 - Network attached storage device offers 500 GB of storage with GigaBit Ethernet for fast data transfer
- Stream music, photos and video to network media players without a computer
- Access files from anywhere via Internet connection; host your personal Web page to share with friends and family
- Support for extra hard drive, allowing X-RAID data protection
- Measures 4.0 x 5.6 x 8.7 inches (WxHxD); 5-year warranty
List Price: $556.52
Lowest Price: Too low to display 
Product 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. Amazon.com Review: We recently reviewed the NETGEAR ReadyNAS NV+, a network attached storage device, or NAS, that's built for small offices and work groups. We were so impressed with its performance that we decided to test NETGEAR's home-user model, the ReadyNAS Duo, to see if it measures up to its bigger sibling's performance.  | What We Think
Overall Rating: 
Pros: Compact design, energy efficient, easy-to-use, built-in RAID capability for secure storage, media streaming capability 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: 500 GB (1x500GB)
Dimensions: 5.6 x 4 x 8.7 inches (HxWxD)
Warranty: 3 years |  | | 
The ReadyNAS Duo can serve as a digital media server for your home. View larger. | We're happy to report that the ReadyNAS Duo rivals the NV+, but at a fraction of the price. Built for the home-user and home office, this compact, powerful, and surprisingly quiet and energy-efficient device has just about everything you need to keep your digital media easily accessible and protected. Unfortunately we don't have the space to describe everything we admire about this outstanding NAS device. What we can describe are several features that stood out, including its compact design and easy set-up, quiet and energy-efficient performance, web-, print-server and advanced media streaming features, and its outstanding data protection capabilities. (Our review of the ReadyNAS NV+ covered the system's RAID array functionality, as well several other features that the Duo shares.) In short, this is an advanced NAS device that anyone who is serious about digital media should consider for their home network. Easy Set-Up and Compact Design
In addition to this 500 GB version, the NETGEAR ReadyNAS Duo comes with 750 GB, and 1 TB capacities. The models share identical features, with the difference being the amount of storage in each. The version we tested, the RND2150, included a single 500 GB SATA drive in a hot-swappable carrier with room for a second drive alongside it. (Each of the models ships with a single hard disk drive and can be easily upgraded for data redundancy by installing a second compatible disk drive of equal or higher capacity. The new disk drive will automatically mirror the first drive.) While the initial set-up with the system's extremely intuitive interface took less than 20 minutes, getting the information for the more advanced-user procedures took a bit more time. NETGEAR does not ship the Duo with extensive user guides. Instead, users are directed to ReadyNAS's online community forum (www.readynas.com) for advanced set-up procedures and add-ons. While navigating the forum for information can be time consuming, the site is constantly updated by NETGEAR developers and community members. We found information easy to locate and well presented. Like the NV+, users do not need an technical background to configure the Duo. However, a knowledge of network basics, and an ability to search for and install basic files is a must. And anyone with even a modicum of networking experience will find the Duo a breeze to work with. The Duo is smaller than a breadbox and is constructed with a sturdy metal chassis and door. It includes a Gigabit Ethernet port and two USB 2.0 ports on the back, and an extra USB port at the front along with a "backup" button. 
With two drive bays, you can easily upgrade the Duo for data redundancy. View larger. | The Duo is designed to work with virtually any USB storage device and USB printer. We began by plugging a flash drive, external hard drive and a printer directly into the Duo. In each case, the devices appeared as shared drives on our network computers, and the printer connected to the device without a hitch, giving the networked computers instant printing abilities. Overall Set-Up and Design Grade: A-
We would prefer to have more documentation included with the hardware, but the online forum is an excellent source of information. Quiet and Energy-Efficient Performance
A huge plus for us is the ReadyNAS Duo's quiet performance. A fan sits at the back of the device, softly humming. Although we disagree with the NETGEAR marketing materials and wouldn't sleep with the Duo, we wouldn't hesitate to set it alongside a home theater system, or in another common area. Compared to many other NAS devices, the ReadyNAS Duo is as quiet and unobtrusive as they come. In an idle state, our single-disk Duo consumes only 27 Watts of power (or about 35 Watts with two drives installed), and a bit more than that with disk activity. In disk spin-down mode, power consumption goes down to a mere 12 Watts. This is a huge savings when compared to the 100 Watts or more from most computers with comparable storage and RAID abilities. The Duo also lets you schedule partial or complete shut downs for additional efficiencies. So if you plan to use the device as your primary digital media server or for scheduled back ups of your data, these energy savings will quickly add up. Overall Power Performance and Noise-Level Grade: A
What a relief to keep our carbon print (and electricity bills) low--quietly and unobtrusively. Web Server and Advanced Media Streaming Features
Our primary reason for wanting the Duo was to serve our digital media from a single source and reduce the work load of our personal computers. With the Duo, you can kiss goodbye the need to keep your computers running when you want to stream media files. The Duo can connect via your network to such devices as the NETGEAR EVA8000, Sonos Digital Music System, Logitech Squeezebox, Apple iTunes clients, Sony Playstation 3 and Microsoft Xbox 360. In fact, it will work with just about any DLNA-compliant device. Once we loaded our entire music collection onto the server and launched the Duo's built-in iTunes server, our music was immediately available through iTunes on our personal computers. But what really made us smile was that our digital music became instantly available through our Logitech Squeezbox player, bypassing our computers entirely. This means that we now have 24/7 wireless access to our entire digital music collection without having to turn on our computers. On the down side, because the Duo's SlimServer add-on does not offer the software's most recent updates, functionality is slightly compromised, but the advantages of instant, uninterrupted access to our music library far outweighs those inconveniences. 
The ReadyNAS Duo can serve files to all your computers and compatible media players in your home. | We were also able to access our personal video files seamlessly through our networked computers. While we found performance to be virtually indistinguishable from playing the files directly on our hard drives, if we were streaming HD video over our wireless network we would have needed to use Wireless-N to ensure steady performance. (If you're looking to do this NETGEAR recommends a purpose-built product called the 5GHz Wireless-N Bridge Kit, or one of their 200MB Powerline Network Adapters.) We also found that editing large raw video files was best accomplished directly off our local hard drive and uploading the edited files to the Duo, but this was more a function of our network connections than it was with the Duo's performance. 
NETGEAR's FrontView web-based control panel makes configuration and administration simple. View larger. | Another nice touch is the Duo's Web server capability. With about 20 minutes of configuration time, you can serve your own personal Web Site or blog. Set-up was much easier and quicker than uploading to a remote hosting site. Obviously, if you have visions of launching the next hot social network site, neither the Duo (or your Internet connection) will be able to handle the traffic. But for your own Web site or personal blog, it will stand up nicely. Overall Web Server and Media Streaming Grade: B+
Once ReadyNAS is able to update firmware concurrently with the media device updates, you'll never need a computer to serve your media files again. Advanced Data Protection
What truly allows the Duo to live up to its "advanced NAS" moniker is it wealth of data protection features, especially its X-RAID technology, "Continuous Data Protection or CDP," and its scheduled back up abilities. Just add a second 500 GB disk drive into the empty bay, and the ReadyNAS Duo will automatically build a mirror of the first drive by copying every byte from the first drive to the second one. In case of any hard drive failure, the data is protected. We had a SATA 500GB drive on hand, so we tried this. It was as easy as securing the drive with four screws onto the carrier and plugging the drive in. The data mirroring is taken care of automatically on the fly by the unique X-RAID. ReadyNAS Duo also includes a feature we're enthralled with called "Shadow" that not only backs up folders and files every time you save them on your computer, but also gives you the ability to save and revert to previous versions of the files. If your local file is lost or corrupted, you simply right click on the back-up file on the Duo to restore it to its original location. Every user on our network accessed this feature without a glitch. As featured on the Duo, CDP is a powerful way to keep your files protected. And to keep the files on the Duo protected, we scheduled back-ups to a connected external USB drive. The Duo flawlessly performed a full back up the first time, and incremental back ups thereafter. And a convenient "back-up button" located on the front of the device lets you back up your entire system, or parts of it, with a single click. With the X-RAID and the backup features provided by the Duo, you'll never have an excuse to lose a byte of data again. Overall Data Protection Grade: A
With the Duo, we will have to work hard to ever lose data again. Conclusions
The ReadyNAS Duo is a powerful, attractive, and flexible NAS device that is great for a home network. It offers much of the functionality of a dedicated server, but since set up is mostly plug-and-play, it does not require a dedicated IT personnel to manage. 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 Duo is backed by an industry-leading 5-year warranty, so you can rest assured that you'll be protected should anything go wrong. What's in the Box
ReadyNAS Duo with 500 GB hard disk drive, two hard disk trays, quick installation guide, warranty card, power adapter, power cable, Ethernet cable, ReadyNAS Installation CD and Discovery Utility, and NTI Shadow for ReadyNAS for Windows and Macintosh.
Amazon.com Product Description: The NETGEAR ReadyNAS Duo is an ideal Network Attached Storage device for use in homes with more than one computer. The ReadyNAS Duo offer 500 GB of storage and lets you easily share your files, music, and video over a home network and access your data remotely over the Internet. It can even stream music, photos and video to a network media players without a computer. | The NETGEAR ReadyNAS Duo: - Offers 500 GB of storage for Mac and PC sharing.
- Streams music, pictures, and videos to network media players without a computer.
- Lets you access and download your data from anywhere via Internet.
- Includes Gigabit Ethernet for super-fast data transfers.
- Creates a personal Web page to easily share photos with friends and family.
| | | 
A Gigabit Ethernet connection means fast speeds when the ReadyNAS is connected to your home network. View larger. View back. | 
Removable trays make adding another drive a snap.View larger. | The Ideal Home Media Server
With the ReadyNAS duo connected to your home network, you can listen to your digital music without the need for a computer. The device's advanced media streaming features support such media devices as the NETGEAR EVA8000 Digital Entertainer HD, Logitech Squeezebox, Apple iTunes clients, Sony Playstation 3 and Microsoft Xbox 360. The ReadyNAS Duo features a Gigabit Ethernet connector that can provide a fast 1000 Mbps connection to your network, which ensures that you can stream audio and video without any hiccups. Compatible with both Macs and PCs, the ReadyNAS is the perfect solution for media storage, allowing you and your family to easily share media files seamlessly. And with an embedded BitTorrent client for direct downloading from the Internet, the ReadyNAS will ensure that you can publish, discover and download digital entertainment content quickly, easily and securely. 500 GB of Storage and Remote Access to Your Files
If you have access to a broadband Internet connection, the ReadyNAS Duo also allows you to easily access to all your files no matter where you are. If you forget to bring that one file with you for a meeting, it's simple to retrieve it from your home server, quickly and securely. You can also use the ReadyNAS Duo to host your personal Web page, so you can easily share photos and media with friends and family. The ReadyNAS Duo comes with 500 GB of hard drive space, enough for 2,000,000 photos, 9,250 hours of music, or 750 hours of video. (If you need greater storage space, NETGEAR also offers the ReadyNAS Duo in the ReadyNAS Duo 750 GB and ReadyNAS Duo 1 TB models.) It includes three USB ports that allow you to directly connect USB disk drives, USB flash drives, printers, and wireless network adapters, adding even greater functionality to your home network. This device also has easily accessible SATA hard disk drive bays with easy-to-use hot-swappable and lockable trays. Simply by adding a second hard disk drive all of your valuable files are automatically duplicated for the ultimate in file protection and back-up. NETGEAR's exclusive X-RAID technology is built into the hardware. A second drive provides full data redundancy for protection against hardware failure and takes over if the first hard drive ever were to fail. A self-managing and monitoring system offers automatic power-up and shutdown, drive monitoring, and problem identification, for even greater peace of mind. The ReadyNAS Duo requires computers operating on Windows 2000, Windows XP Home or Professional (SP1 or SP2), Windows Vista, Mac OS X, or Linux. It has a Kensington lock security hole and is backed by a 5-year warranty. What's in the Box
ReadyNAS Duo, 2 hard disk trays, 1 pre-loaded 500 GB Hard Drive, quick installation guide, warranty card, power adapter, power cable, Ethernet cable, installation CD, ReadyNAS discovery utility, NTI Shadow for ReadyNAS for Windows and Macintosh.
 The ReadyNAS Duo lets you create a robust, multi-media home network.Customer Reviews: Rating: 
Date: 2008-07-04
What a great product and Amazon Price !
I purchased this Netgear ReadyNAS DUO RND-2150 to replace a D-Link NAS DNS-323. I wanted the ability to increase my drive size without having to restore the current files from an off NAS backup. (Not available with the D-Link product. I had read several reviews and I was impressed with what I had learned from the reviews.
My oreder from Amazon arrived within 2 days and I was up and running with the Originally Purchased hardware. The RND-2150 comes with 1 500 Gig HD. After I had set it up and got it working, I was up and running in 15 minutes, I copied the files over from the D-Link NAS and then checked to make sure everything was as it was supposed to be, I took down the D-Link NAS. My next step 3 days later, was to install a 750 Gig HD and see what happened. This is where the wonder started. The RND-2150 is hot swappable. So I installed the newer larger drive in the removable drive tray and plugged it into the device. The RND-2150 took care of the who thing automatically. Mirroring the new drive did take about 5 hours BUT the unit was still accessible while the mirroring was going on. A week later, I wanted to replace the 500 Gig with an identical 750 Gig. With the system running, I removed the 500 Gig, secured the new 750 Gig into the tray and plugged it in. Once again the RND-2150 was off and running automatically. Progress is monitored by a Windows Netgear Interface "RAIDAR" that comes along with the package and buy e-mail notifications sent out buy the RND-2150 as things progress.
Everything turned out just perfect after I did a reboot of the NAS after the mirroring was completed. The RND-2150 expanded the mirror to utilize the full size of the mirrored 750 Gig drives.
Now the 500 Gig drive is off to ebay and I am extremely happy.
I am using StorageCrafts ShadowProtect to do weekly backups of the 2 main home computers and I am using the included NTI Shadow for ReadyNAS to do realtime backups of both systems My Documents. Along with storage for the Music and Family Photos, this is a great product Rating: 
Date: 2008-06-19
Netgear ReadyNas 500GB - Semi-Pro Storage Devices for the Wired Home or Small Office / Branch Office
I have put the Netgear RND2150 ReadyNAS Duo 500 GB Desktop Network Attached Storage through the paces and for me it has passed with flying colors. I own a lot of external storage, and I've configured plenty of NAS devices for work and for home use. While the Netgear lineup of ReadyNAS devices are expensive, the extra features will put them over the top for many demanding users.
So ultimately, you will have to decide whether the extra features you can use with this guy are worth the cost. Alternatively you may decide you would rather stick to the external USB or firewire drives connected directly to you PC like the Western Digital 750 GB 7200RPM 16MB External Hard Drive. And there are middle of the road options like Drobo that offer some of these features at slightly lower cost. For me the answer to whether the ReadyNAS features are worth it is undoubtedly "Yes."
For starters, one of the biggest features isn't something many people will do right away, but rather something for down the road. You can change your drives yourself! That is a huge feature, that will allow you to add larger drives as they become cheaper. Alternatively you can add a second hard drive for RAID mirroring to give you an instant backup of your backup.
The ability to schedule downloads is going to become more and more important to people over time. I can tell you after testing it exptensively it has worked for me.
Also the easy networking really does allow you to set up secure shares very quickly. This is much easier than sharing an attached external hard drive like you can through your computer OS software. Many people never even get to the point where they are comfortable with those configs.
The connectors also allow you to daisy chain additional external drives off the back to add storage. Or you can hook up a USB printer for a print server. Once again, some other drives offer some of these features, but none offer all of them.
And installing this guy is "relatively" easy, although I still wouldn't be surprised if total novices still sought help. For the most part, once you set things up they will run on their own.
Unfortunately, you can't allocate both drive bays for online storage, at least not in a supported configuration. Still, I've got a pretty good feeling that limitation won't last forever. A minor firmware change to the raid controller bus along with a software update could easily make that possible.
Yes, the WD drives I love and LaCie and every other external hard drive is more economical. But none of those allow the easy expansion and longer useful life you will get out of this. When you add in the world of features this guy is ahead, it's clear that this is for more demanding users.
So if you have storage needs for your wired home or small / medium sized business office, check out this ReadyNas product family.
Enjoy!!!
Rating:
Date: 2008-06-12
Easy Setup For Mac users
This is a great product. I looked around, read a lot of reviews, checked out a lot of websites. As a Mac user (PowerBook G4 15" 1.25GHz) one worries about compatibility issues--for me they were not existent. After reading the setup info I plugged in the 2nd drive (Western Digital WD5000KSRTL Caviar 500 GB SATA Hard Drive), installed the software (there's a widget that provides monitoring of the drives 'health', setup, and access), and went through the setup process. It was EASY. On a 1-5 scale where 5 is most difficult it's definitely a 1. The initial transfer of the 120gb of music, audiobooks, movies and backup files took about 6hours. I went to bed and it was done when I got up. My wife and I can now access each others itunes libraries. My daughter's PC also has access.--GO FOR IT!
Rating:
Date: 2008-06-11
Necessary addition to a home network
Going into this purchase, I was simply looking for a way to safely back up my data (pictures from my wedding and my daughter primarily). Quite simply, I could have just set up a mirrored RAID array in my PC box, and this solution would have been better than buying a single USB drive. (this search was prompted by my waste-of-money USB drive making scary noises)
The more I dug around, the more I realized I could do so much to improve my data security and access. My wife and I have two computers on a gigabit network at home. If she wanted access to the newest media, my computer had to be on. If I wanted to print, her computer had to be on. If the baby was sleeping in her crib, we had neither computer on...
Now, I have one small very quiet, very cool, low power device sitting on my network that protects my data while serving as a print server, a local and remote file server, and I'm starting to use the bit torrent client it has. (it can even manage that possibly dying USB drive I mentioned earlier) Hopefully, I'll soon start using it to stream video/music/pictures to my TV (so we can watch movies when the little one is sleeping) once I've decide upon an appropriate media center interface (PC or otherwise).
Note that adding another disk drive does not grant you added capacity. It operates solely as backup. There's a common, valid complaint that it doesn't do raid0 or JBOD. Honestly though, for access speed (the benefit of RAID0), the bottleneck is the network connection. And while the increased disk capacity would be nice, if you really need more capacity than the 1 TB version can offer, you're going to look at 4 to 6-disk NAS housings or other 'small business' solutions.
It's also worth mentioning the community and support this product has behind it. Overall, a great device. Rating:
Date: 2008-06-03
Very impressed, but could be more user friendly
So far I am very impressed with the Netgear ReadyNAS Duo. Not only does this have more storage than both of my laptops put together, but it provides valuable storage for my family photos, videos, and documents. I was instantly able to access it from all three home computers. The documentation was light, I wished Netgear had been more thorough in providing step by step instructions to set up specific tasks. Instead, it actually took me several hours to set this up properly. Sizewise, this is extremely small even though it looks big in the picture. It takes up no more of a footprint than my wireless router, although it is taller.
This also serves as a print server, so I have been able to stop emailing myself documents. I just print from any home computer and the printer in the office prints the document.
I was also able to set up the photo server, so now my friends and family can access the kid's pictures and print them in full resolution, or order them online without the hassles of uploading to an online photo service, losing valuable time while the photos upload, and being limited in file size. With the ReadyNAS Duo I can upload the pictures straight from the digital camera, and they are the full file size without any loss of quality.
Since I am no longer storing my photos on my computer, and instead storing them on the ReadyNAS Duo, I will have to buy another drive to backup my ReadyNAS. It provides a good amount of peace of mind to not have to worry about losing family memories because of hard drive failure. That appears to be running about a hundred dollars.
Oh, one last thing. I also put my music folders onto the ReadyNAS Duo and now they play through my 1. Logitech Squeezebox Duet Network Music System right on my home stereo. No more need to make CD's or hook my mp3 player up to the stereo.... heaven!
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