Network Attached Storage Boxes

This article contains an introduction to Network Attached Storage units, or NAS boxes. I am going to go over what a NAS box is, and what it is used for.

Shaun K. Mitchell

This topic is going to be about NAS Boxes (Network Attached Storage) boxes. NAS boxes external storage configuration solutions that plug into your home or office router and store data on a network. They are used to store data from single computer settings with little data to multiple computer settings with large amounts of information.

A NAS Box serves four functions: it can serve as a wireless access point, and it can serve as a central station for backing up files. In addition, a NAS box can link mobile devices and it can even support video surveillance data.

NAS Boxes generally don’t need drivers to operate and can operate on a windows network, Mac network, Linux network, or combination of the latter. They are pretty driver-agnostic meaning that they don’t require a lot of driver installs.

A NAS Box typically has a USB 3.0 port on the front, and depending on the model, can include different types of ports such as eSATA, or Ethernet depending on what a NAS box can be used for.

You know the old saying “you get what you pay for” and that applies here. The faster NAS boxes generally have more processing power, and have improved performance characteristics. The higher end models can typically read data at rates at about 110MBps and write at about the same wavelength.

The internal drives themselves generally run on a SATA configuration and support RAIDS. That is standard on most NAS boxes. If you need to back up lots and lots of data on one PC, generally the lower end models will do the trick for you. However on the other end of the scale if you have three or four computers in your office and need to back them all up in a timely manner, then the latter may be a better choice.

Most of the standard NAS box technology supports new stuff like DLNA-certified media serving, iTunes serving, website and go all the way to remote access as well. Newer features of NAS boxes involve backup to online storage, and access to files from mobile phones.

NAS boxes have neat software interfaces too. The newer interfaces are much more organized than the older interfaces.

In summary, NAS boxes are SATA raid capable hard drives capable of low to medium grade network and cell phone data storage. They are capable of hosting webservers and streaming iTunes music. NAS boxes are recommended for and can be used by the person with the single computer network to the person who runs a multiple computer network. There are currently two types of NAS boxes; those with two bays (cheaper) and those with three bays (more expensive). NAS boxes are new ways to store data.   

Currently you can only buy hard drives that can hold up to 2TB of storage. That was until Mid-June when Seagate introduced Drives fit for network installations. Called the NAS hard drives, they can hold up to a whopping 4TB of storage and are designed for networks that need to store a large “volume” of data. The NAS HDD from Seagate can offer data sizes up to and including four TB. Currently such a product was unavailable in the market.