Patriot PCNASJV35S4 Diskless System Javelin S4 4-Bay Media Server

Pros: Its an integral, hardware assisted RAID5 capable NAS that costs next to nothing.

Creating the array was flawless, formatting the 4 1.5TB drives I loaded into it was fast.

It cost me 99 bucks

Cons: *I still can't get the darn thing to attach to Windows 7.
*It says it supports DLNa, but it does not function (even after the firmware update).
*I can't get the settings to stick in the system, even after applying the changes and restarting the device.
*I would have no issue if it actually worked, and it's apparent that the issue is truly crummy firmware. Patriot put little to no support behind this product.
*One of these days, I'm sure there will be a forum of users that supports it, but I haven't found one yet...

Other Thoughts: I'm an IT guy who focused solely on Microsoft support and products. I guess if I wanted to learn Linux (and I don't), I could figure this out. If I gave it some more time, I would figure it all out, and I truly don't care enough to. I paid 99 bucks on a gamble, and it didn't pay off.

Pros: Well, it is pretty & it Keeps the hard drives very cool. Unit was flashed with new firmware and that went ok, but it did not solve the problem.

Cons: Basically the unit is almost unusable, if and when you need it. Transfer rates start at 24meg per sec.. and will fall to Kb figures.. as you watch a program. The picture becomes unwatchable.

Other Thoughts: RMA I have just realized that is my only hope. Other New egg buyer's should not try to find this unit on any other vendor.

Pros: Looks nice and sounds great in the description

Cons: As with many other reviews on this device, cannot log into the dashboard. Wheel just spins and spins. Have tried every possible solution, reset, reset again...

Other Thoughts: I may have just gotten a bad egg. But after reading through tons of reviews online in trying to get the thing working, I wish I had never bought it in the first place. So many reports of dashboard and failing issues. ugggg

Pros: Simple - when it worked

Cons: This thing almost made it a year before completely dying. All data lost in the end... For the first 10 months of it's life, I had to reboot it about every other day to keep it functioning properly. Finally, I disabled a bunch of 'features' and it was stable for almost two month before completely dying.

The online interface didn't work the majority of the time. There were many times that none of the functions would work in the advanced admin. The dashboard program is worthless and even has a memory leak to bog my PC down along with it.

Other Thoughts: I did contact Patriot Memory for a little support at the end, and I thought I'd post their reply if it might help someone else:

I'm sorry to hear about the issues you are having with your Javelin.

Do you have access to your information still in the disks?

Can you try hard resetting it? There is a reset button on the back. If you hold it for 10 seconds, it will beep twice for the soft reset. When you hold it for 20 seconds, it will make 1 long beep. That means you hard resetted your system.

After all that, select "Smart Navi".

*Select setup wizard
*Advanced
*Raid
*One click setup

Let me know if that solves your issue.

Thank you for choosing Patriot Memory!
-Pt2

Pros: The ONLY positive that I can point to is that the box NewEgg used to ship this JUNK to me in, was able to be reused to RMA the PATRIOT JAVELIN S4 and SHIP IT BACK TO THEM!! It is JUNK!

Cons: Oh boy, where to begin? Let me refer you to my initial post just about a week ago where I was only able to SQUEEZE a maximum of 4.09 mb/sec, YES you read it correctly, on my GB network! My aged D-Link DNS 323 transferred data faster that! So, Lack of Acceptable Data Transfer Speed is TOPS on my list.

Next would be the flimsy little .30 in. thick "HDD Trays" that were very fragile and had to be attached to the outside of the HDD's before being inserted into the device.

VERY POOR 'in-box' documentation and the fact that the REAL User Guide was not provided in the box in paper or CD format; it was only available online and it is much more clear than the junk in the box.

I don't want to go on, just know, you should not buy this junk.

Other Thoughts: I contacted PATRIOT Memory Customer NO SERVICE Department more than 4 times in the past week BEGGING for support. Their 'Policy' is to contact you within 48 hours to assist.

On Friday afternoon, Eastern Time Zone, 14Dec12, I placed a Support Request via the PATRIOT MEMORY NO SUPPORT web page on their website Support. NO RESPONSE.

Monday, 17Dec12, I posted another STATUS REQUEST. NO RESPONSE.

Wednesday afternoon, Eastern Time Zone, 19Dec12, I posted another STATUS REQUEST and provided 2100 hours (9 pm) as a DEADLINE for someone to respond and attempt to support this issue. NO RESPONSE

Wednesday, EVENING, 17Dec12, I again requested a STATUS UPDATE and 2100 hour DEADLINE REMINDER to the 'Ghost' in the PATRIOT NO CUSTOMER SUPPORT Machine. NO RESPONSE.

Wednesday NIGHT, After 2100 hours, I entered my FINAL statement to the SORRY PATRIOT CUSTOMER NO SUPPORT portal and let them know what they had effectively lost.

I contacted NewEgg Customer Support, quite a different outcome indeed! I was able to contact them via Voice or Chat, I chose Chat and was provided with outstanding, did i say <<<<OUTSTANDING>>>> Customer SUPPORT (Listen Close PATRIOT CUSTOMER NO SUPPORT and you will learn something). I was treated with respect and dignity. I was listened to and was able to describe my situation, with someone who cared about my future business with their organization.

I was able to receive an RMA for DEFECTIVE PATRIOT Garbage when even PATRIOT refused to respond. All of this took about 15-30 minutes, I didnt count the time honestly, but it was a pleasant experience so it may have been longer.

I ordered the Synology DS412+ via NewEgg Business as it was $673.99 on sale this week the additional 3-year (Great coverage) Warranty included (10% off if you use the SYNOLOGYTEN code at checkout there). It is $678.99 with the current price and secret code BTW...

I spent the time futzing with the PATRIOT JAVEROCK S4 and researching a much better device. Although the price points are much different, $169.99 for the PATRIOT JAVEROCK vs. $673.99 for the Synology DS412+, one has to consider the differences as well.

Synology has a Top-Notch reputation in the field whereas PATRIOT is a MEMORY company firstly. Reviews for Synology HW are around every corner, whereas PATRIOT reviews are written under railway overpasses and back alleys, where they are neither read or are worthless; similar to their Customer NO SUPPORT.

Some will be critical of this review, but I really don't care, as this is my experience and I really don't want YOU in the same boat.

In the long run,
INVEST the extra money,
BUY a QUALITY product,
FROM a QUALITY Company (be it SYNOLOGY or other HEAVILY RESEARCHED company), and
YOU WON'T BE DISAPPOINTED!

Learn from this folks, don't accept substandard Service from anyone!

Cheers! Be sure to look for my review of the SYNOLOGY DS412+ in another week or two. I will be as candid there, as I am here. Nothing hidden!

Pros: Nice looking device, pretty blue lights

Cons: Not 'Tool-less' for HDD installation, provided manuals/guides are worthless (download the user guide from mfg. web site it is what should have been shipped with the product), disappears often from network and mapped drives disappear as well. Data transfer speed is HORRIBLE, my DNS-323's were tons faster at 100mb!

Other Thoughts: I have used a D-Link DNS-323 since 2008 (over 4 years) with 1 TB HDD's in RAID1 configuration. Due to the amount of data I have, I upgraded to the Patriot Javelin that could handle my newly purchased WD RED 3TB HDD's.
Unpacking the NAS, er, MEDIA SERVER, and installing the WD Red's went easy enough. Only the knowledge of setting up groups and users from my past, enabled me to complete the task to setup Read/Write access for my family members; the included manual was useless for anything more than warning about needless issues.
I have about 1TB of old data that I am trying to move from my DNS-323 1TB RAID1 configuration to the new Patriot so I can put them up on WEE-Bay to supplement the NAS upgrade I have just made.
I have had to restart the process 2 times as indicators are received that say, 'File XYZ cannot be copied due to an error. Do you want to skip, retry or abort?"
I hit retry and it appears to continue, but why should i be forced to sit and RETRY or have to extend my copy process even longer than the 5 days indicated on the always incorrect MicroCrap time estimator?!
The top speed i have been able to attain on my GB network has been a paltry 4.09 mb/sec! I can recreate the files faster than it is copying. PITIFUL!
I know some will say that it is the network, the DNS-323, the WD Red's, or some other item in-between. I have to say I am open to suggestions, but would rather have them in an educated manner if possible :)
I have not been able to test the device beyond this stage yet and hope to do so soon.
I was happy with the price and perceived value of this unit vs. higher priced devices that received much worse reviews and hope that I can get the speed issue resolved.
The Apple promoter who suggested OWC as a resource should be educated to the point that not every one can afford to pay close to $1000 for a 4-bay NAS, even though I agree Apple products have a higher Quality point, the Cost point out weighs any insanity spent pulling out my wallet for one.
I found the HDD compatibility list for the device on the Patriot Memory website, but it was last updated Jun2011, not much good to tell if my WD Red's are an issue with it.
I looked to update the Firmware from 02.01.4000.20 but Patriot appears to only have FW version S4_020122_rc7_4000 (file name on their site, no idea what version it is, perhaps the same one?) without a description. (Not Consumer Friendly!)
So as i sit here watching my data speed sit at 3.24 MB/sec, i think I will take a 12 hour nap cause it looks like it will be long enough for me to paint the house before this 1 TB of data finishes the copy process.
At this point, I would NOT advise any I know to buy this product, it has not impressed me in a positive manner.
I hope this helps someone....

Pros: The box, sending it back!!!
Made me find a better company to do business with [owc]

Cons: Too many to list, plastic & poor air circulation with an underpowered fan.

Other Thoughts: Go with OWC, OWC is made in the Illinois,USA & have great customer service & their boxes are made out of brushed aluminum. Easy setup & great airflow. My harddrives (4) stay at a constant 100 degrees with no additional fans & in a media cabinet with some holes drilled in the back for ventilation.

Pros: Easy browser interface

Real-time monitoring including: Capacities, CPU/Mem usage, network in/out flow, temperature, and fan speed
Runs: DLNA, MySQL, BitTorrent, Firefly Media
Protocols for: Windows, Mac, FTP Sharing, UNIX/Linux
Auditory buzzer notification on/off control
LED on/off/timed control
Network specification options include IP, MTU, and DDNS
Easy system upgrade
Event logging/mail allert/power options
Many sharing options including users/groups/quotas
Community app plug-ins
Fan control

Cons: Bundled dashboard software is less than to be desired, more than made up for with the browser interface.

Other Thoughts: This is my 2nd update.
Patriotmemory did release a new firmware that fixed the CPU/Mem leakage while running DLNA.
It now runs 24/7 without fail.

Pros: Easy to set up - Easy to understand administration pages. Provides more than just media services - will do MySQL, WWW and FTP to name a few.
Raid 5 Setup was easy and well tuned using consumer Seagate (not green) drives.
10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet provides awesome streaming in my home even with bluray rips.

Cons: Does not allow you to modify the 6-7 directories that the Unit sets up...ie, you cant change or delete the WWW or VIDEO directory (if you wanted it to be different) - but you can make as many directories that you want.

Other Thoughts: All my Samsung devices throughout my home quickly access the DLNA and serves the movies and music without interruption or stuttering without using the Samsung ALLSHARE application.

Pros: Love this little unit it is sleek and very well built, i currently have four 2TB WD Greens in it in a RAID 5. I have great read and write speeds and no issues.

Cons: The dashboard software that come with this is a little "clunky", if you are using this i would recommend mapping the drive and then upload or download/backup. Just has a better feel to it. But i wont remove an egg for that because i wasn't expecting top grade software to access it i was planning on mapping or using browser interface.

Other Thoughts: people talking about loud hard drives or the dlna eating up processor/ram don't listen to them. The hard drives are loud cause that's the type of drive you got (ie: i got WD green drive run quite and cool so mine make almost no noise) and my dlna has been running for 5 months with no problem i have only had to restart once and that was do to power outage so i would absolutely recommend this NAS for anyone who wants one for $200 .