Promise 4 Bay SATA NAS Enclosure Raid 0,1,5,10 - Review

Rogue71 said:
seems like a nice enough nas box, but quite honestly there are half a dozen others out there performing the same tasks. that was one heck of an expensive nas box though. i slapped together an old computer in a new case, an unused antec earthwatts 380 psu and threw on whs. bought 4 new 500gb hard drives @ 79.99. i can either swap out my drives for larger ones without a total redo, or i can add more drives with sata2 cards if i run out of sata2 ports. the antec 300 case i have has room for 4 more drives if i ever want them and cooling will never be an issure either. whs has way more features but i basically use it as a huge nas box. my main reason for going this way was ease of expandibility. just my 2 cents.
Click to expand...
Absolutely true. For the propeller heads, there are certainly a lot of possibilities with off-the-shelf hardware. For people that 'just want it to work' without hunting down software, compiling, etc., NAS boxes on the market (doesn't matter which vendors' box; whatever fits their need) represents a more expedient solution.
 
Gunr said:
Yes, I installed the file you quoted in the previous post, at least the file name is the same as the one that I installed. I did uninstall the old one before installing the new one. I have also tried the uninstall, reboot and reinstall method. The files that I am trying to share are AVI (Divx, Xvid), and the files that I am using, I have already watched streamed to my 360 shared from both Vista with Media Player Sharing and through Twonky being routed off of the 4300 through a MacMini. I only copied over 3 files to test so I would not have to wait for the index.
Click to expand...

I also did the same thing. I tested it with a variety of video files and installed it by all the methods I could think of. Essentially the 360 could see the Nas and the folders, but no files. The other bug was I had to manually enable it every 10 minutes or so. I wish there was an output log feature so I could see exactly wuts breaking it.

I picked this up on sale from Fry's after months of debating mainly cuz it was cheap and simple to setup. If it can stream videos to my 360, then I can use it as a media server. If not, then I plan on using it as a backup file server. I do have an Infrant ReadyNAS streaming videos that has a ton of features. However, the price has increased since Netgear took over and I have to reconsider what uses I want for my servers. I do have several linux file servers that were cheaper to build, but involved more setup time. I do wish the 360 adhered to DLNA standards and Divx specs. But the 360 user interface for media is still basic and limited compared to XBMC.

I would be up for beta testing the new plugin if I haven't committed to the 4300 yet. It should be a while before I decide which drives to keep there permanently and I really want to see if the new plugin functions well enough. I test with a variety of video formats (mpeg 1,mpeg 2, divx, xvid, asf, mkv, ogg, rm, iso) using the 360 and an original Xbox running XBMC.

As I spend more time on it, I'll eventually come up with a list of things I wish it did. But I'll wait for the new DLNA plugin before I finalize my list.
Thanks for the updates, PromiseNASDude.
 
Bookmage said:
I also did the same thing. I tested it with a variety of video files and installed it by all the methods I could think of. Essentially the 360 could see the Nas and the folders, but no files. The other bug was I had to manually enable it every 10 minutes or so. I wish there was an output log feature so I could see exactly wuts breaking it.

I picked this up on sale from Fry's after months of debating mainly cuz it was cheap and simple to setup. If it can stream videos to my 360, then I can use it as a media server. If not, then I plan on using it as a backup file server. I do have an Infrant ReadyNAS streaming videos that has a ton of features. However, the price has increased since Netgear took over and I have to reconsider what uses I want for my servers. I do have several linux file servers that were cheaper to build, but involved more setup time. I do wish the 360 adhered to DLNA standards and Divx specs. But the 360 user interface for media is still basic and limited compared to XBMC.

I would be up for beta testing the new plugin if I haven't committed to the 4300 yet. It should be a while before I decide which drives to keep there permanently and I really want to see if the new plugin functions well enough. I test with a variety of video formats (mpeg 1,mpeg 2, divx, xvid, asf, mkv, ogg, rm, iso) using the 360 and an original Xbox running XBMC.

As I spend more time on it, I'll eventually come up with a list of things I wish it did. But I'll wait for the new DLNA plugin before I finalize my list.
Thanks for the updates, PromiseNASDude.
Click to expand...

My Xbox running XBMC has been out of commission for a while now. What I liked about that setup is it did not require DLNA, Media Center Sharing, etc, it just worked right off of Samba/Windows shares, and worked right the first time, didn't need anything on the other end creating a database, it just worked! But I like having a true wireless remote for the 360 for media player functionality, but I miss XBMC for the ability to play anything thrown at it!
 
Sorry that I am not as up to speed with the main group here but wanted to add the following relative to the PROMISE NS4300N. Just purchased at Fry's on sale for $299.99 and set up a 2T mirrored array with no problem (New WD Green 1TB drives). No problems at this point other than the noted fan noise. It is loud but I do have faith in Promise s have used them for years on controllers in my home built stuff.

Started a 115.24 GB transfer and will let you know the approximte time to upload to the array.

Thanks to all of you as you increase our collective knowledge and that is not easy in my case,

Chuckq92

Really appreciate the PromiseNasDude as he was very helpful with some questions on this and updates on timing of the new, revised, refreshed, advanced, but most importantly quieter unit.
 
PromiseNasDude said:
Glad to hear you are thinking to purchase another. :) There will be no need to reformat or recreate any array. We have an option under RAID Management called "Recover". We store the array configuration and system information in two places: Flash on the NAS and Reserve Sectors on all Hard Drives in the array. This is done because if you need to replace your unit, you would lose the configuration info, therefore we also store the info on the drives and then the users can use the "Recover" feature to Recover the array and or volume. This will restore the array, user-name/password and other config/network settings. :D

As for shipping, I am still working on this detail (work in progress). ;)

Need anything else, let me know.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

@ PromiseNasDude

Any word on return shipping for noisy units? I'm thinking of grabbing one @ Fry's but don't want to get stuck with a noisy one. Thanks!
 
To quote PromiseNasDude from 07-29-08

"- New Hardware with Fan Control to eliminate noise factor - - We are aware of this issue, we APOLOGIZE and we are working to release a new model of the NS4300N with "Fan Control" in the next few months (yes "Fan Control). The refresh NS4300N fan idles at roughly 1200 RPM instead of the current (and locked) 2800+ RPM. The difference noise is "Night and Day". In fact, I have one of the new units on my desk in the office and I easily forgot the unit is there (beyond the fact I am running Digital Media testing 24/7). Those of you who are bothered by the noise can call support, ask for me (Billy) and I will place you on a list for exchange once the new units are available. Naturally you MUST return the old unit (turn around will be very fast, I Promise - No pun intended). Again, we apologize for the inconvenience and annoyance the noise issue has caused."

I too am counting on this as a solution. If it is not do NOT buy as it makes more noise that both my PCs put together without even considering the Mac.

Great unit so far just a noise issue that is well documented as a design defect which they, Promise, is aware of and planning to make right.

BTW the online documentation, I always use the latest online not shipped with, notes that there is a control that can be set to turn off the fan when not needed which does not show on the latest version of PSAM.

ChuckQ92
 
chuckq92 said:
To quote PromiseNasDude from 07-29-08

"- New Hardware with Fan Control to eliminate noise factor - - We are aware of this issue, we APOLOGIZE and we are working to release a new model of the NS4300N with "Fan Control" in the next few months (yes "Fan Control). The refresh NS4300N fan idles at roughly 1200 RPM instead of the current (and locked) 2800+ RPM. The difference noise is "Night and Day". In fact, I have one of the new units on my desk in the office and I easily forgot the unit is there (beyond the fact I am running Digital Media testing 24/7). Those of you who are bothered by the noise can call support, ask for me (Billy) and I will place you on a list for exchange once the new units are available. Naturally you MUST return the old unit (turn around will be very fast, I Promise - No pun intended). Again, we apologize for the inconvenience and annoyance the noise issue has caused."

I too am counting on this as a solution. If it is not do NOT buy as it makes more noise that both my PCs put together without even considering the Mac.

Great unit so far just a noise issue that is well documented as a design defect which they, Promise, is aware of and planning to make right.

BTW the online documentation, I always use the latest online not shipped with, notes that there is a control that can be set to turn off the fan when not needed which does not show on the latest version of PSAM.

ChuckQ92
Click to expand...

Hey Chuck, forgot to respond to this even though I responded to all of your PMs. :)

The Fan Control in manual is for new unit and was not suppose to hit manual yet. :( We will be making a change to unit that the toggle applies to Rev B model only. :)

Talk to you soon.

Thanks.
 
Thought that might be the case and it is just further evidence that the rev is close.

I have been very pleased with the whole experience (except the noise) from start to now. The manual and the website gave me the best understanding of what RAID was all about and were, along with your posts, instrumental in my decision to purchase and install.

I started with a RAID 1 WD 2TB drives and copies over 100 gigabytes from on of my systems. Not too bad for time since this would normally be a one time event.

Then I added 2 additional WD 2TB drives, and while due to not RTFM, spent some wasted time, my fault, before getting it back up as a RAID 10. I choose not to "MIgrate" as I am do not like waiting and "Migration" is a slow process.

The fast way, since I had copied not moved my data, was to start over and creat the RAID 10. No problems at all and relatively quick considering that it had 4TB of formatting to do. The copying of data is much faster, as would be expected, under the RAID 10.

I had copied my 50,000 plus iPhoto library to the NAS under the first test and made it the iPhoto library to check out the speed relative to active use. It was as fast as my system (iMac 2.33 intel) so no detrimental impacts. Loaded full library at about the same speed and when editiing in Photoshop no issues either.

Thanks you for your posts and let the manual and webpage team know they did a good job for me.

ChuckQ92
 
Just to help others who may question, lots of concerns in all credibility on line, PromiseDude is for real. I contacted Promise product support directly from their site and got the same "Billy" e-mail address that PromiseDude has shared in the past.

Guess I "had to know" as well.

Thank you PromiseDude for your participation from all those that do not post and use the sites for research.

Chuck
 
chuckq92 said:
Just to help others who may question, lots of concerns in all credibility on line, PromiseDude is for real. I contacted Promise product support directly from their site and got the same "Billy" e-mail address that PromiseDude has shared in the past.

Guess I "had to know" as well.

Thank you PromiseDude for your participation from all those that do not post and use the sites for research.

Chuck
Click to expand...

No problem... I believe closer ties with the community and even though many others companies in the industry do not share this approach.. :)
 
I tried the 4300N a while back and returned it due to noise issues. Couple of questions:

1. When are the rev B models hitting retail? How can we identify them?
2. Are there plans to support remote TimeMachine backups?
3. How about support for a multi-OS 2-way sync solution like Unison?

Thank you for this open channel between Promise and the user community.

Edit: Fixed Name
 
I hope that PromiseNasDude has been on vacation or is awaiting some firm information to respond to your good questions.

He has been a welcome breath of fresh air in support and communication with Promise.

I too am anxious to hear when and how we will know the revised, quieter, models will be available.

I have a loud one and love the performance and feature set, just not the noise.

Chuck
 
Hi Everyone, here is the SR5 Firmware Release Notes for the NS4300N. SR5 will be posted tomorrow evening. :)

Firmware Feature Enhancements

1. Support Bonjour on system service (Such as AFP / iTunes /Printer Service / SMB / FTP)
2. Improve AFP performance.
3. Add file system check function.
4. Add AFP folder permission setting in WebPASM.
5. Change default user permission of share folder to Read/Write.
6. Add AFP protocol particular setting page in WebPASM.
7. Add a test button for email notification in WebPASM.
8. Turn off the HDD led when HDD is spin down.
9. Add 1.5TB HDD support.
10. Remove RAID5 migrate to RAID0 and RAID1 migrate to RAID0 feature.
11. Add recycle bin feature.
12. Add DDNS feature
13. Ability to disable Guest Access on the Public Directory
14. Turn on the system led to red color when using locate feature with NAS
15. Support port settings for SMTP
16. Supports read and write an USB drive with NTFS format.
17. Fix Special Characters with AD Domain

Firmware Fixes

1. Fix Bug, User can not mount AFP share folder at Mac after AC power has been interrupted.
 
chuckq92 said:
I hope that PromiseNasDude has been on vacation or is awaiting some firm information to respond to your good questions.

He has been a welcome breath of fresh air in support and communication with Promise.

I too am anxious to hear when and how we will know the revised, quieter, models will be available.

I have a loud one and love the performance and feature set, just not the noise.

Chuck
Click to expand...

Sorry, I have been out sick and recovering..

NS4300N Rev B for those on the exchange list is coming in early December. :)

Talk to you soon.

Thanks.
 
Sorry to hear that. Please stay off till you are better.

Remember that the long term in the road to watch.

Chuck
 
thanks for the updates. any word on xbox 360 video streaming compatability?
i wanna test it and see how well it streams videos...
 
chuckq92 said:
Sorry to hear that. Please stay off till you are better.

Remember that the long term in the road to watch.

Chuck
Click to expand...


Thanks.. I am ok.. I have the sinus infections often.. Comes from my allergies.. :( Generally I am not sick for a long period of time but every once in a while it is bad. :eek:

Talk to you soon.

Thanks.
 
PurduEE said:
Am I missing it on the Promise site? If not, has "tomorrow" been rescheduled?
Click to expand...

Sorry, issues with our system has prevented posting.. Send me a PM with your email address and I will send you access details. :)

Same goes for anyone needing access at the moment...

L8
 
Last activity was on 11/05/08 from PromisNasDude. I've sent PM with no reply. Anyone else have luck getting the new NS4300N swapped out?
 
No luck yet...

Last PM i received from him was at 11-02-08 08:09 PM..

Sorry for delay.. I have been out sick and recovering..

The exchange program will begin in December. I have you down for 2 units already.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
 
I apologize for the delay in providing updates on the Exchange Program, Rev B shipping status, next Service Release, etc. The start to year was very hectic with Macworld, CES, changes in the economy and other unexpected events. In addition I have been battling a rash of sinus infections which are a result of my allergies. It has not kept me from the office but has affected my energy level and time spent on other activities. With me finally getting over the last infection, I am nearly 100 percent again and will be back on the boards permanently. As usual, email is the best way to reached me ([email protected]) if I am absent. :D


Exchange Program

Emails will go out next Monday the 16th of March. The emails will be sent out over a period of several days so the Tech Support RMA persons are not swapped with handling the exchanges. RMA will be handled between the US and European Locations. Instructions will be included in Email.


Preparation

1. Backup all critical data. The recovery function is designed to recover array information from the drives in the event the array is placed into a new enclosure. This process works well but nothing is 100 percent and drives with poor integrity can complicate the process. Frankly, you should always have a backup of all data and never a single copy or central storage. In future firmware release we will provide function to backup to USB attached drives. The upcoming NS4600 will allow backup to USB and eSATA attached drives.

2. Make sure your “Rev A” model is on SR5 Firmware 1.5.3 or 1.5.7. No exceptions as we do not have time to support “array roam” with older versions on the new hardware.

3. Those using Seagate Desktop Class (Barracuda AS 7200.11 and 7200.12) and Barracuda ES.2 Drives, not sure if you are aware of the current issue with the drives becoming inaccessible on power cycle, but I advise NOT to “power cycle” the NAS until you have a good backup of your data. If more than one drive becomes inaccessible on reboot (power cycle) you will have an offline array resulting in data loss. Once you have backup of your data, I advise “updating the drives” to the Firmware Level Seagate has posted on their Website.

ES.2 Firmware is here (please read very carefully and pay attention to part numbers): http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/selfservice/search.jsp?DocId=207963&NewLang=en&Hilite=firmware

Barracuda 7200.11 is here (please read very carefully and pay attention to part numbers): http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/selfservice/search.jsp?DocId=207957&NewLang=en&Hilite=firmware

http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/c...51&NewLang=en&Hilite=firmware+Firmware-Update

If you are using Seagate Hard Drives branded as Maxtor or Quantum Hard Drives, please check the Seagate Support site for firmware update.


Removal of Seagate and Samsung Desktop Drives from the AVL (All NAS Products)

As of a few weeks ago I removed the Seagate and Samsung Desktop Drives from the NAS AVL. Desktop Drives are not designed to be used in RAID Arrays. Desktop Class SATA Drives lack several key characteristics that are present in Enterprise SATA Drives. These drives do not support TLER (Time Limited Error Recovery), have lower MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure), have lower Duty Cycles and typically lack RV Sensor (Rotational Vibration). They are not ideal for running in RAID solutions and excessive bad sectors on multiple disks (especially without TLER) can result in severe errors to the filesystem including data loss as RAID 5 can only handle errors on a single disk at a time. I discussed the decision with both Seagate and Samsung; both agreed that removing is in the best interest of the customer (you). WD and Hitachi Desktop Drives will remain on the list. If you are using any of the removed hard drives we will still support you but moving forward all new or existing customers replacing drives should use Seagate and Samsung Enterprise Class Drives only.


NS4300N Rev B Availability in the Channel and Retail

NS4300N Rev B is now available in the channel and retail. The following Retailers below have the units in stock. Rev B has new blue retail packaging (see attached image).

Buy.com
Fry’s
Micro Center
PC Mall
New Egg

In addition to resolving the Fan Control issue, we also changed the power supply fan. Rev B also features improved LED.

For those of you in Europe, APAC and the Lands Down Under, I will have news on retailers for you in a few days.

DLNA/UPNP Plug-in Scan issues

Two issues exist in the current build 01.01.0000.05 of the DLNA Plug-in:

1. Scan process halts when a “bad” media file is encountered. The scan engine was being way too “tight” and would abort on bad media. For reference, about 75% of all media has metadata errors and or encoding errors that should prevent the file from playback on any media player (software or hardware). Just about every MP will ignore most errors and playback the file. I have been able to reproduce this will several pieces of media from customers and others I know. Myself, I have never had this problem as I encode all of my own Divx and MKV/H.264 Content and all of my music comes from my own CD’s or is purchased from Amazon MP3 store or Rhapsody MP3 Store. The majority of the bad content comes from the internet or friends (unknown source – therefore integrity of files is questionable). The scan engine has been updated to ignore this condition. A beta version (v01.01.0000.06) will be posted later this week. If you want the version sooner, please email me at [email protected].

If you continue to experience problems with the scan engine stopping (so far our testing has been good), please contact me so we can work on the issue together.

2. Scan Engine was not optimized for very large libraries. Response times became an issue with the limited power of the SoC used in the NAS and cause the engine to stop. This has pretty much been resolved in v01.01.0000.06. Again, will be posted later this week and I can be contact to receive earlier.

NOTE: Remove OLD VERSION FIRST, then install new version.

I will post more shortly on the next Service Release and details on the NS4600(performance is damn good) and our first DAS, the DS4300efu (quad interface – USB 2.0, eSATA and Firewire 400/800).
 
Great to see you back PromiseNasDude,

Glad you are getting back to 100%. Just a question relative to the application of the Firmware upgrades that are required.

1. Upgrade prior to sending unit in? Will I be without the NAS for a period of time and if so how long?
2. All Firmware updates say windows but when I look at the instructions to do the upgrade it seems that it happens from the NAS itself. Can I copy the files downloaded to my MAC to the NAS and then upgrade the firmware? or do I have to hook up an old PC to do the trick?

Thanks and I will be looking for the e-mail.

Chuck
 
chuckq92 said:
Great to see you back PromiseNasDude,

Glad you are getting back to 100%. Just a question relative to the application of the Firmware upgrades that are required.

1. Upgrade prior to sending unit in? Will I be without the NAS for a period of time and if so how long?
2. All Firmware updates say windows but when I look at the instructions to do the upgrade it seems that it happens from the NAS itself. Can I copy the files downloaded to my MAC to the NAS and then upgrade the firmware? or do I have to hook up an old PC to do the trick?

Thanks and I will be looking for the e-mail.

Chuck
Click to expand...

Hi Chuck, thanks and anwers are below.

1. Upgrading FW is mainly for the "recover" phase. Once you receive the new NS4300N, you will need to recover the array using the Recover Tab under RAID Management. The Recover Tab is always "unavailable (greyed out) until the array is inserted into a "new or different" NS4300N. In this case the Recover feature will recover/import all volume, config settings and file permissions from the drives. Once the recovery is complete and unit reboots, all old settings will be applied, this includes your admin password.

Having the latest FW on the NAS will ensure no complications with this process as older FW has not been tested for this exchange.

2. Since the NAS is agnostic when it comes to OS from an interface prospective, it does not matter if you copy the FW upgrade file to NAS from Windows PC, Linux PC or MAC OS.

Anything else, let me know.

Thanks.
 
Thanks for the response. The only other question was is related to how much time should I count on being without the NAS?

If a short time, one or two days, I have one solution for the data, If the time is longer then I will have a different solution for the data during the outage.

Welcome back again,

Chuck
 
FYI...

I received my email for Rev B Exchange Program on the 17th..

The subject of the email is "NS4300N Rev A to Rev B Exchange Program"..

Filled out my RMA form, for 2 units, advanced exchange...

Cant wait to have a silent Living room again.. :)
 
Apparently 10 months later.... They're selling for 299 at Fry's.
 
I had issues this morning connecting to the NAS. All lights are green. I went into the GUI to reboot, and the GUI behaves like it did, but the NAS itself didn't reboot. The lights are all green. But I can't get to the GUI to attempt another reboot. Short of pulling the plug, is anyone aware of how to reboot without the GUI? I'm very concerned about the stability of the system and the data.
 
I tried that. Didn't do anything. Ended up having to pull the plug. Now I can get to the admin screen and the lights are all green, but I've got these errors in the log:

Feb 3 17:48:30 WARNING BSL update on disk 2 at LBA 05a643
Feb 3 17:48:30 WARNING Task 20 disk error on disk 2 at LBA 0x05a643 (Length 0x16) with status 51
Feb 3 17:48:15 WARNING BSL log disk 2 at LBA 0x05a642 cleared
Feb 3 17:48:15 WARNING BSL update on disk 2 at LBA 05a642
 
This thing is so jacked up. I pulled the power cable as that was the only way to get it to reboot. It boots back up, I can access the GUI. I made some changes to it (just toggled the SMB and AFP), and now I can't get to the GUI again. I opened a case with Promise support and they said the reason I can't get to the GUI is because one of my disks has bad sectors. WHAT???? You're telling me that your NAS with 4 kinds of RAID support can't keep it's management capabilities up when one disks has bad sectors? What kind of crap is that?

Obviously I would advise others to stay away at this point.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top