When we talk about network in the context of storage and file sharing, it does not refer the social media networks that are quite popular in the modern age, such as Facebook and Twitter. Such social networks do promote sharing of files, but NAS has a different aim and mission. The main aim of NAS is to interconnect many computers together and create an infrastructure that makes communication easier between such electronic devices. With the evolving technology, networks have also evolved and become quite simple to operate. Networks can be found not only in offices, but also in homes, where the concept of home NAS is quite prominent.
What you need for home NAS?
Luckily, an IT expert does not make it on this list. You do not require the expertise of an IT expert in order to establish home NAS. This is mainly because forming a network is quite simple. There are some other essentials that you might require, which are as follows:
-
Multiple computers that will serve the purpose of the network;
-
An internet connect, which is quite important; and
-
A wireless router, which will be considered as the core of your network.
Once a network is established, it will serve two main purposes in your home or office. A network will successfully establish a connection between all the computers that are attached to the network. Once the connection is made, the network will allow other computers and electronic devices to share the internet connection that is mainly prevalent in the main central operating system. Moreover, home NAS will also promote sharing between all these computers and electronic devices.
Advantages of Using NAS
There are several reasons of adopting home NAS, including:
Infinite storage
Computers operating with NAS have access to infinite storage. While individual computers have a limited storage space, the NAS can grant such computers with additional space to store files and data on. A simple solution to this problem is attaching more NAS devices to the network storage of the central computer. Through this measure, a network hard drive can be expanded easily, and each computer will be able to enjoy additional home storage space by using the shared storage.
More protection and security
NAS is famous for tackling problems that occur in the network. One of the measures that NAS adopts is called RAID, which makes sure that the main storage of the network does not fail at any cost. Moreover, the opportunity that lies within NAS of having multiple storage devices further diversifies the risk of failure and data loss. This only adds to the security of data.
Sharing of data
NAS has proved quite important in offices and homes mainly because of its main use of sharing files among the computers connected in the network. While USBs are time consuming and restrict the movement of data by the amount of storage available, NAS does not face any such restrictions since the data transfer is quick and also economic.
Areas Where NAS Can Be Useful
NAS can be useful in a number of situations. Since it uses the concept of a traditional network, its use is not limited to file sharing. It can be used in a number of situations and areas, as follows.
Filesharing
This is obviously the main use of NAS, especially if it is home NAS. In occasions where you want the files to exist in more than one computer, this is where home NAS will be of great use. Such files may be audio, video, or even documents. NAS works just like an external hard drive that is available to all the computers connected to home NAS. By simply dragging files to their desired locations, you are not only able to store your own files, but also access files stored by other computers.
Using NAS for media files
If you have media players in your home, you can also connect them to home NAS. The media player will conveniently play all the media files that are stored on the network storage. If you have a portable media player, you can easily access the files from anywhere in the home and watch high-quality videos on the go. The beauty of this concept is that even if you want to install a different media player in every room, you can do so by just keeping your media collection in one place and accessing it through the network hard drive.
Fulfills printer needs
This is one of the main reasons why NAS is used in office spaces and even in homes. In the past, a printer could only work on one computer through a USB connection. Now, with the help of NAS, a printer can be shared with other computers in homes and offices as well. This gives universal access to all computers in the network and makes printing quite convenient.
Create backups
NAS can work really well if a backup needs to be made. It is important to create a backup in order to keep data safe. Increasing threats of viruses have demanded creation of backups, and this is where NAS can be used readily. Since NAS allows the connection of external hard drives and storage, you can easily make duplicate copies of the data that is important to you and store it on a different storage space in case one device malfunctions. Moreover, there are software that are related to creating backups that function automatically.
Conclusion
It is quite evident that NAS is very useful for those who have multiple computers or electronic devices in a single location, whether it is a home or an office. NAS can be quite helpful in organizing data on a network, and its use is highly encouraged since it is a cost effective option.
