I’m re-evaluating NAS and backup appliances for my small biz clients.
I’ve sold some SonicWall CDP units, but have been disappointed by some important missing functionality/design flaws and high price. I understand their next generation of appliances are on the way, which hopefully will address these issues.
http://sonicwall.com/downloads/CDP_DS_US.pdf
I’m looking into Buffalo’s NAS devices, which look very promising in terms of a rich feature set (RAID, Gigabit net, AD support, USB port for external HDD backup) and reasonable pricing (starts at around $600). The admin interface struck me as intuitive and comprehensive. I think they’d be a good solution for my clients that can handle the responsibility of rotating external backup hard drives offsite. How is their tech support? Reliability?
http://www.buffalotech.com/products/network-storage/terastation/terastation-pro-ii/
Netgear has their ReadyNAS appliances which have many of the same features as Buffalo, but their pricing starts at around $1000. One big plus is a 5-year warranty, and they bundle a 5-user Retrospect license. I’ve liked Netgear’s tech support and their generous/quick RMA policy, so I consider them a contender.
http://netgear.com/Products/Storage/ReadyNASNVPlus/RND4250.aspx?detail=Specifications
HP’s Media Vault Pro is a very limited option, with 2x500GB HDD’s and no expansion possible. Price is a reasonable $600. However, what’s VERY compelling to me is the offsite online backup service: It starts at 40GB for $150/yr and goes up to 1TB for $1900/yr – are you listening, SonicWall??
http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/storageworks/mvpro/qa.html
Any other recommendations or thoughts?
