Friday, August 19, 2011

Where Can I Find A Good Home NAS That Fits My Budget?

By Lawrence Edwards


If you are tired of losing data when your external hard drive crashes, or merely desire to achieve access to your music, pics and video from any computer - PC or Mac - in your house over your network then a good home NAS is just what you need.

The general public now, though, do not have plenty of funds to spend on more computer equipment. So it is sensible to get a home NAS that not just trustworthy but economical too.

For most of us, that suggests finding a 2 drive NAS, which usually finishes up being a 2 drive bay network attached storage server. I make this distinction because it's possible to buy a 4 or more drive bay NAS device that only has 2 of the drive bays populated with hard drives.

Buying a home network storage solution with more bays gives you more growth capability down the road, and we're all for that. But since those cost more our conversation here will focus on trusty and affordable 2 hard drive systems that only have 2 drive bays.

There are myriad websites and magazines covering external storage that may be accessible over your network. The key, though, is that you buy an actual network attached storage device and not simply an external disc drive with network capability.

The difference is in protecting your information with RAID technology.

RAID1, sometimes called mirroring, protects your information if a hard drive fails. In case of drive failure, you receive a message the drive has failed and you get it replaced before the other drive fails. Since both of the 2 hard drives "mirror" one another, the unit keeps operating regardless of whether one drive fails.

Do not be confused and think RAID0, which many products offer, protects your data in any way. It does not.

Select from a variety of quality home NAS vendors, picking a NAS device that is highly rated by those purchasers who have purchased one. We have a list at our website along with other helpful reviews.




About the Author:



No comments: