In the previous article, we highlighted that using a NAS device, or Networked Attached Storage device, can be a great solution for home storage which can cover the storage needs of an entire family. In this article, we will cover NAS storage in more depth.

How a NAS works

A NAS is different from a simple external drive in two ways. First, a NAS typically has several drive bays which you can fill with disks, so it can hold more data than a single external drive. Second, a NAS is directly attached to your network, ideally using a physical network cable plugged into your home broadband router or any other networking gear you use in your house. This means that any computer in the house can see content on the NAS. Technology such as DLNA makes it easy for all sorts of devices to discover the content on your NAS.

The benefit of a NAS for home storage

A NAS server in your home has a lot of benefits, but perhaps the main benefit is simply the amount of storage you can place into one centralized device. Instead of dealing with lots of separate external drives lying around your home you can buy one reliable unit that offers masses of storage. For example, our most popular NAS box can hold up to 56TB of data. This is a very large amount of storage that can easily serve an entire family.

Flexibility is another benefit: if you keep your videos and music on a NAS device it is easily accessible by anyone in your home, no matter where in the house they are, as long as they have Wi-Fi access. It also allows you to store your NAS somewhere discrete – no need to have a large box with whirring drives next to your TV.

Using RAID

Another huge benefit that NAS servers offer is data safety. If you are willing to give up 25% of your NAS storage you can set up a RAID configuration which cleverly distributes your data over all the disks in the NAS so that even if one disk fails, you don’t lose any data. Though RAID is not a backup strategy it does protect you against the risk of disk failure. In contrast, if you drop your 3.5” external drive, you could lose all your data in one instant.

Which NAS server should you choose?

Gear-up.me offer a range of NAS boxes, all the way from the basic 2-bay device through to rack-mounted machines. Most home users won’t need a rack-mounted NAS unless you are planning on networking a very large home with extensive home automation features. Your choice will mainly be between a compact, affordable device or a larger device.

For example, the Synology DiskStation DS118 holds a single drive but has all the essential networking features making it far more flexible than a simple external drive. However, you are limited to 14TB of storage and won’t be able to use RAID features. The DiskStation DS1618+ offers 6 bays, in contrast, which offers full RAID functionality plus a total storage capacity of 84TB – or consider the bigger brother, which can store up to 168TB of data.