NAS questions?

Question

i am looking to a NAS (network attatched storage) device but since i ave been looking i have found other things and not sure what i need. i have a home network with all computers running xp and 1 running w98se. they are hooked up to a router and all accessing the internet and i am looking to hook up a storage device to plug in the router so all the computers on the network can access the files stored on it
since i have been looking i have also found a NDAS (network direct attached storage) and i cant figure out the difference. the only thing i could find is that the NDAS says can directly access the files but i thought that was the point of the NAS. i would also like to access the files over the internet but its not essential.
can someone please tell me more speciffacly what the difference is between the NAS and NDAS and what do i need to get
thanks

Answer 1

For what your looking for I would go with a NAS that should allow all of your systems to be able to access it just fine. You may want to look at some of the different feature sets between each device. If you want to share files over the internet you will need to port forward the appropriate ports to your nas device just be away anyone is going to be able to access your device and do anything that they want to when you do that if you don't have some type of control over the device.

Answer 2

You may be headed in the wrong direction. NAS (and NDAS, no real difference) devices are typically designed for business networks with high data transfer rates which would overwhelm an existing workstation/server. In your situation, I doubt you're going to have lots of users trying to access data all at once (such as an accounting firm with 50 employees all accessing the database server). By going with a true NAS device, you may be spending money needlessly.

Rather than going the NAS route, it would be much simpler and cheaper to enable file sharing and share a folder on one of your PCs. Adding a big SATA drive (or array) would give you tons of storage space, and enough performance for typical "home network" needs. You could use a SCSI drive/array if you need better performance. You only have the cost of the drives, without the additional cost of a NAS device, controllers, etc.

You can then map drives on the other workstations to your shared folder, making file sharing inside your network simple. Set up VPN access and port forwarding for FTP on your router, and you've got secure, easy access from outside as well.