
NAS Buying 101: What Can You Do With a NAS Device?

Read on for a breakdown of the top NAS devices we've tested, followed by a detailed buying guide that will walk you through how to find the best one for your needs. As its name implies, a NAS is high-capacity storage that connects to your home or office network so that you and other users you designate can access your files from mobile devices and PCs without plugging in to the drive. Instead, consider a good network-attached storage (NAS) device. There are ways to allow other users to share and access the files on your hard drive, but they can be challenging to set up and carry security risks. While you can certainly use an external hard drive for offloading and backing up files from your PC (and by extension, from your phone), if you disconnect the hard drive and leave it in your office, you won't be able to get to those files from another location, and neither will anyone else. In this age of high-resolution photos and near-constant video capture, the storage space in your PCs and mobile devices fills up faster than ever. Best Hosted Endpoint Protection and Security Software.Western Digital ShareSpace manages to include great features like backup and simple navigation and, of course, plenty of storage at a decent price. Seagate's BlackArmor NAS 220 is small but brings a perfect blend of enterprises features to small offices that need network storage. Seagate BlackArmor NAS 220 $449.99 (list) Great looks and backup methods galore make up for some lackluster speed on LG's N4B1, the company's foray into network storage for home or office.

The Acer Aspire easyStore H340 looks okay and performs well, but uses an unforgiving operating system that might make it hard to use without networking expertise. If you've got IT in your genes, however, many of these offer features you'll love that are more typical of enterprise-class storage servers.

Most important, these are simple to setup and use to a varying degree, so there's no networking experience required.
