Best Network Attached Storage Devices in the UK

Perhaps the most important aspect of a NAS use experience, aside from its hardware, is its software environment or the operating system. The case is many users nowadays assemble their network attached storages by themselves using separate components and installing server operating systems on the assembled NAS systems instead of buying ready-to-use solutions. These operating systems proved to be not very effective and fast to install for a personal use. The Synology company made a decision in favour of facilitating the use of their products by offering a balanced network storage system, which is preconfigured and can be used right out-of-the-box. The proprietary preinstalled Synology DiskStation Manager OS is based on a web-browser and is a perfect solution from the perspective of individual or small group use. The Synology manufacturer installs this software to all its NAS servers, which contributes to their high-speed and error-free operation and makes a user experience much more comfortable. The Package Center feature allows users to download and install various add-on packages designed specifically for individual or enterprise needs giving you more time for entertainment or work. The Synology DS216j will take care of your files and make them accessible and secure round-the-clock. Please, note that for establishing a high-speed Internet connection to the Synology DS216j NAS and unlocking its file sharing possibilities you will need an Internet router with a high bandwidth.

The QNAP TS-253A-4G network attached storage has modern features that distinguish it from many similar systems. Perhaps the most prominent of these features are the support of 4K video hardware decoding, transcoding of 4K H.264 videos on-the-fly or in an offline mode, which offers a fast processing of videos that have four times the resolution of 2K. The resulting videos have an astonishing quality and can bring an immersive watching experience. This one of the best network attached storages is capable of outputting the decoded or transcoded video via the two built-in HDMI ports. For more convenience, the TS-253A-4G 2-Bay network attached storage supports image cloning thus making it possible to output identical video data to two displays connected. This NAS model uses the HD Station software solution, integrating flexible Kodi media player and various applications, such as Chrome browser, YouTube, and Plex Home Theater, enabling you to watch videos from the TS-253A online even via YouTube at the maximum resolution. These advanced features are supported owing to utilizing a powerful CPU and 4 GB RAM on the hardware side, which though impressive for such a device is easily expandable to 8 GB by inserting a memory stick into a vacant slot in the system. With the QNAP TS-253A-4G network attached storage, you can access a full collection of your movies and videos via the Internet or local network without stuttering and choppiness. Hint: to boost the performance of your QNAP TS-253A-4G NAS by expanding the RAM replace both, if there are two of them, memory sticks with a set of analogous memory sticks.

Despite the fact that there are a lot of network attached storage devices on the market only a few products combine functionality and high performance with an elegant design. Luckily the D-Link ShareCenter is exactly one of these examples. It was designed as a powerful yet attractively looking NAS without unnecessary and excessive exterior details. After connecting the ShareCenter solution to the Internet via the cable you will be able to use a special software application by D-Link for watching the content stored on the NAS hard drives from your smartphone or notebook even when you are a hundred miles away. Though connecting the NAS to the Internet brings risks of data security breach and virus/malware attacks that can cause data loss or corruption. To address this issue the manufacturer implemented the support for RAID 0 and 1 modes. Arranging your HDD drives in a RAID array on this NAS enables you to ensure not only much higher data protection by disk data mirroring feature but to increase the speed of operation of your hard drives. With sophisticated disk mirroring and data protection algorithms you will have all the features of the D-Link ShareCenter NAS at hand and easily controllable with a single software utility. The control simplicity is completed with a compact size of the storage device and its design aesthetics. The elegant design makes the model blend with any interior and gives you many options for its placement. Please, keep in mind that unstable power supply and electric surges may damage your electrical devices, including the NAS, therefore, you need to use mains filters that can quickly respond to significant over or under voltage and provide under/over current protection and to cut off the power to prevent damage to your equipment.

The availability of Internet connection on this model allows us to download various media content and access different media storages. The Buffalo LS220D0202 network attached storage supports the BitTorrent peer-to-peer data exchange protocol, which you can use with the preinstalled client. The benefits of using this protocol are the high speed of shared files downloading and their immediate availability. To provide more convenience in using the BitTorrent the Buffalo LinkStation 220D NAS allows downloading files directly to the HDDs installed in the NAS without the need for connecting a PC. If you value high-quality and high-resolution music then you will definitely value the Buffalo’s ability to stream it without any downsampling and loss of quality, allowing you to enjoy your favourite music tracks the way they were recorded at a studio. This network attached storage by Buffalo also supports such a cutting-edge format as Direct Stream Digital. It means you can play high-resolution PCM and DSD natively or via the DSD over PCM protocol on compatible network-capable receivers. Apple equipment fans, especially those who use Apple high-performance notebooks, will be able to store their backups on the HDDs of the 220D NAS after creating them on a laptop. In addition to the convenience of storage, the Buffalo LS220D0202 ensures its reliability and security. Even if you have no Internet access and no opportunity to use a cloud storage at the moment, you can transfer files from the NAS hard drives to a connected USB flash drive or an external hard disk drive.

Western Digital WDBCTL0040HWT-NESN 3TB My Cloud Personal Network Attached Storage is the network-attached storage for home use. Its exterior and size allow you to place it on your desktop next to the computer. The NAS storage comes with the 3 TB Red hard drive of the same company. Also, if desired, you can extend the NAS capacity up to 8 TB by replacing the HDD with a compatible drive of greater volume. This home network storage supports only one drive, so it works better as a data repository. We don’t recommend using it as a backup station since the data might be lost if the disk fails.