NAS storage systems

Buying a storage system can be difficult and time consuming process. There are many vendors that will sell you the first system they find without little thought for your business or budget. Before making any decision about storage systems it is important to examine the system by asking the following questions.

1. Scalability: Is the system easy to make bigger in the event that the company expands in size or extra storage space is needed?
2. Availability: Will the data always be available to me when I need it? How important is it that I can access it straight away?
3. Classification of data: In what format will the data be stored and is the system suited to the type of the data I need to store.
4. Security: Will my system be secure or secure enough for the data I want to hold?If you’re a bank it is a big deal if your data gets stolen. If you are storing movies or music its not such a big deal.
5. Cost: Is the system within my budget?

NAS (Network attached storage) systems are ideal for small to medium sized businesses or for homes. It has a number of advantages over the old fashioned DAS system and is also cheaper and can be bought online.

1.  It easy to install, deploy and manage and doesn’t need qualified IT staff at hand to help in the day to day running of the system.
2. Storage is shared across multiple servers as opposed to one single server on the DAS system. This means if there are any problems with one of the servers that the information remains accessible.
3.  NAS is easy to scale if needs but this is only up to a certain limit. Extra disks can be bought and added to the system but as more and more disks are bought the speed of retrieval of information decreases.
4.  It works very well with files and specifically for sharing files within an office. If you want to buy a system that stores files such as movies and music easily the NAS system is for you.

1. It isn’t as compatible as the DAS system with databases. If you are looking for a system to build a database on NAS may not be the right answer for you.
2. The distance between the servers and the disk drives is limited. This means that in the event of a fire or flooding that all data could be lost. Unless of course there are regular backups been taken.
3. Although it is scalable it doesn’t have the same scalability as the SAN(Storage area network) system. Disks can be added to the system but they affect the speed of retrieval.
4. It isn’t as secure as SAN systems. SAN systems can be hacked and information stolen. If you are considering using them for very sensitive information consult your vendor before buying.

Netgear are known for providing some of the best systems on the market. These can be bought over ebay and sent to your home to be installed and ready to use within 24hours. These systems are easy to set up and allow multiple users to access the system at the same time. They are also small and compact meaning they won’t take up large amounts of space and give out large amounts of heat in your computer room. They work well with windows, Mac OS and Linux operating systems and hard disks can be installed as needs be to increase the capacity of the system.