To create the load condition, I copied 15 GB worth of files of various sizes from my laptop, down to a share on the ReadyNAS. The laptop was kept far enough away from the ReadyNAS and SPL meter, and both computers in the office were turned off, to keep them from influencing the meter's readings.

 

The fan in the ReadyNAS NV+ really cranks when you first turn it on, but settles down shortly after that. Idling under normal room temperatures (my office was 70° at the time) the ReadyNAS is slightly louder than an average laptop PC. As ambient temperatures increases, so does the fan—and the noise (something you should keep in mind if you plan on using the ReadyNAS as a media server inside a cabinet in close proximity to home theatre equipment). The ReadyNAS NV+ was noisiest during heavy disk activity. Keep in mind that some drives are noisier than others during seeks, and the more drives you have installed in the ReadyNAS the louder they’ll obviously be when there’s a lot of read and write activity going on. I can also tell you that the ReadyNAS is loud enough to hear over both the PCs in my office when they're running, when it is does a first-time configuration or when changing RAID modes after performing a Factory Default. The fan runs full speed during volume construction and the disk synchronization process to keep the hard drives cool.

 

 

Not surprisingly, the ReadyNAS NV+ was the most quiet while idling with the Disk Spin-down option enabled in FrontView. Whether you use the ReadyNAS as a home theatre and entertainment appliance or not, I highly recommend that you enable this option. The ReadyNAS is pleasantly quiet in Disk Spin-down mode, and the drives spin up fairly quick whenever there’s any type of disk access. Be advised that enabling Disk Spin-down on the ReadyNAS NV+ also disables full data journaling by necessity. While turning journaling off improves write performance, it also removes an extra level of protection against data corruption if the ReadyNAS isn’t shut down properly, or loses power. You should heed Infrant’s admonitions on connecting the ReadyNAS NV+ to a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) with USB monitoring. A good, inexpensive model like this one will do just fine.

 

Final Impressions and Conclusion

 

When I first saw the ReadyNAS NV+ at DigitalLife 2006, I thought it was a very slick, impressive piece of hardware. That initial good impression was only reinforced as I spent the last few weeks with it. Infrant has packed a lot of power, flexibility and value into the ReadyNAS. Anyone from the beginning home network administrator looking to add more storage for data and digital media to be shared among the family computers, will find that setting up the ReadyNAS NV+ is as “plug-n-play” as it gets. Experienced I.T. pros working in small to mid-sized business looking for a fast and inexpensive way to supplement existing network storage will appreciate the more robust features of the ReadyNAS. Its compact size, good looks and quiet operation will make it at home on a desk or in your living room tucked next to your HTPC setup.

 

Aside from having a great product, Infrant has several things going for them that the competition doesn’t—a support forum and a strong online community. Let’s face it—when it comes to getting support these days E-Mail (which rarely get answered), automated phone systems (which keep you on hold from now till Kingdom Come), and generalized, outdated FAQs alone, just won't cut it.

 

Like most NAS units on the market, the ReadyNAS NV+ comes with a 1-year warranty, which undoubtedly will make some people uncomfortable, considering the fact that the ReadyNAS is storing their valuable data, and most problems are likely to occur once the warranty is over. Fortunately you can purchase an extended 2-year warranty for the ReadyNAS at the Infrant Store. For the more do-it-yourself-user, and another area where Infrant has trumped the competition, replacement drive trays, power supplies and chassis fans are also available. Hard drives, whether pre-installed and configured by Infrant, or whether you purchase them yourself, are covered by the hard drive manufacturer’s warranty (purchasing a spare drive wouldn’t be a bad idea, either).

 

My criticisms about the ReadyNAS NV+ are few. X-RAID is a unique and impressive technology that does what it says it does, but it can be maddeningly slow. All things considered, when you look at the ability to upgrade and expand a RAID array without having to take the data offline, the slowness of the process isn’t such a bad trade-off.

 

Although the iTunes Streaming Server works, it’s not without glitches. While my iTunes collection played flawlessly from the ReadyNAS, I couldn’t get an issue with the duplicated Smart Lists or the songs not showing up under the iTunes Server window resolved. A visit to the ReadyNAS forum revealed that people were having a number of issues with the iTunes Streaming Server. Fortunately, Infrant has a major fix in the works that will be implemented in the next firmware release for the ReadyNAS NV+ soon.

 

The hidden locking mechanism on the ReadyNAS drive tray may make for a sleeker-looking installation, but it is possible for the tray—and drive—to get stuck. If it ever happens to you, this post on Infrant’s Tech Support Wiki shows how to disengage a stuck drive tray.

 

Finally, I’d like to see a black ReadyNAS with smoke-colored mirrored panels, though I’d imagine you’d need to make the LCD Status Screen brighter as a result. That wouldn’t make it any less sexy, though. And an e-SATA port would certainly be nice!

 

There’s no shortage of NAS appliances on the market these days, and while any of them can store and protect your data, you’d be hard pressed to find one that does so with the style, flexibility, power and ease of the Infrant Technologies ReadyNAS NV+.