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Features you don’t need add complexity and may slow down your system. Additionally, if you intend to back up to a newly purchased external hard drive, check out the software that ships with it. A PC or an external hard disc? Network Attached Storage (NAS) is actually the best choice. NAS is purpose-built for 21st Century work and leisure to store more photos, videos, and documents. Designed to support modern life, NAS is your smart, efficient, and up-to-date file storage, backup, entertainment, and secure sharing solution.
The best NAS drives (Network Attached Storage) do a lot more than store files like a traditional hard drive – they are a personal cloud service and media server.
They back up your data as well as storing it, and on top of that enable you to get hold of your files from any computer you're using, anywhere, any time, on demand. If you're in the market for such a device, we've picked out the best NAS drives of 2019 right here.
NAS can even work its magic when your main computer is switched off, as these drives connect directly to your router. As a result, they cost a bit more than a regular hard drive, but you'll find them well worth the investment.
NAS drives make it easy to access your movies, photos, music and documents at any time, no matter where you are. One of the popular reasons they're purchased is for media playback – viewing your personal video library on your TV without having to connect to anything is a cinch!
Basically, having a NAS drive rocks!
How to choose the best NAS drive for you
The first thing to consider when picking the best NAS drive of 2019 iscapacity: that's how much data your drive can hold, set by the number of bays and the maximum drive sizes you can afford.
Go for a NAS that offers as much room as you need – some units come with hard drives fitted, some don't, but all will have a maximum capacity in their specs.
Also look for RAID configuration options, which is how a NAS allows you to configure the drives you're installing. Several RAID configurations offer some kind of data redundancy, so if one disk fails, another can step up.
Of course, you’ll also want to go through the plethora of extra features available, like powerful on-board processors that can get your media files into different formats as you stream them. Take your time and use our guide to the best NAS drives of 2019 as a starting point.
The best NAS drives you can buy in 2019
1. Synology DiskStation DS218j
Specifications
CPU: Marvell Armada 385 88F6820 dual-core 1.3GHz
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
This entry-level NAS drive from Synology ticks all our boxes – excellent performance, great software and it’s easy to set up too. It's not massively different to the older DS216j, but we were big fans of the older model too, so that's fine.
The DiskStation DS218j is a cost-effective, powerful 2- bay NAS designed for home use. It has rapid data transmission and low power consumption – a pleasing combination. It also features real-time incremental backup technology, so your data stored on a PC can be backed up to a Synology NAS instantly, using minimal system resources. What's more, it carries out even the most complete backup tasks in real-time too, to guard against the risk of data loss.
2. QNAP TS-332X
Specifications
CPU: Alpine AL-324 quad-core 1.7GHz processor
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
A great offering from QNAP, the TS-332X allows you to optimise storage capacity and protect against one disk failure with RAID 5 arrays and 3 bays. It also features a 10GbE SFP+ port for accelerating enormous file sharing and data transfer.
Meanwhile, its three M.2 SATA 6Gb/s SSD slots enable higher performance. This nifty NAS supports LXC and Docker containers for rapidly deploying application services across platforms including the cloud, servers, and PCs – making it ideal (and affordable) for small businesses. We like the nice minimalist design too.
3. Drobo 5N2
Specifications
CPU: quad-core 1.6GHz
Reasons to buy
+Straightforward to fit and use+Plenty of built-in features
Reasons to avoid
Recently arriving on the NAS scene is the 5N2 from Drobo, a storage company that's been undergoing a bit of a revamp of late. The firm wants to push out products with an emphasis on simplicity, and that's the case with the streamlined 5N2, which offers one of the most intuitive user interfaces we've seen.
Best free apps for mac. ServiceM8 comes in four capped plans to suit the size and requirements of your business, and there are no contracts, set-up fees or ‘per-user’ pricing changes. The subscription plans are appealingly flexible too. You can also give it a 14-day free trial before you commit. For businesses with a high turnover of relatively small jobs, ServiceM8 ticks the boxes. If you’re concerned about the app’s compatibility with accounting packages, you may be reassured by its integrations with Xero, MYOB and Quickbooks online, among other similar services.
You get a whopping five bays for all your storage needs, and a 1.6GHz CPU and 2GB of RAM, though extra bells and whistles (like an HDMI port) are kept down to a minimum. There is an internal battery here, to protect against data loss if the power gets cut, and some integrated disaster recovery software.
4. Buffalo LinkStation 520
The best NAS drive for starting small and working up
Specifications
CPU: dual-core 1.0GHz
Reasons to buy
+Appealing, compact NAS box+Holds up to 8TB of data
Reasons to avoid
If you're just starting to dip your toes into the world of NAS, then this two-bay unit from Buffalo is a perfect fit. It has all the features you're likely to need at the consumer level, none of the extras you probably won't bother with, and it's all available for an appealing price.
Both transfer speeds and processing power are impressive for a NAS at this price, and you can pack in up to 8TB of hard drive capacity here – which should be enough for most users. Accessing your data from remote devices, including Android and iOS phones, is straightforward too.
5. Synology DiskStation DS916+
Specifications
CPU: quad-core 1.6GHz (2.56GHz burst)
Reasons to buy
+Plenty of space and power+Smooth and quiet performance
Reasons to avoid
-Overkill for some users-Better value options out there
Our second Synology entry is the more expensive and more powerful DiskStation DS916+ – you get more memory, a faster processor, and twice as many drive bays. In fact there's an official expansion unit available for the DS916+ that takes the number of drive bays up to 9, so you can stuff a lot of hard drives in here.
Obviously that ramps up the price too, but if you're serious about your NAS, then it's worth the extra investment. As usual from Synology, the bundled software is capable and straightforward to use, and drives can be fitted and removed with the minimum of fuss.
6. My Cloud Expert Series EX2 Ultra
Specifications
CPU: dual-core 1.3GHz
Best Nas Backup Software
Reasons to buy
+Smooth, simple operation+Compact and reliable case
Reasons to avoid
-Not as fast as some competitors-Integrated software is relatively basic
Western Digital has been in the hard drive game a long time, and its NAS drives are polished, reliable, and user-friendly (especially in the case of the EX2 Ultra). In fact, user-friendliness is one of the unit's key strengths, so it's worth a look if you're just getting started with networked storage.
You get two 3.5-inch drive bays, 1GB of RAM, and a dual-core 1.3GHz processor. Around the back are two USB 3.0 ports for plugging in additional drives. Allowing access to different users is a breeze, transfer speeds are quick, and it looks quite nice too, which helps.
7. QNAP TS-128
Specifications
CPU: dual-core 1.1GHz
Reasons to buy
Best Nas Drive For Mac
+Affordable NAS option+Plenty of apps to pick from
Reasons to avoid
![Best Nas Backup For Mac Best Nas Backup For Mac](/uploads/1/2/6/4/126477532/342567202.jpg)
It's not always easy trying to find a decent NAS down at the budget end of the scale but the single-bay TS-128 does the job and brings you all the benefits of a QNAP drive that we mentioned above: reliability, remote access, strong app support and a friendly user interface to manage your data.
You're essentially buying an external hard drive with the added bonus of network connectivity – there's no data redundancy so make sure you have copies of your files somewhere else. It's a great 'starter' NAS with plenty of easy-to-use software for synchronising files and streaming media to other devices.
8. Netgear ReadyNAS 214
Specifications
CPU: quad-core 1.4GHz
Reasons to buy
+Lots of potential capacity+Solid and reliable performance
Best Nas For Macs
Reasons to avoid
-Relatively pricey for the spec-Software might be too limiting for some
Best Nas For Time Machine Backup
Netgear is another hardware maker with a strong track record in consumer NAS drives, and the ReadyNAS 214 is a solid choice if you've looking for extra capacity – it has four drive bays rather than two, and the disks you install can be set up in a variety of ways.
It doesn't have quite the power of some other similarly priced NAS units, so you may not be able to get as many types of media transcoded to as many types of devices, but it does all the basics well (Plex support is particularly good), and we like the look of the sturdy metal finish as well.