Which term describes a storage device that provides network-attached data storage accessible over Ethernet?

Which term describes a storage device that provides network-attached data storage accessible over Ethernet?

• A. SAN
• B. DAS
• C. USB-NAS
• D. NAS

Answer: (D)

Network Attached Storage is a storage device that sits on a network and serves files to multiple clients over Ethernet. It functions as a dedicated box that provides access to data as shared folders using standard network file protocols like NFS or SMB/CIFS. This makes data available to any authorized computer on the LAN as if it were a shared drive, without needing to connect directly to the storage hardware. This contrasts with SAN, which focuses on block-level storage over a specialized network and is typically used by servers for high-performance disk access rather than general file sharing. Directly attached storage is connected to a single host and isn’t reachable over the network. USB-NAS isn’t a standard term, whereas NAS is the conventional name for networked, file-level storage accessible over Ethernet.

Network Attached Storage is a storage device that sits on a network and serves files to multiple clients over Ethernet. It functions as a dedicated box that provides access to data as shared folders using standard network file protocols like NFS or SMB/CIFS. This makes data available to any authorized computer on the LAN as if it were a shared drive, without needing to connect directly to the storage hardware.

This contrasts with SAN, which focuses on block-level storage over a specialized network and is typically used by servers for high-performance disk access rather than general file sharing. Directly attached storage is connected to a single host and isn’t reachable over the network. USB-NAS isn’t a standard term, whereas NAS is the conventional name for networked, file-level storage accessible over Ethernet.