Highpoint

These medium-size NAS units hold three or four HDDs. Entry-level units are great for home users and prosumers with lots of HD media and other data that needs centralising, while more advanced units come with faster processors and more advanced security and RAID features for business and surveillance users. These units are not sold with hard disks so you'll need to add your own – it's best to get matching models and capacities, especially if you plan on using RAID.

If need more info to help you choose the right NAS, or you can't see the exact specification you'd like custom built NAS please click here.

These NAS units are the largest around, offering five HDD bays at a minimum and ten or more in many cases. They are typically geared towards advanced users who need plenty of storage space, and many are supplied in rackmount cases for use in industry and large-scale businesses. These units are not sold with hard disks so you'll need to add your own – it's best to get matching models and capacities, especially if you plan on using RAID.

If need more info to help you choose the right NAS, or you can't see the exact specification you'd like custom built NAS please click here.

This industrial hardware is used for storing rack servers, and they're ideal for businesses with significant IT needs. Our selection ranges from vast floor-to-ceiling cabinets to smaller boxes, and we also stock accessories including shelves and cable-management panels.

Direct Attached Storage or DAS is an external storage device that is connected directly to a server or workstation without a network device in between (ie there is no hub, switch or router required) using USB, Firewire or eSATA for example. This direct connection ensures fast access to data. A DAS will work as though the hard drives are internally connected, meaning drives can be partitioned, formatted and set up like any other internal hard drive or raid array. These DAS devices are available for standalone desk or rack mounting.
Updated

External hard disks are ideal for backup or portable file storage, and these drives come in a large range of categories: some use desktop-sized 3.5in hard disks, other use smaller 2.5in drives, and faster products use SSDs. Most drives use USB 3, Thunderbolt or eSATA connections, and these drives can come in different types of case – some are designed to be tiny, and others are ruggedized to stand up to dust, water and even fire.

The IEEE 1394 interface is a serial bus interface standard for high-speed communications and isochronous real-time data transfer, frequently used by personal computers, as well as in digital audio and digital video.

Quickport HDD Docks allows an internal hard drive to be instantly docked and accessed without having to open your system. These units sit externally and connect via USB and/or eSATA. Check individual products for exact hard drive and PC connectivity.
Updated

A simple disk array controller may be integrated with a host bus adapter (HBA) to form a single adapter to easily fit inside a computer. These additional add-in cards allow you to add more IDE or Serial ATA drives to your system to give you more storage capacity. Some of these cards also allow the use of RAID thus increasing the performance and data security.

Also known as a NIC (Network Interface Card ), these cards connect directly into the motherboard of your computer and feature an external network socket. This enables the computer to connect to a network via a network cable. Traditionally these network cards use the PCI slot on a motherboard, with newer cards using a PCIe interface. Advanced features include two or more network ports for specific applications. Note that network adaptors that convert a USB port into a network interface are also available.
Updated

The controller cards in this category provide storage speeds far in advance of the standard SATA ports inside desktop PCs and office workstations. These products are mid-range components with four connectors.

These controller cards are entry-level models that use a 1x PCI-E slot in order to provide faster SATA performance that any standard storage connector can provide. The products in this category have two connections for small-scale RAID arrays, and some work in Macs as well as PCs.

These eight-port storage controller cards offer more versatility than many of their counterparts and can be used to configure RAID 0, 1, 5, 10, 50 and JBOD arrays. They're low-profile cards that use PCI-E connections, so can be fitted to most PCs without conflicting with other hardware.

A range of cables suitable for different types of SCSI/SAS Devices

These cards offer a range of internal and external ports from slotting into the motherboard. Most of these cards use the PCI Express slot on your motherboard. Always check the specifications of the individual product to confirm the connectivity.
Updated