NAS NAS: which is best for home
NAS - Network Attached Storage, a mobile server for storing information. The portable device is ideal for business and home use. Indeed, in addition to reliable data storage, a NAS network drive can interact with any computer or audio-video equipment.
Using the NAS at home, the user receives portable storage for photos, video, audio content, as well as documentation. The mobile server can independently download files from the network and transfer data to any device in the house. In particular, the NAS is interesting for home theater owners who prefer to watch 4K movies and listen to music in high quality sound.
NAS NAS: Minimum Requirements
When choosing a device for home use, you will have to exclude the criterion of "price". After all, it is the performance and functionality that force the buyer to purchase a NAS.
- Interfaces For the full processing of video files in the 4K format, the network bandwidth between the storage server and the TV (media player) at least 400 Mb / s is required. Accordingly, the presence of a gigabit Ethernet port is required. The presence of a USB port is not discussed for NAS equipped with one hard drive. Let it be a USB version of 3.0 and higher. It is easy to pick up an external screw or USB flash drive to the port.
- Support for SATA III. Again, everything again rests on the speed of information transfer. The third version of CATA is a guarantee of performance when playing video in high resolution.
- Software. You can not save on the convenience of managing a network drive. Mandatory remote control via software or web-based interface. Especially if you plan to use torrent. Backup, DLNA, virtual server support - everything should be.
- Decent cooling. Let the NAS drive consume 20-40 watts per hour, but this does not mean that the equipment does not radiate heat. A metal case, a radiator, a fan are a classic set of criteria for any server.
NAS drive: manufacturer choice
In total, there are a dozen manufacturers of such equipment in the global 2 market. For home use, in terms of price-quality ratio, the 3 brand is available: WD, Synology and Qnap. Naturally, according to the minimum requirements stated above for high performance.
WD (Western Digital) is a leader in the production of computer components and network equipment. The advantage of choosing to ship NAS with pre-installed hard drives. Choosing WD products is an excellent solution in the budget segment. Lack of fault tolerance. WD screws quickly fail (2-3 of the year), plus, the NAS itself often freezes and lives its own life.
Synology is a manufacturer of business and professional networking equipment. The equipment is delivered without hard drives, and the price is too high, in comparison with analogues of other brands. But here, the buyer gets reliability, durability and unlimited functionality. The manufacturer originally released a product crammed with the latest technology in the electronics world. It remains only to buy good screws.
Qnap is a manufacturer of networking equipment for the home and business. Products are supplied without hard drives and marketed as a mobile storage for multimedia and databases. Functionality and failure tolerance are the benefits of Qnap's NAS brand. Lame only performance in working with multi-streaming information within the network.
NAS: number of slots for disks
The more, the better - and at times more expensive
One or two screws, and the run-up is colossal in price. And this applies to all manufacturers. Ideally, it is better to take a NAS to two hard drives. The reason is simple - if one drive fails, there is always the opportunity not to lose important information. The equipment monitors the condition of the screws and immediately notifies of a possible problem.
If one drive is installed, you need to look for a place where to dump data. It is not possible to simply remove the drive and connect to a PC, since the NAS uses its own file system and encryption. With two screws, the task is simplified.
NAS: performance
The more powerful the processor and the more RAM, the better. But also more expensive. The minimum requirements for showing the same 4K - This is 1 GB DDR4 RAM, and a crystal with four cores on board.
If there is not enough memory, then the NAS will freeze when multiple devices are connected at the same time. A weak processor will slow down when processing large files (over 50 gigabytes). So a bunch of "processor + memory" is selected individually for each task.
The type of encryption and the availability of network protocols is an additional functionality that is not always in demand by the user. Often, even superfluous. Here it is already up to the buyer to decide whether it is worth overpaying for the “goodies”. As experts say, “Let it be better than not.” In addition, stuffed with modern technology NAS is easier to sell second-hand, if necessary, upgrade.