A NAS unit is essentially a self-contained computer connected to a network, with the sole purpose of supplying file-based data storage services to other devices on the network. Aware NAS boxes typically provide upwards of 1TB storage space and come with just 2 connectors – a power socket and a 1Gbps network socket.

The unit is not designed to carry out general-purpose computing tasks, although it may technically be possible to run other software on it. NAS units also do not have a keyboard or display, and are controlled and configured over the network.

NAS removes the responsibility of file serving from other servers on your network. Availability of data is potentially higher with NAS due to built-in RAID (if a hard disk in the NAS box fails, your data is still safe!). Performance is also higher because the file serving is done by the NAS and not done by a server responsible for also doing other processing.

Aware NAS boxes are also typically easier to upgrade to higher capacities. Upgrades can be done without moving data and may take not more than 20 minutes. Our top end models also come with built-in UPS protection which will initiate an automatic shutdown on low-power to protect from possible filesystem corruption during power failure.