A Plain-English Introduction
A Network-Attached Storage (NAS) device is a purpose-built device that connects to the home network and provides centralized file storage and sharing for multiple devices. Think of it as a smart, always-on hard drive for all your files—photos, videos, documents—accessible from your common devices such as laptops, phones, tablets, and even your TVs.
Common Attributes of a NAS
- Multiple bays for hard drives
NAS units usually offer multiple bays (commonly 2–8) for installing hard drives, often supporting hot-swapping for easy upgrades and replacements making it more resistant to hard drive failure - Large storage volume that’s easy to grow
Range typically starts at 1 TB (4 times the capacity of a typically mobile phone) all the way to 64 TBs. Capacity can be expanded by adding larger or additional drives because of the software and the multiple-drive bays. You also don’t have to purchase all of your storage upfront and can grow as needed. - Multiple ways of accessing the storage
Designed to be accessible across various computer operating systems such as Windows and Apple as well as phones with different operating systems such as Android and iPhones - Redundant storage
Storage that can survive the failure of one or more hard drives without losing any or minimal amount of your data - User configuration
A NAS can typically be configured so that different people can have access to different files and folders. This allows it so that certain information can remain private, shared or public.
Why People Use a NAS at Home
- Centralize files: Keep family photos, videos, and documents in one place instead of scattered across devices.
- Automatic backups: Back up laptops and phones to protect against loss, theft, or crashes.
- Upgrade to their stand-alone hard drives in terms of space and not wanting to lose all of their important files in case the hard drive fails
- Reducing their dependency on services as costs continue to go up in price
How a NAS Works (Without the Jargon)
- A NAS can connect to a network device either by physically connecting a network cable to a switch or router or can typically be configured to be accessed through their wireless (WiFi) network
- It contains one or more hard drives and runs a lightweight system designed for storage.
- Devices within the home can connect to it to upload, download, or stream files.
Common Implementations
The two most common implementations of a NAS are purchased as an appliance (like a toaster or dishwasher) or re-purposing an existing desktop computer and installing software for it.
Some of the more popular brands of NAS appliances include Synology, Drobo and QNAP.
The most popular software that is typically installed for NAS solutions include commercial software such as UnRaid and TrueNAS, Rockstor and Open Media Vault as open source alternatives
Advanced Features
- Remote access
With some effort, most NAS can be configured so that you can access these files and folders outside of your home through your internet - Additional applications
Many NAS solutions allow you to install applications on them to expand its capability. Some of the more common applications that are installed include the ability to automatically synchronize or backup your computer or phone to the NAS and streaming movies, tv shows and music to your devices the same way services like Netflix and Spotify do commercially
In short, a NAS is the home or small business’s “digital closet”: organized, shareable, always-on storage that can grow with needs while keeping data under personal control
Categorization
Capability Category: Infrastructure
Capability Type: Storage