12 Points to consider when buying a nas

If you're running an office that produces and stores photos, videos, and audio files, then you probably want to consider purchasing a network-attached storage (NAS) device. These high-capacity storage devices allow multiple people to host and access large files and large numbers of small files in and out of the office.

NAS devices are also great for backing up files and streaming content to external laptops and tablets.

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12 points to consider when buying a NAS

Unfortunately, choosing the right NAS device can be quite tricky. Each NAS device has its own hardware specifications, operating system (OS) characteristics, and security protections. Fortunately, we've compiled this list of 12 factors to keep in mind when choosing the right NAS device for your office.

Storage capacity

Depending on how many employees you have and how much data you create, you will want a NAS that contains a large amount of data. The number of hard drives you are going to add to your NAS will ultimately determine how much storage you will have.

For example, if you have a 6-bay NAS device loaded with 8 terabyte (TB) hard drives, you can store 48 TB of data. This is more than enough for a small business, so it is important that you take stock of your data output and determine exactly what you will need before making a purchase.

If your business is really small, then you probably want to consider a NAS device for the home or small office rather than an enterprise NAS. For example, the new QNAP TS-228A is one of the quality / price options on the market.

Price

Because NAS capabilities vary so much, there is no fixed price you should aim for when making a purchasing decision. Instead, decide how much storage capacity you'll need, and then start pricing your options.

However, if you are in the process of purchasing a NAS device and the price is around the five-figure mark, then you should call the providers and get a custom price quote. You can also buy NAS devices without pre-installed disks (which is the most common) and then you can choose your own hard drives, our advice the Western Digital RED.

For smaller companies, you can buy basic devices with less than 5TB of storage for a few hundred euros. These devices will not offer the expansion, electrical protection, or security features that you will find in devices for a business, but they will be enough to help you store and make backup copies.

Discs

As we mentioned earlier, you can buy a NAS device with its hard drive or pre-installed drives, or you can buy a diskless NAS device, which has empty bays that you will fill with drives yourself.

If you decide to buy your own disk drive, then there are several important things that you will have to consider. First, you will want to choose a drive that is optimized for NAS. These drives are typically designed to back up data, stream large audio and video files, and stream simultaneously to multiple external devices.

These discs tend to be more reliable than those installed on a PC, and have simpler data recovery controls to ensure you can recover your data after a disaster. Because they are more expensive, these drives typically offer longer warranties than desktop drives, so you'll be protected for a longer period of time if things go wrong with your drive.

Built-in Wi-Fi

Most high-end NAS devices operate as their own access points; This means that you can connect wirelessly to your NAS device through your laptops, smartphones, and tablets without having to connect the NAS device to the office router.

This reduces the number of tangled cables in your office and can serve as a Wi-Fi booster for your existing network range. This built-in functionality is especially useful for NAS users who are streaming streaming content, uploading and downloading images, or making quick edits to large video files.

OS

As with any other device, the operating system is its main point of interaction. If you hate software design, if you don't jump quickly back and forth between operations, if updates aren't installed when needed, then you'll probably regret your purchase decision.

Most users know operating systems like Windows Server and Ubuntu Server, but there are other less known systems like QTS from QNAP or FreeNAS that we can find in home users and large / small companies. When researching the operating system you will eventually choose for your NAS device, look for things like stability, the number of packages and applications available, how it works with the hardware you have chosen, and whether it is open source or licensed by a vendor.

Choosing an operating system is not an easy task. If you opt for a system full of updates like QTS from QNAP, you will have a stable system and with a single click you will be updated. In addition, having a large number of APPs in your store.

For example, QTS is very good. But it is only available on QNAP devices, but it is normally considered as a friendly solution and you don't need to be an expert to manage it, that is, super intuitive. If you still have doubts, you can ask us and we will help you:-).

But if you opt for a NAS made by you (another solution and usually somewhat more expensive) Windows Server or Ubuntu will be more tedious and you will need time to play with it. But it comes with so much support that even a beginner will be able to help maintain the system. What do you choose?

Security (super important)

You will want to make sure that your operating system and hardware are capable of implementing the necessary security measures to keep your data safe. When researching vendors, find out if your NAS device supports system-level encryption, file encryption, user access controls, and data access monitoring.

You will need software that can be remotely erased in case your unit is stolen from your office. There are many software vendors that can add these features to your software, but you'd better find a vendor that already has most of these protections covered, either directly or through partnerships with third-party vendors.

RAM required

Like PCs, NAS devices work better with improved processors and higher memory. Therefore, the faster you want to go from one process to another, the more RAM you must connect to the NAS device.

The typical rule of thumb is to have at least 1 GB of RAM and at least one TB of storage. However, it has been shown that falling slightly below this rule will not necessarily freeze your system; Just don't expect to operate at full speed when performing complex processes. In the case of a virtualization server, do we recommend at least 4 or 8 GB of RAM?

Energy consumption

You will probably connect the NAS device and let it run for several years before turning it off. As a result, power consumption is a very important feature to consider when buying a NAS device, especially if you want to reduce energy costs.

As a general rule, you will want a NAS device that operates at a maximum power of 30 W. The NAS device should operate normally at about 10W at idle and should be idle at about 35W with two hard drives. A device with these statistics will give you a machine that works on par with the best devices on the planet, while also helping you to be aware of the planet and its problems.

Speed

There is nothing worse than a transfer that takes too long. So you'll have to research the read speed (or performance) of your potential NAS devices. A good NAS device will work at a little less than 100 megabits per second (Mbps) and some can work at "turbo" up to 120 Mbps. Having a hard drive or SSD will offer us a great change and especially if we have the new 10 Gigabit network.

Most NAS devices will operate at more than 80 Mbps, so if you buy a device and its reading speed is less than 80 Mbps, you should investigate to determine if it has a problem on your network or if you just bought a NAS device slow.

Uninterrupted power

No one wants to lose data if they have a power outage. That is exactly what will happen if your NAS device is not connected to an uninterruptible power supply (UPS).

Fortunately, some NAS devices offer built-in UPSs in the form of small lithium-ion batteries. The secondary battery allows your unit to recognize that the main power source has stopped, turn on the backup battery, and turn off the device correctly, without losing data. Although at the domestic level

Multiple user accounts

With few exceptions, all NAS allow you to create multiple users and assign password protected storage space to them. You can also configure "public" folders that all users can access without a password. I personally really like the QNAP dashboard! Everything is super easy and intuitive.

However, just because you can set up users doesn't mean you can set up groups. If you need this feature, be sure to carefully check the specifications and features of the NAS.

Performance or performance

The key performance criteria for NAS are read and write capacity. Performance is affected by four factors: NAS performance, client performance, network performance, and what you are reading and writing.

Regardless of file size, NAS performance is primarily determined by the processor platform, and then by the internal operating system and file system used. What generally doesn't matter is the performance of the hard drive used. Hard drive access time and search time are generally masked by the overhead of moving data across a network.

What do you think of our 12 points to consider when buying a NAS? Have we forgotten any? We want to know your opinion!