User experience with NetGear Ready NAS Duo

That's what I've got and my experience has been good.  No issues at all - except that as a totally green user myself I felt that the user guide and the interface assume far too much prior knowledge of networking and that I really muddled my way through setting it up.  I was astonished that it all worked in the end!

Tip - buy the enclosure separately from the HDD(s) that you put in it and save a lot of money.  I bought the enclosure from Amazon for about £118 and 2* 2tb western digital hdds for £65 each.

DT79, many thanks for response and for the tip. I assume the whole pack comes with step-by-step instructions? Did you find some of the postings here useful? Any more? I am sure there are others with this NAS?

enjoy

ken

Hi Ken,

I use the Readynas Duo, and it works faultlessly with my Uinitiserve. I am totally enthralled with the sound quality I am experiencing. I initially used the XPS2 on my nDac, and this proved the equal of my  CDS3. I then tried  the 555PS on the DAC and this took my system to an all time high. 

I know you are active on SL2's like me, and I am interested in your experience with the Userve, as in my system it seemed as if I had a speaker upgrade. 

Gerry

Gerry, many thanks. That is exactly what i am looking for -- something that doesnt need hours of trial-and-error setup. it will be very interesting when i have it to compare my CD555/555ps with the ripped/streamed music which i have been ignoring up to now. It looks like it worked for you if it seemed like a speaker upgrade -- i guess this is because of the near perfect rips? have you ripped all your CDs then? i have loads, so this is going to take a while -- but i have a LOT to learn, so i will take my time. I might ask you one or 2 noddy/idiot questions when i get my stuff -- hope that is OK

enjoy

ken

ps: still plan to re-fettle the SL2s in line with suggestions from that thread -- ho hum...

That is what it is about, isn't it Tony. Thanks for the further input. I will make a note of this fixed IP address. I assume this will come up obviously during the setup process. Do i choose the specific address? or is it just a metter of specifying fixed or not fixed

enjoy

ken

Hello Ken

I use the ReadyNAS_nvx, which can be considered similar to the Duo; this works fine although I am streaming via a Qute to nDAC. Still considering a serve.

In case you have not already found it, there is a guide to the Duo (The Definitive Guide to the ReadyNAS Duo) on the Netgear website, Google ‘Readynas Duo setup’ and it should be the first link. There is also a forum that might be useful to you.

Also, if you are going to purchase a bare-bone unit and drives separately, please be aware that the drives should be selected from the hardware compatibility list (also on the Netgear site) to ensure reliable operation.

Highly recommend that you reserve an IP address in your router as already advised. Open the web interface to your router and reserve the IP address by entering the Serves MAC address to your chosen IP address..

We are extremely pleased with our results. Hope you will post your thoughts once setup.

Regards

Peter

very useful Peter. I will definitely post when i have it all working. thanks for all the tips.

enjoy

ken

Thanks -- i havent ordered the NAS yet, but i think i will settle for the ReadyNAS now given all the tips you guys have kindly provided. Things will start moving i guess when i know the delivery timescales for the UnitiServe. Exciting times!

enjoy

ken

Hmm... reading the user expeiences on Amazon on this NAS, i note quite a few folks having problems with their Ready NAS Duo and being frustrated by lack of helpful information either on the netgear forum or netgear themselves? Hmmm... this is not a matter of subjective vs objective -- just a matter of fact.  in fact there is a guy who posts that he had problems using it with the Uniti -- i guess this may have something to do with IP addresses and such things?

The QNAP TS210 seems to be mostly positive and i note that a few folks have dumped their Ready NASs for this. However, this is not in the list of Naim tested NASs. I looked for the QNAP TS-409 Pro (FW 3.1.0 Build 0708T) but this seems to be have been superceded by the TS-410 now -- cant assume this passes Naim tests -- does anyone know? perhaps someone at naim could confirm.

enjoy

ken

Hi Ken

Have had a quick look at the Amazon site and I must say I don’t recognise the issues mentioned. Possibly faulty box /user? 

When the Qute was announced I had a couple of conversations with the factory and I am fairly certain that they said that they were using a duo at that time, they may use other units as well of course.

However, that’s not to say that I, and others, have not had minor issues. In most cases that I have read about, these issues mainly involve the UPnP server on these boxes; I guess they just aren’t as good as Naims own. Funny that!

But, of course, you will not be using the built in server if you have the UnitiServe, this is the reason I am still considering one. You simply need a file store.

Perhaps worth a chat with the factory?

Regards

Peter

P.S. Just a thought. I have assumed that the NAS will be in another room to your listening area, not sure why, but I would not want mine in the same room. It’s OK in the office.

I agree with the 2 last posts. In fact you only need to access your Router, which can be set to DCP (automatic IP address) and then just a reserve this address, which will show up when you click the add address butrton.

The Readynas has not failed me once.

Gerry

Gerry, Tony and Peter,

You guys are fantastic!

I have ordered the ReadyNAS now from Amazon -- just the box for now, i will get the actual disks separately, likely 2x2TB. I have asked Naim about reliability of this and they appear to have good experiences with it themselves, which is a very useful point.

It is likley that i will be in posession of the ReadyNAS well before the Uniti arrives. So i assume i can install this before the Unit arives. In addition, i assume the above issues (allocation of IP address) can all be sorted out at the same time.

i am using a VirginMedia setup -- its a long time since i set this up, but i am assuming allocating the fixed IP address for the NAS on the router will be pretty straight foward.

It is the case that when the Unit arrives and i plug it into one of the spare ports on the router -- i dont need to do anything else -- and that i can start ripping?

Peter, i intend to install the NAS by the router in our utility room (outside my office where my system is). I guess then the Uniti (which will share the Fraim rack with the rest of the system) will have a long network cable back to the router.

Thanks guys, prepare for more noddy questions.

enjoy

ken

Ken…….It might help to clarify the difference between the two ways of fixing the IP address of a component on your network. If you are already aware then please accept my apologies.

The first method is to allocate a ‘Static’ IP Address. This is the method described by Tony, and requires the address to be set up in BOTH the router and NAS.

The other way is to use a ‘Reserved’ IP address, Gerry’s method. The advantage of using this method is that you set up the reserved address in the router ONLY; the NAS is left as delivered to obtain IP address by DHCP. A further advantage to this method is that if the Serve is returned to your dealer for an upgrade for example, and he needs to connect to his network your serve will happily accept any IP address that his router allocates to it. On return to your home it will automatically pick up it’s reserved address. The only possible problem with this method is that your router has to support it.

Hope this may help.

Peter

So many ways to crack the "IP address" nut... 

Based on Naim's advise & other experiences, we always set up a static address for NAS drives wherever possible. This is how we have our NAS configured and all of our demo network servers & players (regardless of manufacturer) pick up the NAS drive without fail when they get relocated between demo rooms. But, as indicated by Peter, the reserved address approach will also work. The important thing is to set the address away from the primary DHCP area to avoid potential conflicts.

Once the UnitiServe-SSD arrives, then you will need to install DTC on your PC (not Mac), allocate the shares and then create a Music Store for the Serve. All pretty straight forward. Again, your dealer should be able to guide you through this if there are problems. 

Look forward to more noddy Q's... 

Tony

Hello Tony

Yes indeed. I hope you don’t think I was undermining your advice in any way, which was not my intention. I simply thought an explanation might help, though reading it again this morning I will agree it is skewed somewhat; I guess you can tell which method I use. I started typing my last post before Ken last posted, but was side tracked so when I posted Ken had replied.

That’s just one of the things I dislike about the new forum style. With the old one I could refresh the page just prior to posting to see that a post was still relevant, but there you go.

It’s interesting to note your comments that Naim express a preference (or advise) the use of ‘Static’ addresses; I’ll bear that in mind, thanks for that.

Regards

Peter

I have a ReadyNAS Duo - There was offer last year to get extra 1Tb drive free so all setup with Raid 1 (it does it all automatically)

I got a Uniti ex-dem and it couldn't see the NAS but I reset it to factory defaults and as others have said used a static IP address and then it found it fine

I've brought DBPoweramp and am in the process of ripping my CD collection to Flac.

Only thing I've found is that I power the uniti off at night (I know you're not supposed to !). When powering it on I find that it quite often takes a number of searches for the uPNP to find the NAS - this might be some sort of setting on the router or NAS -  I'm sure you won't hit that if you leave the kit on all the time

Edit - Tony - how do you set the router to reserve the allocated IP address of the NAS ? - wonder if that could be my problem

I doubt that using a static address is the problem. But to reserve an address go into LAN Set Up within the advanced menu. You should see a reservation table, which presumably, will be empty in your case, then select add, which will take you to a new window will will show all connected hardware with their MAC address. Press the button to the left of the device you wish to reserve and this will then be highlightedin the table below, alter the last box of the IP address to say 100, then add device name and then add.

Much easier than it reads!

I actually reserve all devices on my network, and have never had an issue with IP addresses on my network.

Gerry

Hello iburnell

Are you shutting down your NAS as well?

Mine is the NVX rather than the Duo, but it does take a few minutes to boot-up before its UPnP server becomes operative and therefore visible to our Qute.

I wonder if you are just not allowing enough time between switching on and trying to connect to the NAS; the main thing is that once connected you are not then loosing contact with the server.

And yes you are right, if you left everything on all the time you wouldn’t have the problem. You would probably have more serious problems with worn out disc though.

Personally, I would leave the Uniti on and switch the NAS off.

Peter

Peter

Not sure I agree with this, I thought a big advantage of a NAS was that it was "always on"  and available.

I leave mine on permanently but switch off the USB attached back up drive.

Gerry

Hi Gerry

It’s simply a matter of choice really. Mine can be set to switch on and off at predetermined times should I choose although I tend to use Wake-on-Lan to start it and the Frontview feature to shut it down. I feel that it’s worth switching off for about 8hrs a night, saves on wear and tear and its quieter too. However, you are quite right they can be left on if that’s preferred.

Peter

it looks like the 2x2TB hard disk units will arrive before the NAS ordered from Amazon, damn!

enjoy

ken

If you buy a lot of stuff from Amazon, it is useful to suscribe to Prime-next day delivery for free. Last week I ordered something at 17.00 on Friday, and it arrived at 09:30 thje following day.