NAS stands for Network Attached Storage. Basically, it’s a way to connect a hard drive to your network and make it available to all your devices for centralized file sharing and backup.
You can also use the NAS to access your files over the Internet by using it as a remote file server that you can access from anywhere.
Dedicated NAS devices
The most obvious — though not necessarily the best — way to get a NAS is to simply buy a ready-made, ready-to-use NAS device. Go to a website like Amazon and search for «NAS» and you’ll find plenty of devices sold as home file or media servers. Basically, these devices have built-in hard drives and some basic server software that can connect to your Wi-Fi or wired network and provide a NAS file server. These are all-in-one solutions so you can just pick up the box, plug it in and start using it.
As a rule, such devices can be managed through a web interface, such as a router. You can then access files using various applications and even run different bits of software on the NAS itself, such as media server solutions for media streaming and BitTorrent clients to download directly to the device. Many types of backup software can back up directly to network storage.
Routers with built-in hard drives
Instead of buying a dedicated NAS device and connecting it to all your other devices, you can buy better Wi-Fi routers with built-in hard drives. These devices function like a typical network router, but they also have all that fancy NAS server software and a built-in hard drive so you can get a NAS without adding another device to your household.
For Apple users, the Apple AirPort Time Capsule is a wireless router with built-in network storage that Mac computers can easily back up and use to share files over the network. This may be the most well-known type of router with a built-in hard drive, but there are many similar routers available for those not interested in Apple products, too.
Editor’s note: at the How-To Geek office, we use (and recommend) a 3TB AirPort Time Capsule to back up our Macs, and 802.11ac Wi-Fi access is quickly spreading everywhere. It’s also compatible with Windows, although you’ll need to download the Airport Utility Software to manage it or access your hard drive. Because the hard drive is internal, you don’t have to deal with the slow USB 2.0 speeds that you might experience when connecting an external drive to another router.
Of course, if you’re happy with your existing router, you don’t need to pick up a brand new one. But upgrading might be a smart idea if your router is older and doesn’t support the latest Wi-Fi standards and their faster speeds and less Wi-Fi interference.
Routers with USB ports
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Many routers don’t include built-in hard drives, but they offer something almost as good. Many routers, especially the more expensive ones, have USB ports. Plug an external hard drive or even a USB flash drive (preferably not a flash drive if you’re going to be using it a lot) into the USB port. The router has built-in NAS software that can do the rest by exposing it to the network as a NAS. You can enable the NAS server from your router’s web interface and set everything up.
