Stuff - UK (2020-05)

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Here come

the NAS

Worried about tech

giants snooping at

your data? Fed up

with uploading and

downloading files?

A NAS drive is a

different kind of

cloud. These little

black boxes connect

to your local network,

back up every device

you own and offer

super-fast streaming.

The Synology

DiskStation DS218+

is a fine all-round

option, packing a

mighty 108TB.

O Get this: Synology

DiskStation DS218+

£400 / synology.com

My art will

go on (it)

If you handle a lot

of 4K video or RAW

photos, you’ll quickly

need to pay for extra

space in the cloud.

A better bet might

be a NAS with lots

of storage that works

with Adobe Creative

Cloud – such as

WD’s My Cloud

Pro Series PR4100,

which supports

up to 56TB and has

quad-core speeds

for big file transfers.

O Get this:

WD My Cloud

Pro Series PR4100

from £470 /

westerndigital.com

Moves

like fragger

A NAS isn’t just for

work – many PC

players also use one

to store graphic-rich

games. It takes the

heat off your cooling

system, while also

making it easy to

share games across

machines. Asustor’s

Nimbuster 2 is a LAN

party luxury with

28TB of storage and

5GB link aggregation,

and it can record 4K

HDR livestreaming

without affecting

your gameplay.

O Get this:

Asustor Nimbuster 2

£310 / asustor.com

Nice to

media

If you’re done with

DVDs but don’t want

to pay for Netflix, get

a NAS media server:

it’ll store a whole

blockbuster back

catalogue and stream

them to your smart

TV. QNAP’s TS-230

offers affordable 4K

transcoding, meaning

it’ll convert media

files to a format

that works with

your devices while

you’re watching.

And it supports

apps like Plex.

O Get this:

QNAP TS-230

from £180 / qnap.com

Baby got

backup

There are budget

options if you’re just

running out of space

on your Mac, iPhone

or iPad. The Buffalo

LinkStation 520 even

has Time Machine

integration.

O Get this:

Buffalo LinkStation 520

£160 / buffalo-

technology.com

O LIFE ON THE NODE

Make sure your home doesn’t

have any internet dead spots

with a router mesh network. Each

Amazon Eero Wi-Fi node (£99,

£249 for a three-pack) has two

LAN ports to hook up your NAS.

HOW TO BUY

NETWORKED

STORAGE

Make working from

home work for you:

get a NAS drive for

faster file streaming

and secure sharing

BOX CLEVER BOX OF TRICKS

OR TRY

ONE OF

THESE...

1 2 3 4 5

TOP TENS HOW TO BUY

JARGON

BUSTER

NAS

Back up all your

files in one place with

network-attached

storage, freeing up

space on other

devices.

RAID

‘Redundant array

of independent disks’

is a NAS feature that

ensures files are

backed up to more

than one drive.

SSD

A solid-state drive

accesses data much

faster than a hard

disk, for near-instant

loading. It also uses

less power.

O BACKPACK BACKUP

Just need a portable storage drive?

The WD My Passport SSD (from

£60) offers read speeds of up

to 540MB per second. Naturally,

your files are encrypted in case you

leave it on a park bench.