We have our third victim… um test subject in our continuing Network Attached Storage (NAS) device reviews. This time it is from a company with a fair recognizable name in the industry, NETGEAR. For many the name NETGEAR means low cost consumer networking products and maybe a lower reliability rating. We have to agree that some of that reputation was rightfully earned in the past, but they have since changed things around and are now making some fairly solid products for the consumer, SMBs and the enterprise. We have already covered their ProSafe WNDAP360 wireless access point and found it to be a well put together product. Now we are going to dive into their pro line of NAS products with the ReadNAS Pro 6. This is a 6 bay device that can support up to 12TB of RAW storage and has more than its share of features to boot. So let’s take a look at what you get with the ReadyNAS Pro 6 from NETGEAR.
The Box and Goodies -The box that the ReadyNAS Pro 6 arrived in was very plain, but this is ok. After all it is not meant as a consumer product. There is no need for a flashy box here as the people ordering it are not going to the local computer store to pick one up. Instead they are ordering one online and know exactly what they are getting. To most IT people the box is of limited use after you get the device in hand. At the most you will put it in a closet in case you need to send it back for replacement or repair.
Inside the box was almost everything you need to get things going. You get a utilities DVD, a power cord, and a single network cable. We felt that NETGEAR went a little cheap on us with the single network cable; the ReadNAS Pro 6 has two Gbe LAN ports so they really should have included two network cables.
Other than the actual ReadyNAS Pro 6 and the items we listed there is not much more to tell.
