Government Computer News
Storage management: Crossing those Ts
Terabyte storage devices go mainstream and the GCN Lab likes what it sees in four models
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With file sizes out of control, storage space on a network is becoming a valuable commodity again. PowerPoint presentations, PhotoShop files and even Excel spreadsheets can be several to hundreds of megabytes in size. Multiply that by the number of users on a network and it’s not long before the network administrator sends out a panicked note saying storage on the network is running low.
Traditionally, the way to increase capacity has been to add a server with a large hard drive. But this can be both tedious and expensive. A better way to boost storage quickly is by adding a network at- tached storage device. These products are de- signed to be mostly plug and play. Simply attach the device to a network cable on your back end and, in theory anyway, you’re good to go.
Two recent developments are making simple NAS devices more attractive. First, prices are dropping fast. Second, it’s now fairly common to see terabyte drive sizes. Vendors are achieving this by stringing together several physical disks and configuring them as a logical drive in a variety of RAID storage configurations.
The GCN Lab sampled four high-capacity NAS devices, from affordable all-in-one units to highly redundant rack-mountable systems. We graded based on several factors, not the least of which was each device’s ability to quickly transfer 19.7G worth of test data over a standard Ethernet connection. We also considered how easy it was to configure the devices, any extra features that came with each NAS and overall bang for the buck.
What we found
As with so many other technology decisions, the NAS device you purchase depends on what you want to accomplish. For example, Anthology Solutions’ Yellow Machine P400T could be ideal in a small office. Not only does it provide 1TB of network storage, it also has built-in Internet routing and an eight-port LAN switch. For storing and backing up mission-critical data, there’s the pricier Idealstor FrankeNAS with its redundant primary drives and pair of removable backups.
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