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External hard drive or NAS?
7 Answers
My elderly external hard drive that I use for backing up my pcs is no longer big enough, and I looking at a 2TB hard drive now they are so much cheaper than a couple of years ago.
Should I go for a NAS? Are there any disadvantages?
Should I go for a NAS? Are there any disadvantages?
Answers
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I'd go for a NAS (in fact I do have one)
The main disadvantage is possibly speed depending on your computer and home network, if you have a 1Gb network then the NAS is potentially faster than USB2, if you have a 100Mb home network then the NAS would be slower than USB2, if you use wireless then it would be far slower than USB2
I have my NAS connected to a 1Gb switch which my desktop is also connected to, my laptop uses wireless most the time, unless I want to copy large amounts of data to, or from, the NAS when I connect the laptop by Ethernet cable to get a 1Gb connection to the NAS.
The main disadvantage is possibly speed depending on your computer and home network, if you have a 1Gb network then the NAS is potentially faster than USB2, if you have a 100Mb home network then the NAS would be slower than USB2, if you use wireless then it would be far slower than USB2
I have my NAS connected to a 1Gb switch which my desktop is also connected to, my laptop uses wireless most the time, unless I want to copy large amounts of data to, or from, the NAS when I connect the laptop by Ethernet cable to get a 1Gb connection to the NAS.
p.s.
My NAS is a RAID array which is a huge advantage over a single USB drive. although you have to buy more hard drives to start with and you don't get to use the total capacity of the drives you've purchased it means if one drive fails you can replace it without losing a data. I have 4 x 1TB drives in my NAS which gives me 3TB usable space and the peace of mind that I have resilience against drive failure.
My NAS is a RAID array which is a huge advantage over a single USB drive. although you have to buy more hard drives to start with and you don't get to use the total capacity of the drives you've purchased it means if one drive fails you can replace it without losing a data. I have 4 x 1TB drives in my NAS which gives me 3TB usable space and the peace of mind that I have resilience against drive failure.
another advantage of using a NAS is your computer can be permanently connected to it so you can use folder redirection and (if it's a laptop) offline files. to keep a permanent copy of your local documents on the NAS.
To do this (in windows7) simply open a share on the NAS and open your user folder on your computer and drag your "my documents" folder over to the NAS drive using the right mouse button and select "move here" when you release the button, this will redirect your documents folder onto the NAS (you can do the same with my music, my videos and so on if you want)
You then right click on any of the folders you've redirected and select always available offline and a local copy off the files will be created on the computer so you can still access and work on them if you're not connected to the NAS and any changes you make will automatically be synced onto the NAS the next time you're connected to it.... doing this basically makes and automatic and pretty much seamless backup of your local computer onto the NAS.
(of course for this to work properly you need to leave the NAS powered on all the time really)
To do this (in windows7) simply open a share on the NAS and open your user folder on your computer and drag your "my documents" folder over to the NAS drive using the right mouse button and select "move here" when you release the button, this will redirect your documents folder onto the NAS (you can do the same with my music, my videos and so on if you want)
You then right click on any of the folders you've redirected and select always available offline and a local copy off the files will be created on the computer so you can still access and work on them if you're not connected to the NAS and any changes you make will automatically be synced onto the NAS the next time you're connected to it.... doing this basically makes and automatic and pretty much seamless backup of your local computer onto the NAS.
(of course for this to work properly you need to leave the NAS powered on all the time really)
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