Introduction
Network-attached storage (NAS) has been traditionally limited to business use, due to both the costs and complexity involved. However with the advent of the digital home, where a household may have several computers networked together wanting access to the same multimedia content, a home-oriented NAS solution becomes increasingly attractive.
A single large centralised store can serve multiple users, rather than each individual having duplicate data stored on their local hard drives. The provision of RAID modes to increase the redundancy of the hard disks - and protect the precious data in the event of a failure - is just the icing on the cake.
Yet for the average consumer ease of use is paramount, and network-attached storage is complicated, right?
Synology's Disk Station DS508 looks to take the high-end five-disk NAS box and make it accessible to Joe Bloggs. We tell you whether the company succeeds with its £630 box o' tricks?
