But over the working life of that hardware, those requirements and objectives often change. Often NAS are bought by individuals and businesses for a specific purpose. Therefore, the ones we’ve included here cover a range of budgets while (among their peers) offering the best value in their strata of the NAS market.īut, alongside price and performance, the other important factor in a good NAS is flexibility.

Because, invariably, the most expensive devices typically have the best components, making them faster and more able. With that in mind, we’ll be looking at the best NAS available in 2022 looking at exactly what makes one NAS better than another, and focusing on a small selection of products that deliver the best experience.Ĭhoosing a NAS isn’t about checking the metrics and declaring a winner based purely on those. Today, NAS is considered a critical component in any small business infrastructure, as it provides a wide range of services inside and outside the company that can be adapted or refocused should requirements change. It didn’t take long for these server-in-a-box solutions to become popular, as they delivered scalable network storage that could be rapidly deployed to meet the needs of dynamic businesses. Businesses desperately wanted solutions that were easier to deploy and maintain without highly trained IT professionals. The use of server operating systems and PC-derived technology provided part of the answer, as these still needed a high degree of expertise to operate. But smaller than Enterprise-scale businesses struggled to provide centralized computing services for smaller user bases and dramatically reduced budget sizes. Mainframe and mini system solutions from IBM, and others, provided turnkey solutions for those willing to invest. The evolution of the NAS hardware and indeed the best NAS devices has been an interesting one, as these devices grew out of the challenge that IT professionals faced installing and maintaining server technology.

Best nas for home media streaming