If you are looking for some extra storage place on your home network, or you want to centrally locate all your documents in one place, where you or other people using the network can conveniently access, a NAS (Network Attached Storage) might be something for you.
What is a NAS Device
A NAS is a type of very small computer with an operating system, ethernet connection and hard drives (for storage) dumbed down for you to store files with over your network.
Although you can setup your NAS to be accessed over the internet, effectively making in a cloud based service, for all intensive purposes and for the purpose of this article we are going to assume this is for home/work based networks for local storage.
Things to consider when building/buying your NAS
The file system your NAS uses
You can save yourself a bit of time when getting your NAS if you know what type of file system you already have and would like to attach to your network.
Depending on what you already have on your network, such as NTFS, Fat, FAT32, ext2 or 3 will make all the difference in whether you need to reformat your new NAS hard drive and resubmit all your data storage.
Size of hard drives
There is no point buying a NAS device if it doesn’t have enough storage space to hold all the files you require.
Before buying a NAS device you should take stock of your existing network, how much data you already have, take into account what you think you will need, and with Hard Drives being as cheap as they are buy a NAS twice the size of what you think you need.
Does it have the performance requirements you need
This is the most important aspect of NAS storage. Buying a good NAS will make all the difference in how well the NAS performs over the network.
There is no point having a a NAS with lots of storage if it can not handle the traffic and when you are buying a NAS the difference in the price between a cheap one and another more expensive will usually reflect on how it performs over the network.
Townsville computer repairs Nerds can help you with all your NAS and storage requirements for your home or business. Please call Ross on 0402 807 890 for a free quote.
