Best NAS appliances for small business

When we tested Network Attached Storage devices seven years ago, the products boasted an amazing (for the time) 1TB of disk space. This time around, we’re testing six units that sport 8TB or larger storage capacities – for just about the same price as the first batch back in 2005. This time around, however, the appliances include antivirus, print server, cloud backup, file indexing and searching, plus RAID-5 or RAID-6 to protect data if a drive fails.

COMPANY: QNAP (Quality Network Appliance Provider)

PRODUCT: TS-569 Pro

PRICE: $1,000-$1,100 (diskless)

PROS: Easy setup, cloud backup, bonus apps, antivirus

CONS: Price doesn’t include disks

COMPANY: Netgear

PRODUCT: ReadyNAS Pro 4

PRICE: $2,400 (8TB)

PROS: Small, easy to set up, offers cloud backup

CONS: Old-fashioned interface

Company: LaCie

Product: 5big Office+

Price: $1,450 (10TB)

Pros: Stylish, Windows OS, integrates well with Windows shops

Cons: Installation not as easy as other products

Company: Iomega

Product: StorCenter px4-300d

Price: $1,950 (8TB), $2,750 (12TB)

Pros: Full-text search functionality, cloud backup, updated look and feel

Cons: Security could be tighter

Company: Buffalo

Product: TeraStation TS5400D

Price: $1,300 (8TB), $1,400 (12TB), $2,150 (16TB) URL: 

Pros: Good price/performance, text search, straightforward interface

Cons: Search interface is clunky

Company: Seagate

Product: BlackArmor NAS 440

Price: $875 (8TB), $1,425 (12TB)

Pros: Simple interface, best price/performance

Cons: Not a lot of extras