Who needs more storage?

Gladget Magazine – November Edition – Page 32

Visualise packing for a trip to the Bahamas. You have one (small) suitcase, and a week’s worth of clothing to pack in. What do you do? Your first option is to cut back on the amount of clothing you’re prepared to pack in, but what happens if you need that raincoat on the beach? Option two is to purchase additional luggage, with the cost of the bag and the additional freight costs factored in. This can, however, be a bulky option. There is an additional option – fly with friends, and share luggage space. To translate the analogy, when saving your documents and multimedia becomes an issue due to space constraints on your available storage solutions ie hard drives, you can a) delete the data you have collected, which you may need at a later stage, b) purchase additional drives, which can become cumbersome dependant on the amount of data you may require storage for, or c) transfer your data to a public or private cloud.

According to Wikipedia, cloud computing is “a colloquial expression used to describe a variety of different types of computing concepts that involve a large number of computers connected through a real-time communication network such as the Internet.” This definition of cloud storage means storing, uploading and accessing your data via an off-site data centre such as Dropbox or Amazon Web Services (AWS) in a public cloud computing environment, where there are potentially real risks to your data security, despite redundancy measures, like saving your data on multiple servers, put in place by the service providers in the event of a server failure.

Wikipedia goes on to say “The phrase is also, more commonly used to refer to network-based services which appear to be provided by real server hardware, which in fact are served up by virtual hardware, simulated by software running on one or more real machines. Such virtual servers do not physically exist and can therefore be moved around and scaled up (or down) on the fly without affecting the end user – arguably, rather like a cloud.” A private cloud can be generated with a device like the Thecus NAS.

NAS or Network Attached Storage is a system consisting of one or more hard drives, an Ethernet connection and an operating system. Companies looking for the best and most reliable data storage methods often choose network attached storage. NAS enables companies and home computer networks to store, retrieve and share data in bulk amounts and is the most efficient data management tool available.

Instead of connecting directly to an individual desktop or laptop computer, a NAS server connects to your wireless router. This effectively allows multiple users from multiple computers to access and share the content and files stored on it. File sharing can be extended into your home environment – store all of your media in one place and access it from anywhere in the home. You can have a media player in every room of the house and have them all simultaneously access files from just one NAS device. That means you don’t need to constantly move drives around the house or keep numerous copies of the same content.

Ryan Martyn, Director of Syntech and the President of EO Cape Town (Entrepreneurs’ Organisation) comments: “With just a few clicks, you can access all your files in the cloud but also know it’s saved safely on your Thecus NAS at home. Imagine listening to your favourite playlist or streaming a movie from anywhere in the world.”

The Thecus range of NAS devices is distributed by Syntech, and is now available for purchase via resellers. You can contact Syntech via e-mail on info@syntech.co.za, on the Twitter handle @syntechsa, or via Facebook – www.facebook.com/Syntech.co.za