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With increasing network speeds and improving camera sensor technology, demand for storage space is increasing with increasing Internet penetration throughout the world. With the advent of even faster network technologies, large files will be able to be shared easily and quickly.

Comparing USB External Drives, Public Cloud Providers and Network Storage

External hard drives are among the easiest and most convenient ways to store data. Despite being plug and play, the convenience of its simple connection to a computer, external drive is overshadowed by its lack of data security and accessibility. For example, external drives do not provide much protection against damage, while only being accessible once plugged into a computer or NAS. While not being immediately plug and play, a NAS can simply share any file by using a URL, which allows the file to be downloaded to any computer that is online with the appropriate permissions assigned. This allows files that might be too big for email to be shared easily and allows files that might be forgotten at the home or office to be easily downloaded as well as controlling who receives the file. Security is also increased when stored on the NAS, as an external drive may be more likely to be lost, stolen, or damaged when taken out of the home, causing either data loss, information theft or both. The table below compares the advantages and disadvantages of various file storage solutions on the market. The diversity of storage capacity, accessibility, data security, sharing files and functional applications is provided. Factors such as pricing are organized into an easy-to-use chart:

  NAS Google Drive Dropbox Flash Drive External USB Hard Drive
Capacity Expandable Cost increases with capacity Cost increases with capacity 1 GB – 2 TB 1 TB - 16 TB
Pricing Higher startup cost. Lower long-term costs Long term costs higher. Storage ends when subscription ends Long term costs higher. Storage ends when subscription ends Higher price per Gigabyte Low costs
Ease of Access Easiest Easy Difficult Difficult Difficult
Security Highest High High Normal Normal
File Sharing Easiest Easy Easy Difficult Difficult
Software Support Highest Medium Low Low Low

Capacity:

External hard drives come in a variety of sizes but are limited to the amount of USB ports available on a computer and offer very limited protection from data loss or theft, while public cloud services depend on the amount of space purchased. Cloud services depend on the price of the subscription, which affects the capacity offered. Cloud services require that an active subscription must be maintained to keep data and capacity. The size of a NAS is dependent on how many drives are purchased and the size of each individual drive. A NAS may contain as few as two bays or as many as 10 and is also expandable at any time with the ASUSTOR AS6004U expansion device making the overall freedom of control over personal dada the highest.

Pricing:

Buying a NAS is customizable and can be configured according to one’s own needs. The initial costs of NAS and hard drives are usually offset after a couple of years of ownership as opposed to an equivalent amount of storage from a public cloud provider. Those with storage requirements exceeding 10 TB might find themselves spending a significant amount of money and more than the value of a NAS and hard drives while having slower access to their data as speeds are limited to the speed of an internet connection. The expected life of a NAS and hard drives is around five years and may last longer with proper maintenance, making a NAS a cheaper long term solution.

File Sharing:

Traditional USB external hard drives can generally only share files between itself and the computer to which it is connected by USB. However, for the growing amount of tech without USB ports, such as tablets and mobile phones, it has been increasingly difficult to use an external USB hard drive for sharing files. There are also very few ways to provide change settings for access rights. Therefore, sharing files over the Internet or a local network are the most convenient ways to share data. With public cloud providers, there are concerns that the connection may not be robust or that the data may be too big, causing transmission to take longer than expected. However, a NAS is a device that integrates file sharing through the local network and rich I/O output support. Protocols, including, but not limited to, Samba, FTP, and iSCSI as well as hardware inputs like USB and 10-Gigabit Ethernet make transferring information faster and easier than ever. To quickly share or transfer large files or large amounts of data, a NAS is certainly able to meet or exceed the needs of homes, small businesses and enterprises. For those who transfer large amounts of data often, a NAS with 10-Gigabit networking, including, but not limited to the ASUSTOR AS4004T, is recommended to save time.

Data and Information Security:

What if an external USB hard drive is lost or stolen? Important information inside, if not encrypted, can be easily stolen or simply wiped in favor of using the drive. Data security on an external USB hard drive is relatively poor in comparison of other methods of backing up. Public clouds, including, but not limited to Google and Dropbox as well as NAS devices contain relatively higher layers of data security. However, some workplaces may require even higher layers of security, including, but not limited to not opening the Internet and restrictions on data and software. Using a NAS with a local network connection becomes one of the safest choices in protecting confidential information with features such as redundancy, blacklists, user rights, antivirus and more.

File Sharing:

Traditional USB external hard drives can generally only share files between itself and the computer to which it is connected by USB. However, for the growing amount of tech without USB ports, such as tablets and mobile phones, it has been increasingly difficult to use an external USB hard drive for sharing files. There are also very few ways to provide change settings for access rights. Therefore, sharing files over the Internet or a local network are the most convenient ways to share data. With public cloud providers, there are concerns that the connection may not be robust or that the data may be too big, causing transmission to take longer than expected. However, a NAS is a device that integrates file sharing through the local network and rich I/O output support. Protocols, including, but not limited to, Samba, FTP, and iSCSI as well as hardware inputs like USB and 10-Gigabit Ethernet make transferring information faster and easier than ever. To quickly share or transfer large files or large amounts of data, a NAS is certainly able to meet or exceed the needs of homes, small businesses and enterprises. For those who transfer large amounts of data often, a NAS with 10-Gigabit networking, including, but not limited to the ASUSTOR AS4004T, is recommended to save time.

Additional Features:

Traditional external hard drives and public cloud providers generally only provide basic data storage, and generally do not support other forms of software features for example, web hosting, databases, media server apps or automatic backups. An ASUSTOR NAS offers many free apps to expand the functionality of a storage device including, but not limited to business and office applications, website building and hosting, blogging, forums digital learning, digital home entertainment and tooling applications. With over 200 unique apps, your NAS has more possibilities than ever.