Best NAS drives for work and play

I remember, many moons ago, getting my first Iomega ZIP drive, the one that could read from and write to 100MB diskettes (if you're of the same vintage as me, then you'll also remember the revolutionary pass-through printer parallel port these drives used). I was in geek heaven, and I really did think that this would be the last storage device that I'd ever need.

I was wrong.

Over the past few years my storage needs have grown from megabytes to terabytes, and my Iomega ZIP drive has been long relegated to my personal tech museum. Also, nowadays we're not so laid back when it comes to storage, and aren't happy to have all our eggs in one basket. Instead, we want the reliability and redundancy offered by systems with multiple drives, and which connect to the cloud.

If you have serious storage requirements, and you make protecting your data a high priority, then here are six of the very best NAS (Network Attached Storage) drives for work and play.

The QNAP TS-EC880 Pro is a data monster! It features an 8-bay design powered by an Intel Xeon processor. All-in-all, it is a professional NAS solution designed for data backup, file synchronization, and remote access.

• 2,000+ MB/s throughput and 226,000+ IOPS
• Two internal cache ports and up to 4 SSDs for caching
• Scalable design, up to 288TB raw capacity
• Virtualization-ready, centralized data storage, backup, sharing and disaster recovery
• Data can be backed up to cloud storage solutions, such as Amazon S3 or Glacier, Dropbox, or Google Drive, and restored to the TS-EC880 Pro anytime

Price: Around $2,500 (diskless)

The NETGEAR ReadyNAS 700 Series 716 is a 6-bay, Intel Xeon-powered NAS that comes with 16GB of RAM and built-in support for 24TB of storage.

• High-performance quad-core Intel Ivy Bridge Xeon e3-1265Lv2 2.5GHz (with 3.5GHz turbo) plus 16GB ECC memory
• 24TB maximum capacity (scales to 84TB w/optional EDA500 expansion chassis)
• Easy protection and recoverability with unlimited snapshots, XRAID2, and real-time antivirus
• Compatible across all Windows, Mac, Linux, web and mobile devices
• Compatible with all major backup software
• Ready CLOUD for simple cloud-based setup, file access, and management
• Supports SSD and SATA drives (with tool-less installation)
• VM-ready with iSCSI support and sphere/Hyper-V certification

Price: Around $3,000 (diskless)

The Synology DS713+ NAS offers a high-performance yet easy approach to data-management and protection.

• 6TB (2 x 3TB) storage
• 202.3 MB/sec read speed, 135.84 MB/sec write speed
• Dual-core CPU
• Built-in USB 3.0 ports
• Dual-LAN failover and Link Aggregation support
• Hassle-free scalability up to 7 drives up to 42TB with Synology DX513
• VMware and Citrix ready

Price: Around $1,500

The WD Sentinel DX4200 Windows Storage Server is the smallest and most powerful, high performance Windows storage server that is also Microsoft certified. It runs the Windows Storage Server 2012 R2 Workgroup operating system and is kitted out with enterprise-class hard drives (8/16TB) optimized for reliability and performance, and an Intel Atom dual-core processor.

• WD enterprise-class hard drives: Equipped with WD Se 7200 RPM hard drives that feature high capacity storage, peak performance and 24/7 datacenter-caliber reliability
• Intel Atom processor: Built with the latest Atom C2338 dual core processor inside, with 4 GB ECC RAM expandable to 16 GB RAM, the WD Sentinel DX4200 can easily handle your business’s computing and file storage demands
• Windows Storage Server 2012 R2 Workgroup: The dependable Microsoft Windows Storage Server 2012 R2 Workgroup operating system provides the cost effective, reliable, and easy-to-deploy and manage storage solution your business needs to quickly and efficiently organize, protect, and share your critical business data using the familiar Windows user experience

Price: Around $1,600 (8TB)

The WD My Cloud EX4 offers a great deal of flexibility, at a price point that won't make your eyes water.

• Reliable, high-performance, four-bay NAS for your home or small office
• Diskless enclosure for ultimate flexibility or a populated system that works out of the box (8TB to 24TB)
• User-selectable drive management with RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 as well as spanning and JBOD modes
• Get up and running quickly with easy drive installation or buy a populated version that works right out of the box
• Easy to manage with a powerful dashboard, LCD display and drive status alerts
• Advanced serving options including an integrated file server
• Award-winning desktop and mobile apps
• Industry-leading third-party apps, including aMule and Icecast

Price: Starting at around $300 (diskless)

The Seagate 8-Bay Rackmount NAS is built from enterprise-class hardware and is the ideal solution for businesses with up to 250 employees that demand a higher level of performance and reliability.

• The only 1U rack with eight hot-swappable 3.5-inch drives doubles your storage capacity in the same footprint
• A powerful 2.3GHz dual-core Intel processor delivers incredible file transfer performance of up to 200MB/s
• Sdrive™ remote access for seamless, secure collaboration and anywhere access from your PC, Mac or mobile device
• Centralized back-up for PCs, plus Time Machine support for Mac computers
• Built-in support for iSCSI enables maximum performance and compatibility for virtualized environments

Price: $3,000 (8TB) to $5,100 (32TB)