Whatever happened to Netgear NAS devices?

Unluckyalf · 30 Aug 2021 at 10:18

As title really.
I have a couple of Netgear NAS boxes, a RN312 and a RN102. I have been looking at increasing the capacity of the RN312 from 4Tb to 6Tb and got to thinking that it might be a good opportunity to update the RN102 to something newer and stick the 6Tb drives in the replacement instead. Both my NAS boxes are marked as end of life on the Netgear site, and the replacement for the RN312 is also marked as end of life.
Netgear seem to have dropped NAS drives completely from the consumer market and only have rack mounted solutions. I'm just curious as to why and when really. I was only looking at getting Netgear as im familiar with their web interface. Worried now about what happens if the unit itself fails as its just dawned on me how old these units are, not that they have shown any signs of doing so.
Synology seem to be the only well known name left that i recognise, though i have been out of the NAS market for a long while

Undesirable · 31 Aug 2021 at 07:58

They're all overpriced, underpowered Linux boxes with software RAID, at the end of the day, but if I had to choose one, it would be ASUSTOR. Have you got a high bandwidth switch? You'll want a 2.5Gb NAS at least if so, which I know QNAP and ASUSTOR do natively with their newest prosumer models, don't know about Synology. I've got a Netgear switch. Nice bit of kit.

bimbleuk · 31 Aug 2021 at 08:05

I like the Synology software. I prefer the QNAP upgradability on the models with 1 or 2 PCI-E slots which I've used. I haven't had a chance to use an Asustor unity yet. All my switches are Netgear but they probably weren't competitive in the NAS consumer space.

Unluckyalf · 31 Aug 2021 at 11:08

Interesting. The Asustor kit actually doesn't look too bad for a brand i have never heard of! Might give one of their units a crack before i fully replace my RN312 with larger drives. The 5202 looks decent, though im still only running a 1Gb LAN. I can look at updating my switch in the near future.
So it looks like Netgear just quietly pulled out of the consumer NAS market to concentrate on their other products.

Snapshot · 1 Sep 2021 at 07:55

The main two NAS brands were QNAP & Synology, none of the others were really in the same league. Then, ten years ago, Asus poached QNAP's design team and formed Asustor. I've had a few Asustor NAS, currently a 5304, and they've all just done what they're supposed to. Synology and QNAP may be a better choice if you're after add-on apps but if it's just for data storage then Asustor is up there with the other two.

Unluckyalf · 2 Sep 2021 at 22:44

All i have ever used mine for was data storage. The only app i have installed was for Dropbox.
Definitely looking like Asustor is the best value for money