Posts Tagged ‘Nas Devices’

What is a Network Attached Storage (NAS) Device?

March 27th, 2010



Network Attached Storage devices are also known as NAS devices and NAS drives. They are mainly used to backup your files to a central external hard drive so if you have multiple PC’s the files can still be accessed directly instead of having multiple copies of each file stored on each PC. This prevents you from getting into document synchronization hell. But NAS drives are so much more than an external hard drive; it is where you and your family can share files like pictures, music, documents etc.

The flexibility of some of these NAS devices have the ability to increase storage capacity by adding additional hard drives as well as decrease the risk of losing all your precious files if the hard drive in the NAS device fails. These are available on the market now but can come at a price though. Personally I use a single drive solution and use online backup to store my valuable pics and documents but that’s not to say the option is not there for individuals and businesses to pay a bit more to get RAID capable Network Attached Storage Devices. More and more small to medium sized businesses are buying these instead of buying expensive servers and having to configure them as file servers. Some NAS devices are capable of being print servers as well but the majority of them need to be connected directly to the printer, so please ensure you read the tech specs first before buying.

For those individuals or businesses that need a bit more from a standard NAS drive there are ones that have more features and richer functionality. Some are capable of joining AD domains, some are capable of streaming films to DNLA compliant devices, therefore capable of wirelessly streaming your films to devices like PS3 and Xbox’s.

By: Jon William Jones

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NAS Network Attached Storage – 5 Reasons NAS is Better Than Just an External Hard Drive

January 15th, 2010



When NAS Network Attached Storage devices became available many people thought they were just another type of external hard drive; far from it. Network attached storage is is a quantum leap over just an external hard drive and while they both store data someplace other than your local PC, that is about the only similarity.

Whether you are looking for data storage for home, home office, small office or even certain aspects of an enterprise, NAS devices from companies like Netgear offer varying feature sets in a wide range of prices.

First lets look, though, at the advantages of network attached storage solutions over just an external hard disk.

1) Network is more than just part of the name. While access to the data on these servers is done by way of network cable, these little linux servers can actually replace a full fledged Microsoft server and run your network.

2) Gigabit networking is faster than local USB 2.0. Depending on the model, you normally get a gigabit network port to access your data. This is faster than accessing data via a USB port, but in addition, some units like a Netgear ReadyNAS NVX have two network ports for purposes of redundancy or advanced network configurations.

3) Data reliability and redundancy. High quality NAS devices use enterprise level hard drives instead of the “what’s the cheapest we can get today” hard drive you find in most external hard drive offerings. Enterprise drives are a little faster, have longer warranties, and are less likely to fail in the first place.

More than that, RAID technology is usually offered, if not implemented, in any respectable network attached storage product. RAID allows one or perhaps two hard drives to fail without data loss. The server then sends you a message to let you know that you must replace the failed drive as soon as possible to prevent data loss.

4) Backup options are built in. An external hard drive is just a backup drive for most people, and while a NAS device can perform that purpose, an external drive can be used to backup the data on the network attached storage unit.

With Netgear ReadyNAS units, not only can you backup to an attached external hard drive, but you can backup to another ReadyNAS unit – possibly at another location – and you can use Netgears “vault” online backup server, for separate cost, but the functionality is built right into the ReadyNAS device.

5) Data can be easily shared between multiple computers, even Macs and Linux computers. Some NAS servers can have a USB printer attached and share that also. Security is built into the unit and user configurable.

By: Roger DeReu

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