What's a NAS (network attached storage) device

ejmna1

Hi can anyone tell me what one of these is does it just plug into a router and can you recommend a good one
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T4i

Most have USB and RJ45 (ethernet) ports. So you can either run it via the router or simply plug it into a p.c on the network and make the disk a network storage device.

All it needs is a IP and it will apear on your home network. Seem pretty expensive so would go for anything within your budget.

http://www.multitask-computing.co.uk/catalog/default.php?cPath=38_31&osCsid=2dbf4bbf0ba785bc744d9fd71170fa29

Altarf

Staples were doing the Buffalo Linkstation 250mb for £99 a couple of weeks ago.

It seems to work well, not as fast as a USB 2.0 device, but being a NAS it is accessible across my network and as a bonus also acts as a print server.

doubledark

Here is a recent group test of NAS devices from PC Pro magazine:

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/labs/136/nas-appliances/products.html

Hope that helps you choose....

ejmna1

thankyou all so far

amcluesent

A NAS seems to be a 'all your eggs in one basket' proposition. I wouldn't feel happy unless the NAS used multiple disks to prevent loss of data. RAID setups are expensive, but then so is losing your photo/mp3/whatever libraries!

Altarf

amcluesent wrote:

A NAS seems to be a 'all your eggs in one basket' proposition. I wouldn't feel happy unless the NAS used multiple disks to prevent loss of data. RAID setups are expensive, but then so is losing your photo/mp3/whatever libraries!

I agree about data being valuable. With the NAS devices it depends how you use them. I use mine as a backup device for the multiple PCs round the house. So there are at least two copies, one on the original PC and one on the NAS.