Netgear RAIDiator 5.3.6

Netgear recently released a firmware upgrade for its popular line of ReadyNAS devices. The upgrade is a major release, and Netgear's main push behind it is to make the ReadyNAS Duo and ReadyNAS NV+ more cloud-friendly. The new firmware, called Netgear's RAIDiator 5.3.6 is a welcome idea, because I found the included software to be the weakest component in what is excellent NAS hardware from Netgear. This new release however, is more like a fresh coat of paint slapped over services that already exist in Netgear's NASes. It doesn?t offer much improvement to the management and cloud capabilities of a Netgear NAS and actually makes management a little more complicated.

Download and New Capabilities
You can download the latest firmware from www.readynas.com. The new software also comes with any ReadyNAS device purchased as of September 11, 2012. ?Once the firmware is downloaded and installed, the NAS' interface is accessible by entering the IP address of the device through a browser, or by clicking the "setup" option in the RAIDar software Netgear ships with its NASes to locate the NAS on a network.

Some of the new and improved capabilities include ReadyDROP which allows users to sync, edit, store, retrieve, and view files from any ReadyDROP enabled device; remote backup for Time Machine; media streaming with ReadyDLNA; and a small business disaster recovery feature called ReadyNAS replicare.

Test Driving the New Firmware
Opening up the freshly upgraded interface on a ReadyNAS Duo, I noticed the UI hasn?t noticeably changed since the last software version. The home page still displays graphics indicating temperature of the device, overall health of the system, folder shares and any installed add-ons.

From this initial screen are several menu options: Configure, Documentation, Community, and How-To. The latter three are of course help resources with links to Netgear's site and forum?"Configure" is where you do device management.

Clicking "configure" opens up a new set of sub-menus. From these menus you can view and configure system and network settings. You can also enable features such as remote access and ReadyDROP, and do more advanced configuration such as enabling disk spin-down after a specific number of minutes, set back up options, and enable email alerts.

The problem with services like ReadyDROP and remote access is that there isn't any information within the interface on how to use ReadyDROP or how to remotely access the device. If you do a Web search on ReadyDROP, you'll find instructions on the service and that you need to install another app from Netgear?ReadyNAS remote?on any device you want to use ReadyDROP with. You also have to create a ReadyDROP account or use a ReadyNAS remote ID.

ReadyDROP and Beyond
ReadyDROP is easy enough to use and does allow you to access files on the NAS across any of your network devices and computers since it supports Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android. The lack of any instruction or guidance on what you need to download to get ReadyDROP is bound to confuse new Netgear NAS customers.

Remote access is also not simplified with the new version's interface as far as I could tell. The interface does seem quicker and more responsive when navigating through it and making settings changes than before. There's a colorful, large toggle on-screen button you can click to enable remote access, but you still need to work with settings such as proxy server, incoming ports, port forwarding through a router?the new firmware doesn?t give any new or easier way to remotely access or manage the device.

The interface also allows you to access the Genie Apps Service?Netgear's app store (everyone needs an app store, these days). Clicking on Genie Apps for the first time, resulted in the message, "It appears that Genie Apps Service is turned off or this is your first time running Genie Apps Service?" Enabling the service requires logging into the Genie marketplace with, you guessed, yet another Netgear account.

So now we are up to three logins on the Netgear device: the initial admin password to get into the management interface, the remote ID login to use remote access and ReadyDROP, and now one for Genie marketplace. Netgear should take a cue from Microsoft and look into single-sign on capabilities. The multiple logins for multiple tasks is cumbersome.

To access the Genie marketplace also requires installing a Genie app locally (to get to the Internet-based Genie app store). My question is, why do I need to have this new firmware, a remote app, a local Genie app and access to a Genie cloud store. There's too much going on, and nothing is streamlined with the new firmware.

The new firmware also includes Netgear's highly-touted ReadyNAS Photos II. The original photo app was on the ReadyNAS Duo v2 I last looked at, and I found it problematic. I don't find much improvement with this latest version of the photo app.

Users buying a new NAS from Netgear will find ReadyNAS Photos II pre-installed. To begin using it is a matter of clicking the option to "Start sharing photos". There, you find a three-step process to do so: agreeing to a EULA, setting up a hostname for the NAS to share albums from the Internet, and then setting up UPnP on a router.

Most NAS owners tend to be technically savvier than average. I don't doubt that many will be able to get through these steps and even enable UPnP on their routers. However, those new to working with NASes may experience some confusion setting up ReadyNAS Photos II. The directions included in the steps are vague, especially the ones for setting up UPnP, and they're plagued with typos.

Once the photo app is configured, you can email invites to users to access albums, upload images taken with smartphones to the albums, and create slideshows complete with background music. Some of ReadyNAS Photo II's advanced features are likely to appeal to security-conscious users, such as sending an encrypted link for access to albums and establishing limits on downloadable image resolution. But the ReadyNAS Photo II setup process is still lengthy and can get complicated if you have problems enabling UPnP or the required port forwarding of traffic over port 8086. Advanced users can handle all that, but I don't think ReadyNAS Photo II poses any threat to Facebook photo sharing or Instagram anytime soon.

Not Enough of an Upgrade
Netgear's created this new firmware upgrade for purposes of making the ReadyNAS line of NAS device more cloud-based. I don't think the firmware achieves this. You still have lots of configuration, in fact the same type of configuration as before, to share data and remotely manage the NAS. With multiple sign-ins and apps to install, the management process also gets rather complex. I'd have preferred if the 5.3.6 firmware was all encompassing?a single portal from which I can get to the genie apps, access ReadyDROP (and get any ReadyDROP clients I need for any devices). Netgear needs to corral in all its services?which are plentiful and allow you to do lots with Netgear NASes?into one interface if possible. I can state that the performance of the firmware is peppier than the last version I tested on a Netgear NAS. That's good, but the new upgrade is a veneer for services that already exist. For networking management software, it?s a decent three stars, but could be better.

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