If you have been using a large USB hard drive , and just upgraded ( or thinking of upgrading) to a QNAP Network Attached storage, here are a few things you need to know. The Below table serves as a primer to those who want to upgrade from DAS to NAS .
| Network Attached Storage ( Your QNap NAS) | Direct Attached Storage ( USB, ThunderBold Storage Disk) |
| Connection :NAS Connects To the Network. | DAS connects to a Single PC . |
| Sharing :NAS Can be Easily Shared from Multiple PCs and Mobile Devices. Which means that you can store and retreive files from Not only PC/MAC but also from your Tablets/Mobile Devices using a NAS | DAS Can only Connect to a single PC at a time. |
| Remote : NAS Can be Remotely Accessed. Keep it on, go to your vacation and access your files anywhere in the world with an internet Connection | DAS Can't be Remotely Accessed. You will have to use a PC to make it Remotely accessed |
| Capacity : Capacity of NAS Can be HUGE. NAS combines Multiple hard drives and appears a one large hard drive to your devices. A 16 Bay NAS can be as large as 128TB ( Further Expandable with Expansion UNITS) | DAS is generally as big as a single hard drive is. Right now the largest Single hard drive is 8TB. |
| Protection : With NAS, you are protected against hard drive failure (Through RAID). You tell your QNAP NAS how many hard drives protection you need ( Say 2 hard drives out of 8) and it will make sure that your Data Is safe, even if ANY 2 hard drives failed. This is Called RAID Technology | With DAS , if your hard drive fails, your Data is lost. |
| Add ons : Your QNAP can run a website, host a blog, connect to your TV, transcode movies, download 24x7, monitor your cameras, run your SQL server, Host your Virtual PCs........... the list is growing. | DAS is only for Data Stroage. |
