For many people their home storage solution is simply their desktop PC with content stored on either an internal or external hard drive. Internal drives are simple to use as they are built in to the PC but unless you have a tons of internal storage in your PC you might find that you've soon used your storage capacity. External drives are great because they can be easily moved between various devices around the home so that you can to view and share your digital content throughout the home. The more portable external hard drives can also be taken outside of the home for quick and easy movement of your digital content.
However, did you know that the average home PC consumes significantly more power and is typically more vulnerable to viruses and operating system breakdowns than a NAS device? For anyone looking to store a decent amount of digital content in the most economical and effective manner, a two or four bay NAS box would be a more appropriate device. What's more as a NAS drive is always switched on, services other than file storage can be easily run on it.
A NAS drive will not suit everyone and will never be as flexible as a PC, so Microsoft have designed a hybrid device which takes the best bits of a PC and a NAS drive and is designed to run on small low power PC's, without monitors, keyboards or mice. Introducing Windows Home Server. Windows Home Server takes home storage that one step further giving you fully automated back-ups of every PC in the house, remote access to your content from anywhere with an internet connection and access to all of your recorded TV.
