The Benefits of Network Attached Storage

If you’re a small business owner who’s looking for an easy and affordable way to setup a backup solution, then what you’re looking for most likely is a network attached storage device which provides a centralised point of storage which your business can use to backup your critical files and data. Most NAS storage systems that are on the market nowadays have tons of features such as remote access capabilities and embedded backup software applications.

You’re probably familiar with the external hard drives which connect to a computer through an USB port, well, the NAS is a very similar prospect of an external storage device, but instead of connecting through a port, it uses either a wireless network connection or a wired connection to allow compatible devices within that LAN to access files and data. A network attached storage device can bring many benefits to your business, the main ones being convenience and speed, but there’s much more to it.

Besides speed and convenience, the amount of people that can access a NSA is another great benefit, unlike a USB drive which can only be attached to one device. Any computer can access the files NAS contains, which can be extremely beneficial if you have multiple computers within the building that need to store data and share it externally. For example, it can be used as a central backup location to each and every one of your computers.

Moreover, NAS devices can also be used as media center storage, all of your video and music can be stored on them and accessed through devices attached to the network like streaming boxes, tablets, TV, computers and home theater systems. And while cloud storage can do what NAS’ do, they’re extremely slow and are usually restricted to a single user or account, which becomes problematic when you have large quantities of data that you’re frequently updating and accessing. A cloud storage’s speed is limited to the speed of your broadband network (we all know how ridiculously bad it is in Australia), which is significantly slower than a LAN.

So if you’re in need of storing large amounts of data to a central external location, and you need more than 5-6 TB of data to be accessed by multiple computers, than an NAS is probably your best solution. Especially if you want all of your data to be stored in a single location without having to deal with numerous external drives. Another scenario in which an NAS is extremely beneficial is for hosting media files which can be used on devices like tablets, home theater systems or mobile systems. However, for most residential data sharing purposes, an external hard disk or an USB with large storage capacities should be sufficient.