Want to keep large amounts of data safe? Consider Network Attached Storage

Considering that music, videos, photos and so on are becoming digital these days, the amount of storage space needed has increased and will continue to do so.

For example, a professional photographer will just go on shooting pictures and his or her storage requirements will keep going up. Or if one has a huge collection of movies on DVDs and Blu-rays and they need to be digitised, a large amount of storage is required.

Storing digital matter on Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive and the like are options. However, there is always a data security risk and it is going to cost money when it goes beyond a certain limit on free storage. Data can also be stored on external drives but it will take up a lot of space and keeping track of what is where might be a problem. There is a simple solution – Network Attached Storage (NAS).

A NAS device will have a processor, RAM and Hard Disk Drive (HDD)/Solid State Drive (SSD) bays, USB and ethernet ports. It can be considered a tuned-down desktop computer. The number of drive bays depends on the model. In some models, the RAM can be upgraded or there might be a second slot for additional RAM.

With the NAS, several devices like a desktop, laptop, tablets and smartphone can all access the data from anywhere. Or a movie stored on the NAS can also be seen on a big television set. Secondly, all of the data is in one place. Thirdly, two drives in a NAS can be set up and the data can be mirrored. In case one drive fails, the data is safe on the other one.

The connection to various devices can be done via an ethernet cable or wirelessly by connecting a router to the NAS.

NAS-specific hard drives are also available. These are optimised for use in a NAS and the unit can be left running all the time. And since NAS devices for the home are not very powerful like desktop PCs, the power draw is also generally pretty low.

What if the user is running out of storage space? One can simply remove a drive and replace it with a higher capacity drive. Or if there is a NAS device with four drive bays and only two are being used, one just has to buy a hard drive and put it in.

A NAS does not need a full-fledged operating system like Windows. There are several operating systems that will be enough to do what the NAS is intended to do – store and access data or play music/video files.

Setting up a NAS might seem intimidating and tedious initially. Things like the level of Redundant Array of Independent/Inexpensive Disks (RAID) will have to be chosen. Different levels of RAID are meant to indicate how the drives will function. In simple terms, in RAID 0, a file is spread across drives and can be accessed faster. In RAID 1, data mirroring is possible. There are several and more complex levels of RAID too. It all depends on the user’s requirements.

It might take a bit of reading and effort initially to set things up. However, there are plenty of tutorials online that will make the set-up easier.

The prices of the NAS begin from about Rs 15,000 (without drives) and can run into lakhs depending on the specifications.

One viable option is if you have an old PC lying around unused, it can be repurposed and used as a NAS. HDDs/SSDs can be added depending on what the PC can handle. However, if one is not keen on changing parts in an old PC, a purpose-built NAS is a good solution.

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