58 AUGUST 2019|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE 378
STORAGE
SYNOLOGY DiskStationDS418j
★★★★★
£281•www.broadbandbuyer.com
WDRed6TB
★★★★★
£164•www.amzn.to/2nEZIAQ
When atiny two-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.
This is pricier than most 6TB
hard disks, even those created
specifically forNAS drives, but the
WD Red’s performance makes it aworthwhile investment. Despiteits
5,400rpm spin speed it manages to outperform 7,200rpm drives such
as the Toshiba N300 in read/writetests.
3.5inHARDDISKBAYS(FREE)4(4)•NETWORKING1x10/100/1,000Ethernet•DLNAMEDIA
SERVERYes•PRINTSERVERYes•DIMENSIONS184x168x230mm•WEIGHT2.21kg•
WARRANTYTwoyearsRTB•DETAILSwww.synology.com•PARTCODEDS418j•
FULLREVIEWJan2018
CAPACITY6TB•COSTPERGIGABYTE£0.03p•INTERFACESATA3•CLAIMEDREAD175MB/s•
CLAIMEDWRITE175MB/s•WARRANTYThreeyearsRTB•DETAILSwww.wdc.com•
PARTCODEWD60EFRX•FULLREVIEWNov2017
SAMSUNG970EvoPlus500GB
★★★★★
£106•www.amzn.to/2CrstZB
Asignificant
writespeed
upgrade helps make the 970 Evo Plus asuperlatively
speedy M.2 SSD,and at prices much lower than the original 970 Evo’s
equivalent capacities.
CAPACITY500GB•COSTPERGIGABYTE£0.21p•INTERFACEM.2/NVMe•CLAIMEDREAD
3,500MB/s•CLAIMEDWRITE3,300MB/s•WARRANTYFiveyearsRTB•DETAILS
http://www.samsung.com/uk•PARTCODEMZ-V7S500BW•FULLREVIEWMay2019
SAMSUNGPortableSSDX51TB
★★★★★
£418•www.amzn.to/2DNc17x
Forwhen you
absolutely need to
shift files as quickly
as possible,there’s the X5. Its use of
the Thunderbolt 3interface makes it
the fastest external SSD ever.
CAPACITY1TB•COSTPERGIGABYTE£0.42p•INTERFACEThunderbolt3•
WARRANTYThreeyearsRTB•DETAILSwww.samsung.com/uk•
PARTCODEMU-PB1T0B/WW•FULLREVIEWDec2018
INTELOptaneMemory32GB
★★★★★
£55•www.currys.co.uk
An interesting twist
on M.2 SSDs,
Optane Memory isn’t
so much adedicated storage drive as a
large cache foryour existing hard disk,
accelerating its read speeds to NVMe levels at amuch lower price.
CAPACITY32GB•PRICEPERGIGABYTE£1.72•INTERFACEM.2/NVMe•WARRANTYFiveyears
RTB•DETAILSwww.intel.com•PARTCODEMEMPEK1W032GAXT•FULLREVIEWSep2017
sn’t
as a
isk
y
of
it
01
Anetwork-attached storage (NAS)
device lets you store documents,
media, and other files on its hard disks so
you can share them with other devices on
your network. Some have disks already
installed, while others are empty enclosures
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 use aNAS 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 network storage 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 how many music 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
★★★★★
£150•www.cclonline.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 from Samsung and WD,but costs farless
across all its capacity options.
CAPACITY1TB•COSTPERGIGABYTE£0.15p•INTERFACEM.2/NVMe•WARRANTYFiveyears
RTB•DETAILSwww.xpg.com•PARTCODEASX8200PNP-1TT•FULLREVIEWApr2019
