Network Attached Storage units let PCs share data

ByABC News
July 29, 2009, 10:38 PM

— -- They look like hard drives, but they act unlike any hard drives you've ever seen.

In the industry, they're referred to as Network Attached Storage (NAS) units. But I'd call them Digital Media Control Centers.

They're hard drives that plug into your network router to push music, video and photos to the computers in your home or office. They also can back up your data, stream music from your iTunes program and make the data available remotely.

These drives cost twice as much as those that can't be shared across the network. But you get a lot of value from their ability to back up, store and share your ever-growing collection of photos, music and video files.

New, improved edition

We began with Western Digital's My Book World Edition II, released a few weeks ago, which attempts to right a major wrong that WD made with its first networked drive in 2007.

Gone now is the copy-protection on files that you own. On World Edition I, Western Digital tried to make nice with Hollywood and record labels by disabling access to certain types of media files, including the ever-popular MP3, AVI, WMV and QuickTime.

"We don't filter anymore," says Scott Rader, Western Digital's director of product marketing. "It's not our job to manage and police content."

Western Digital has software on the network drive that makes it possible to access your hard drive remotely and send links to friends so they can check out a photo or video file.

I looked at WD's $699 model with 4 terabytes of storage. It's actually two drives with 2 TB apiece, and the data are copied onto both drives. That way, if one fails, you've got a backup. (WD says replacement drives are easy to swap out and insert.)

WD also sells a 2-TB World Edition II networked drive for $399.

Rader says the new edition is designed so consumers can set up drives with a few clicks, even over a network.