Mirroring is also referred to as RAID 1, when one volume is built from two drives, allowing for the failure of one of those drives without data loss. Two drives allows the option of simple mirroring. For example, one drive gives no additional performance or protection. In a NAS system, storage is defined by the number of drives, the shared volume they create, and their striping scheme (e.g. Generally speaking, the larger the number of drive bays, the more storage you can provide to your users and the more flexibility you have around protecting your data from disk failure. One of the first ways to distinguish between different NAS systems is the number of drive bays a given system offers, as this determines how many disks the system can hold. NAS Storage Capacity: How Many Bays Do You Need? Let’s walk through the different options. How your NAS performs is dictated by the components that make up the system, and capability of future upgrades. This tour of the major components of a NAS system will help you to develop a tick list for the sizing and features of a system that will fit your needs. How do you evaluate the differences between different NAS vendors? Or even within a single company’s product line? We’re here to help. The Network Attached Storage (NAS) Buyer’s Guide If this all sounds useful for your business, read on to learn more about bringing these benefits in-house. You can also configure sync workflows to ease collaboration for your team, enable services to manage your users and groups with directory services, and even add services like photo or media management. Fully automated backups, deduplication, compression, and encryption are just a handful of the functions you can put to work on a NAS system-all of which make your data storage more efficient and secure. Not only that, but it generally works as fast as your local office network speeds. Beyond protection from drive failure, NAS also provides security for your data from outside actors as it is only accessible on your local office network and to user accounts which you can control. Hard drives fail! NAS helps to make that statement of fact less scary. Less obvious, but equally important, the RAID configuration in a NAS system ensures that the data you store can survive the failure of one or more of its hard drives. NAS systems create a single storage volume from several drives (often arranged in a RAID scheme). It’s a tad obvious, but the primary benefit of a NAS system is that it will provide a significant addition to your storage capacity if you’re relying on workstations and hard drives. There are multiple benefits that a NAS system can provide to users on your network, but we’ll recap a few of the key advantages here. Understand the reason to pair your NAS with cloud storage.Navigate the options you’ll need to choose from.This post aims to make your process a little easier. No matter where you’re starting, the number of choices and features NAS systems offer today are overwhelming, especially when you’re trying to buy something that will work now and in the future. You might have already considered buying a NAS device, or you purchased one that you’ve already grown out of, or this could be your first time looking at your options. The easiest way to provide all three quickly and easily is network attached storage (NAS). Storing this data on loose hard drives and individual workstations will no longer cut it: Your team needs ready data access, protection from loss, and capacity for future growth. As your business grows, the amount of data that it needs to store and manage also grows.