When Infrant approached me about reviewing the ReadyNAS while I was in the process of testing the Buffalo TeraStation, I first declined their offer. After all, who would consider buying a "teraByte" NAS from a relatively unknown company? And even worse, a product that cost more than competitive product from a better-known networking product vendor with much wider retail distribution? But after the TeraStation produced somewhat disappointing performance results, I figured I'd give the newcomers a shot to see what they had.

I think you can see from this review, that what Infrant has is a lot in the ReadyNAS 600 and X6. The feature set is extensive, documentation well done and file system performance unbeaten by any other NAS product I've tested. And they're at least currently pretty good with ongoing bugfixes and product improvements, issuing at least a two or three updates during the couple of months I've had the products here for review. None have fixed the dog-slow admin interface yet, but I remain hopeful that Infrant will address this annoying flaw in an otherwise well-engineered product.

Although it has a 25 - 30% price premium over the Buffalo TeraStation, if you're considering spending slightly under a grand for a "teraByte" NAS, I'd strongly consider parting with the extra money and going with a ReadyNAS. Or better yet, buy a diskless ReadyNAS for about $600, stick in a SATA drive or two and expand as your needs and budget allow.

A lot of NASes pass through the TomsNetworking test labs, with most varying only slightly from the ho-hum norm. But the ReadyNAS has so many useful features and is just so well done, that even I have to cast off my usual jaded attitude and get excited! This is one kick-ass NAS, and deserves a close look from anyone in the market for large capacity, robust and chock-full-o'-features networked storage.