50 APRIL2020|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE386
STORAGE
SYNOLOGYDiskStationDS418j
★★★★★
£278•www.broadbandbuyer.com
ADATA SD600Q480GB
★★★★★
£62•www.alternate.co.uk
Whenatinytwo-bayNAS
won’t cut it, the fast,
high-capacity DiskStation DS418j
is an excellent upgrade,especially as it can automatically convert old
hard disks to be compatible with this NAS’s hardware and features.
Put aside your fears
about external
SSDs being too
expensive compared to hard disks
–this 480GB drive is excellent value,
and decently quick.
3.5inHARDDISKBAYS(FREE)4(4)•NETWORKING 1 x10/ 10 0/1, 000 Ethernet•DLNAMEDIA
SERVERYes•PRINTSERVERYes•DIMENSIONS 18 4x 16 8x 23 0mm•WEIGHT 2 .21kg•
WARRANTYTwoyearsRTB•DETAILSwww.synology.com•PARTCODEDS4 18 j•
FULLREVIEWJan2 018
CAPACITY480GB•COSTPERGIGABYTE£0.13p•INTERFACEUSB3•CLAIMEDREAD440MB/s
- CLAIMEDWRITE430MB/s•WARRANTYThreeyears RTB•DETAILSwww.adata.com•
PARTCODEASD600Q-480GU31-CBL•FULLREVIEWAug2019
KINGSTONA20001TB
★★★★★
£130•www.box.co.uk
The A2000’s
maximum
speeds don’t
look all that hot, but this SSDperforms exceptionally well in
the kinds of non-sequential transfer tasks you’re more likely to
actually undertake in your day-to-daycomputing.
CAPACITY1TB•COSTPERGIGABYTE£0.13p•INTERFACEM.2/NVMe•CLAIMEDREAD
2,200MB/s•CLAIMEDWRITE2,000MB/s•WARRANTYFive yearsRTB•DETAILS
http://www.kingston.com•PARTCODESA2000M8/1000G•FULLREVIEWDec 2019
SAMSUNG PortableSSDX51TB
★★★★★
£438•www.scan.co.uk
Forwhen you
absolutely need to
shiftfiles as quickly
as possible,there’s theX5. Its use of
the Thunderbolt 3interface makes it
the fastest external SSDever.
CAPACITY1TB•COSTPERGIGABYTE£0.44p•INTERFACEThunderbolt3•
WARRANTYThreeyears RTB•DETAILSwww.samsung.com/uk•
PARTCODEMU-PB1T0B/WW•FULLREVIEWDec2018
PNYProElite 1TB
★★★★★
£165•www.amzn.to/38sQrSJ
Atiny,
very nimble
portableSSD
that’s both faster and cheaper than
Samsung’s similar T5 drive.Just make sure to
connect via aUSB3.1port to get the best performance.
CAPACITY1TB•PRICEPERGIGABYTE£0.16p•INTERFACEUSB3.1•WARRANTYThreeyears
RTB•DETAILSwww.pny.eu•PARTCODEPSD0CS2060S-1TB-RB•FULLREVIEWFeb2020
y
f
t
01
Anetwork-attachedstorage(NAS)
deviceletsyoustoredocuments,
media,andotherfilesonitsharddisksso
youcansharethemwithotherdeviceson
yournetwork.Somehavedisksalready
installed,whileothersareemptyenclosures
intowhich you install your own disks.
Buying an empty NAS can often be the
more cost-effective option, as they’re usually
less expensive and give you the freedom to
add disks at alater date.
Youshould buy one with aGigabit
Ethernet interface,asthese provide the
highest transfer speeds. To useaNAS device
at these speeds, you’ll need computers with
Gigabit Ethernet network adaptors and
aGigabit Ethernet switch or router.
Computers with Fast Ethernet adaptors
Choosinga... NASdevice
can still access the NAS device,but only
at the much slower speed of 100Mbit/s.
02
The amount of networkstorage you
need depends on the types of files
you use.Ifyou want to store Word and Excel
documents, forexample,a1TB device will be
fine.Infact, a1TB device should be sufficient
forafamily’s entire media collection,
regardless of howmanymusic and video files
everyone owns. Small businesses should
consider higher storage capacities,
depending on the nature of the business.
03
If you can see no end to your storage
needs, you should buy an upgradable
NAS device.Many have aUSB port for
adding an external disk. Devices such as
Synology’s barebones NAS kits have spare
disk trays forcheaper and faster upgrades.
04
If you want extra protection foryour
data, look foradevice that supports
RAID.RAID 1and RAID 5arrays reduce the
available capacity by duplicating data, but
you won’t lose it if adisk fails.
05
If you need access to your files while
you’re away, look foraNAS device
with an FTP server.Some can also share a
USB printer across your network.
ANAS device with aUniversal Plug and
Play (UPnP) or DLNA media server can
stream your music, photos and videos to a
network media player,soyou can enjoyyour
media collection in another room.
ADATA XPGSX8200Pro1TB
★★★★★
£128•www.ebuyer.com
The Adata XPG
SX8200 Pro
is outrageously
good value forthe performance it delivers. It’s as fast as or faster
than top-tier SSDs fromSamsung and WD,but costs farless
across all its capacity options.
CAPACITY1TB•COSTPERGIGABYTE£0.13p•INTERFACEM.2/NVMe•WARRANTYFive years
RTB•DETAILSwww.xpg.com•PARTCODEASX8200PNP-1TT•FULLREVIEWApr2019
480 GB
ears
s
lue,
