Netgear ReadyNAS 422
Throwing down the gauntlet to other NAS makers.
Here’s a classic example of a modern NAS box. It’s designed to be purchased for a specific job, but can be repurposed repeatedly over its working life. Can this new series of ReadyNAS hardware take on Synology in that slice of the market where it is strongest?
The RN422 is overengineered to the point that it feels heavy even before drives are mounted. The look that Netgear is pitching with the new ReadyNAS series is a minimalist one with a twist of functionality. The fascia is hinged on the left and opens to reveal the two internal drive bays that enable either 2.5- or 3.5-inch drives to be quickly mounted. The larger drives don’t require any tools to install, but you will need a screwdriver for 2.5-inch hard drives or SSDs.
For connecting external devices, one USB port is at the front under the door, and the other USB 3.0 is at the back, along with a single eSATA port. The door has a two-line LED display that’s also a menu accessed with the five illuminated buttons on the door face — most useful in diagnostic and emergency situations.
For those wanting to lock horns with Synology, the true battleground is app selection. Netgear has made the biggest improvement in this part of the ReadyNAS offering. The collection of 63 tools doesn’t outnumber the choice Synology gives, but contains much of the same functionality, and even overlapping apps. Drupal, IDrive, GLPI, Joomla, LimeSurvey, Logitech Media Server, PHP, Python and SugarCRM are on both platforms, and many other apps have practically identical functionality. Both support Docker development, configured as a local DNS server or an automated torrent client. There are relatively few places these machines exclusively own.
Support for cloud services is also very good on Netgear, with 10 extra apps for working with ReadyCLOUD, ReadyNAS Vault, ReadyNAS Replicate, Google Drive, Amazon Drive, Amazon S3, Dropbox, Microsoft Azure, OneDrive and Wasabi. The only significant hole that we noticed is that there isn’t currently a Mail Server in the selection, and WordPress is also MIA.
One strong aspect of the feature base is the back-up controls that enable you to create an elaborate multilayered plan to secure the contents of the system and any network storage in its vicinity. It can back up to (or from) with NFS, FTP and any system that supports Rsync. A back-up routine can secure files to internal storage, external storage or a wealth of cloud options. Overall, as an alternative to Synology, QNAP, Asustor or one of the other top NAS brands, the Netgear ReadyNAS 422 is a viable option and not in the least a poor cousin.
With a dual-core Atom CPU powering only a two-drive NAS box, the limiting factor here isn’t the processor, memory or even hard drive speed; it’s the Gigabit LAN ports. Netgear did include dual-Gigabit, and you can leverage those to double throughput by channel bonding or other aggregation methods.
With a single Ethernet port connected and the drives set up in mirror mode, the system managed suitable 118.5Mb/s read and 117.8Mb/s write speeds. With both LAN ports active, that increased to an impressive 200Mb/s and 185Mb/s.
As an aside, you can use a Netgear EDA500 — a fivebay ReadyNAS Expansion Chassis that connects via the eSATA port — to add additional drives to the setup, but it would be cost effective to buy a system with more bays from the outset.