Has anyone tried one of Galaxy's NAS w/ RAID?

[spambi]

I've been thinking about getting a Galaxy NAS enclosure (GALAXY 4500MGB Quad Bay Raid Pro) but it seems like they get bad reviews from some of the sellers' feedback.

Has anybody here ever tried one of these things? I like it because it has a built-in bit-torrent client and is a uPNP server. I'd like to be able to have it doing bit-torrent downloads 24/7 without my computer being on, and then watch movies stored on it from my PS3 or any computer in my house. Oh, yeah, and have it use RAID 5 so I can use it for backup.

Anyway, comments form anyone who's seen one of these things in action or knows a better solution for what I'm trying to do would be appreciated.

http://www.mwave.com/mwave/skusearch_v3.asp?scriteria=AA74748

 

[r_manic]

Mind linking to these "bad reviews"?

 

[wuzy]

I see no new firmwares are available for the 4500MGB. That's not a good sign for a commercialized NAS. NAS is not an appliance like TV and DVD player. It's a mini computer just like a router and those needs constant software support.
A well supported NAS like ones from Thecus gets that. A huge part of the cost goes into OS development of the device to prolong usage.

The exception is if there's a community of hackers working on custom firmware to constantly improve the device. e.g. the ol' Netgear NSLU2

 

[mreinslc]

I have. It totally sucked. I setup the RAID 5 system moved my data to it and then two days later it reset all by itself and now will not recognize that the RAID 5 even exists. Leaving all my data unreachable. Hard drives are working fine, it was just the OS of the 4500MGB that failed.

I called tech support and the guy was like "crap, your SOL. I'll take your number and have someone call you" That was over two weeks ago and they still have not returned my call. So the Galaxy Metal Gear support is really not that great either. Even after a very stern email I go on being ignored. If you plan on calling them, plan on being ignored as well.

I'd say use the the $300 boat anchor at your own risk since it can't even reliably store data longer than two days. I give it the worst score possible.

 

[zebraitis]

I know... Old thread...

I just bought one of these (Galaxy 4500 Pro) online, new, for $100.

So far, everything seems to work well, except for the transfer speed.

It seems to max out at 6.5 MB / sec, even with the gig nic.


In comparison...

On my network, server to server, C: drive to C: drive, I can move 65 MB / second.

Server to server, c: Drive to RAID 5 disks, I get 22 MB/sec


So... in comparison, Server to Galaxy NAS at 6MB/sec is just c r a w l i n g .



I plan to call Galaxy support to see what their comment will be... My guess is that it may be the limitation of the RAID software in the box.

I will update what I find so others don't have to ponder what I am pondering.

v

 

[silverhack]

I recently purchased the Galaxy 4500MGB as well. I set it up with four 2TB drives (even though the online info says it supports up to 1TB drives) and was able to setup RAID 5 with the four drives with no problems. The only thing I've run into is it seems to go into a power-saving mode and never comes out of it. I tried contacting Galaxy support and could not get through. Looks like Galaxy support is non-existent.

On the plus side - I can telnet in to the box and get root access to the Linux system. So, that does provide at least some possibility of fixing things myself. With having root access to the device, I'm surprised that there aren't more people hacking away at this little box.

Hopefully I'll have more time to work on this project.

 

[zebraitis]

I know... Old thread...

(snip)

I will update what I find so others don't have to ponder what I am pondering.

v

So, here are my results with the Galaxy 4500MGB Pro:

1) There is no such thing as support at Galaxy Metal Works. I tried several emails to several email addreses, phone calls to support and the sales groups, anything that I could do to get a response, and there was nothing. Forget it. No response, no software, no user forum... nada. So...

2) If you buy one of the Galaxy Metal Pro boxes, you need to know that you are entirely on your own.

3) The transfer (copy to) speed still seems slow.... It maxes out at 6MB/sec

4) Having said all that... it's a damn nice box!


So, no support, and I still like it??? How can that be?


Easy: If you can get one of these boxes, cheap, it does exactly what it says that it does.

I paid $100 each for three of these units (two on a makdown, one off craigslist.org). I have 4 @ Hitachi 2TB drives in each one, giving me 5.37 TB RAID 5 per box.

It has a Gig Nic, so initial set-up over browser is a breeze, using their provided software. (but gig nic does not improve data transfer. sorry.)

I'm using the units for home use, storing ISO copies of my DVD's so it can serve my XBMC's.

The drives spin up on request, the drives spin down after use to save energy, the box has been on 24x7 since late May, and they work flawlessly.

The transfer speed when serving appears to be first rate. The films are displayed without dropped packets.


TIP: WhenI first tried to use the 4500MGB Pro , there were some VERY strange issues... Data wouldn't copy if I sent more that 40GB at a time, it would reboot and loose all config...

HOWEVER all of that was resolved when I added a UPS into the mix and quieted the spikes & brownouts that seemed to be affecting the system. Since then, no problems.

Long term:

Will this keep working well? Who knows.

As a result, I am building a server with a few adjacent connected RAID towers that will be my archive back-up.

As with all things tech, never trust a single process system (even if it is Raid 5).

Bottom line:

If you can find one, buy it!