We test and compare NAS devices designed to suit a specific set of medium-enterprise requirements.
Initially, we are looking for a "box" that plugs into a gigabit Ethernet network and can service all manner of clients including Mac, Linux, and Windows using their respective native file systems. Of course, your needs may extend further and you may need the NAS to exist with Novell Netware for example.
Before buying a NAS you must consider your requirements for the following:
- Network Transport Protocols
- Network File Protocols
- Network Client Types
- Server Emulation
- Network Security
You then have two options: replace the existing drive set with larger- capacity drives or purchase an additional NAS or storage array. The former, the least expensive option, is only available if you can take the NAS offline -- if you cannot afford to take the NAS down to perform the upgrade, or if it is already configured with the largest- capacity drives available, then you are up for the most expensive option of purchasing more hardware.
Adding more drives or simply replacing the old drives with larger-capacity drives varies in cost.
Some of the NAS units feature inexpensive PATA or SATA drives that are available in increasingly large capacities for relatively little expenditure, while other units have Ultra SCSI drives that are significantly more expensive and tend to lag the ATA drives in terms of capacity. For example, on the Seagate Web site we found PATA drives of 400GB capacity but the largest Ultra 320 SCSI drive was only 300GB.
