Nas Box VS Network harddrive

[BikerEcho]

Hi,
what does a NAS box (network attached storage box) do better then a Network Harddrive?
thay are both used to store files on your network. that are good as backup and file sharing.
So why buy a more expensive NAS box?
i think it can host a homepage, but other then that? i dont need to host a homepage. and if i wantet to, i will go for a server. a server could easy do my backup as a fileserver and host a homepage.

 

[Captain Pooka]

The NAS we have is a raid array. It's also under warranty (But HDDs have a 5 year warranty...). It was here before I started working here... But this is at a campus at a school district. The web interface is really nice to have when you're creating different folders for different people/grades.

An external HDD is a NAS if you connect it to your router, but it's not a raid array.

 

[strollin]

Advantages/Disadvantages of Network Attached Storage (NAS)

 

[Indigo]

Not all NAS boxes support RAID, but the ones that are truly worth getting usually do. An external hard drive is at the will of whatever device it is connected to, and can sometimes be less secure than a NAS. At least the NAS has methods in place for authentication, file/folder sharing, etc, as was mentioned. A hard drive is more simple, but not as robust in application, as you're asking.

 

[Legodude522]

I built my own NAS box before since it was cost effective at the time, not so sure if it is anymore as prices have gone down. All had to get was a mini-itx motherboard, micro-atx PSU, some spare memory, and some new sata harddrives. Threw on linux and just remotely connected to it whenever I needed to modify anything and had torrents download directly to it.

 

[BikerEcho]

thanks for the help guys ^^