How is a NAS Different from a Hard Drive Connected to Computer?

-->

You're probably familiar with having an external hard drive connected to your computer, which provides additional storage capabilities as well as a way to back up your most important files, photos, videos, and music. But with that one-to-one cable connection between the external hard drive and your computer, it can be difficult to share those files with other computers and devices in your home or business.

With a NAS device connected to your network, you can store all your photos, movies, songs, and documents in a single centralized location and have them be visible on every computer as well as compatible Wi-Fi-enabled mobile phone and tablet, networked TV and set-top box, and game console that's connected to your network.

Additionally, most NAS devices are actually computers themselves with an internal processor and RAM to complement the hard drive storage, as well as an operating system (such as Microsoft Windows Home Server). This allows the NAS to multitask in serving files to multiple devices at the same time while also backing up files from your computers.

And when your network is connected to the Internet, many NAS devices allow you to connect to it remotely and securely via the Web using computers or mobile devices--as long as that remote device has the proper permissions or software installed on it.