[X4U] NAS Drive Recommendations

[Joe Sporleder]

On Apr 26, 2012, at 11:56 AM, LISTS wrote:

> I suggest you take a look at Netgear's ReadyNAS product line. They support Time Machine and, depending upon how much you want to spend, can be very speedy indeed.
> 
> One caution: just like any hard drive, a NAS should be backed up regularly. Most of the various RAID levels have more to do with reducing the likelihood of failure. But when the NAS fails (or is stolen), you need a backup...
> 
> Enjoy,
> 
> Jim
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
> On Apr 26, 2012, at 9:33 AM, Joe Sporleder <joe at wacondatrader.com> wrote:
> 
>> Any other brands I should consider? Ones that play well with Mac is a must, and being able to use it as a centralized Time Machine backup for our Mac workstations would be a nice bonus (although I could continue using the Mac mini server for that).
> 

Jim,

Are you using Netgear ReadyNAS? I did a search of AFP and file permission related issues with ReadyNAS and most of those or 3 or 4 years old, so I take that as good news. Since we are mostly a Mac shop, working well with Apple branded gear is a must. One feature of the Pro line of the ReadyNAS is the Replicate add-on. It makes me think that a scenario should be possible where I can have one ReadyNAS at our main office which will get a daily workout Monday thru Friday (especially of Fridays and Mondays as those days lead up to deadline crunch time). I would install a 2nd one at one of our other offices in the same town. then use the ReadyNAS Replicate to do automatic incremental backup over the Internet, so that I would have both my backup and offsite backup taken care of all at once. My understanding of the Replicate software is if the unit at the production office would have a power failure (or God forbid, destroyed by a disaster or stolen), I could simply bring the unit from the boss's home office to the production office, plug it in, point the Macs to it, and all of our production work would be there, ready to go with minimal effort. I'm trying to create a backup situation reliable enough that production halting is minimal, and easy enough I could create instructions and/or train others to restore our data for production, especially if I am out of town on business and need to rely on someone else to help get production back up and running.

Joe