Gone are the days when we used to confront with data storage problems. Data storage has improved leaps and bounds with time. Your home PC can store huge data whether it is your photos, important documents, music, or movies.

But, what if the 80 GB hard drive doesn’t meet your ever increasing demands for data storage? You will go for an external hard drive as the just right solution. I would do the same.

But again, what if all my family members want to access the content from any room at any time? Yes, you guessed it right. The most feasible answer is network-attached storage.

Network attached storage drives vs. External hard drives

Network attached storage is the answer to many issues you usually face when it comes to external storage options. So, what’s the basic difference between regular external hard drives and network-attached storage drives? As you connect two or more PCs via a same router, you have set up a local area network (LAN). All the late versions of Windows and Mac OS X have pre-loaded software for connecting PCs and Macs so that you can access the files among computers simply by turning on the ‘File Sharing’ option.

Once you connect an external hard drive via USB cable to one of the computers on the LAN, the data is open to access from any computer. All users on the network can access the data as long as the computer attached to the hard drive is running. But, as soon as the power is turned off or computer crashes, no one will be able to access any data.

Right here, the network attached storage comes into limelight and solves our problem. It is an external hard drive, which is connected to the router by an Ethernet cable so that all computers attached to that router, by wire or wirelessly, can have access to whatsoever is stored. This is perfect for even those who have both PCs and Macs since the drive can be accessed from either platform.

Most of the shared systems come with built-in software to back up computers connected to the network. Moreover, you can even find a few that let you access data from places away from home via the Internet.

Network-attached storage drives on the shelves:

You might be a bit baffled when looking for network-attached storage drives in the market. Many such devices use the word ’shared’ to distinguish themselves while many come with the label that reads ‘network-attached storage’ or ‘N.A.S.’

NOTE: A network-attached storage device may have an USB port but, it principally uses an Ethernet cable, not the USB.

Let’s take a look at some of the well known NAS drives we have on the shelves.

Maxtor Shared Storage II

It’s not a tedious job to add a network storage device. In case of Maxtor Shared Storage II, the start-up guide is just two pages long for Windows and Mac sections. All you need to do is to connect drive to the router with the Ethernet cable and run the packed CD on one of the computers on the network.

A 320GB version will cost you somewhere around $120 while you will have to shell out $500 for a terabyte (1,000 gigabytes) of storage.

But, installation with Windows Vista might need you to follow complex instructions on the Maxtor product support Web site. The Maxtor drive also has two U.S.B. ports to add supplementary external drives or to connect a printer. The printer or the external drive can be accessed on any computer on the LAN.

Moreover, it has the capability to stream video or music files stored on it to a home entertainment device like the Xbox 360, which is compatible with the Universal Plug and Play AV or Digital Living Network Alliance protocols.

Western Digital’s MyBook World Edition

The MyBook World Edition NAS drive will allow you to store files from your networked PCs and laptops all around your house, into one location. These drives not only plug into a home network but also can be accessed from a location far from home at no extra charge.

The terabyte of storage is split into two 500GB hard drives and it uses WD Anywhere Access which many say is “trouble-free” software, and quite superior to other packages.

The MyBook World Edition network drives sell for $250 for the 500 gigabyte version while the recently released 2 terabyte model is priced at $800. This drive comes with a single USB port so that you can connect an additional external device.

The network attached drives usually cost more than regular external drives. For example, the Western Digital’s shared 500 gigabyte MyBook World Edition drive costs $20 more than its 500 gigabyte version that has no network accessibility.

Buffalo’s TeraStation Pro Series

Buffalo’s TeraStation Pro Series NAS drive comes with two USB 2.0 ports. TeraStation Pro can have room for additional external USB hard drives for expanded networked storage or as backup.

It’s a child’s play to swap out replacement hard drives that accounts for less down time and quicker drive recovery.

It comes with an LCD display that shows important TeraStation information and disk status. The 1TB version will set you back $500.

ReadyNAS NV+

The ReadyNAS NV+ can easily scale up to 3.0 TB of storage for even the largest video and audio collections and its class-leading performance insures a smooth streaming experience around the home network. The four-bay NV+ adds several key features, including a slim design, a LCD status window and a RAID 3.0 firmware.

It also comes fully loaded with a built-in UPnP support along with Slim Server software. All you need to pick up your own NV+ is $650 for a diskless 0GB version to $2,999 for a massive 3TB version.

Linksys WRT350N Wireless-N Gigabit Router with Storage Link

Priced at $160, the WRT350N Wireless-N Gigabit Router with Storage Link lets you plug in a standard external hard drive that can then be accessed by any machine on the network. It’s being touted to be a very fast router, using the latest standard for wireless transmission, 802.11n.

Apple’s AirPort Extreme Base Station

This is another flexible variant of network attached storage devices. Like the Linksys WRT350N Wireless-N Gigabit Router, it also use the 802.11n standard and works with Macs and Windows PCs. Priced at $180, the Apple’s AirPort Extreme Base Station has three wired Ethernet ports that function at the slower 100 megabit speed.

NOTE: These routers are capable of working with new Drobo ’storage robot’ from Data Robotics. The $699 (Extremely sorry, the price is $499) robotic storage device merges up to four hard drives into a big pool of protected storage. It can even detect and format up to 3.5-inch SATA drives.

All you need to do is to connect the Drobo to your Mac or PC and it will do the rest of the work. Isn’t that too simple?

External storage is nice but NAS seems to be the just right thing if you need to work with networked systems. No networking experience is required. You can start storing and sharing files with multiple users in your office or home immediately with the Network attached storage devices.

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