generation and love it. It's infinitely scalable, good software, good support from the company, ease of use, performs as advertised.

fuzzyfoto

I've been using my ReadyNAS NV+ with 4 x 1TB Seagate Barracuda drives for about 7 months on my gigabyte LAN in my home office. I use it only for mirrors of the image, video and data folders on my various Macs (MacPro 8-core and MacBookPro).

It is a great device and I have had no problems other than I cannot delete certain folders created on the device by my Mac. I can delete the folder using a PC (Parallels on my Mac to run WinXP needed for WinXP-only business applications). I've been working with Netgear tech support and there is a new firmware upgrade that supposedly addresses the problem. I will install this when I get back from my Alaskan vacation.

Other than this minor issue, the device works great. On my LAN, I typically get 12-18 MPS transfer speeds. This is very acceptable for image and video backups and to use the device as a music or data server. I agree with the previous poster that it is too slow to use as working storage for large image or video files. I use FW800 drives attached to my MacPro for that purpose. This is in addition to the 4 x 1TB internal drives on my MacPro.

On more thing. Forget using Retrospect backup software that ships with the device. It has issues on the Mac platform. I use Chronosync to create mirror copies on my ReadyNAS NV+ and it is fast and reliable.

Good luck.
Bud James