ReadyNAS OS 6 and RAIDiator devices support both AFP and SMB:
AFP – Apple File Protocol
Apple currently fully supports the use of this protocol. It gives you the ability to apply Apple protected attributes, Apple extended filenames, and other Apple proprietary functions. AFP does, however, lack in performance and compatibility with Windows machines.
SMB – Server Message Block/CIFS
This is the common internet file sharing protocol. Used by Microsoft Windows and Apple Computers to do simple file sharing on networks.
However, at this time NETGEAR does not recommend using these two file-sharing protocols at the same time. Due to the way these two protocols are executed, i.e. extended filenames, Apple protected file attributes and other permission related incompatibility issues may occur when both are used in the same environment. MAC OS X+ installations will use SMB as the default sharing protocol over AFP for the foreseeable future. There are wide-spread known issues regarding the CNID database experiencing sync issues while sharing files in a mixed environment. This can lead to AFP file sync problems, to avoid these scenarios our recommendation is as follows.
- Apple-only environment: AFP can be good to use in this scenario.
- Mixed environment: SMB would need to be used on the Mac and Windows machines for file sharing on the network.
- Windows-only environment: SMB would need to be used.
Following these recommendations will help keep your network file sharing consistent and available as you continue use your ReadyNAS.