NAS for extended storage?

[Sonicrobby]

I was thinking about getting an NAS device for my home to replace my home desktop (which I just use to cycle out movies/videos/music and any other kind of data to my iPad). But I need some of these features:

-Definitely to be able to access them from the iPad
-Be able to connect to it outside the home (from another country too if possible)
-Be able to add files TO the drive FROM the iPad (inside and outside my home)
-Be protected somehow (password protected I guess) so not everyone can view them.
-Copy files from the drive to the iPad
-Ability to manage the files on the drive from the iPad.

I'm completely new to this so I don't know much. Do all NAS devices typically provide these supports? Are there specific devices that I need to look for iPad compatibility? Aside from transfer speeds and the number of drive bays, what are the differences among NAS devices? Can anyone give me a recommendation of an NAS storage that provides me the features above? I was browsing some on newegg, but I just don't know what I'm to be looking for.

 

[RAC]

I was thinking about getting an NAS device for my home to replace my home desktop (which I just use to cycle out movies/videos/music and any other kind of data to my iPad). But I need some of these features:

-Definitely to be able to access them from the iPad
-Be able to connect to it outside the home (from another country too if possible)
-Be able to add files TO the drive FROM the iPad (inside and outside my home)
-Be protected somehow (password protected I guess) so not everyone can view them.
-Copy files from the drive to the iPad
-Ability to manage the files on the drive from the iPad.

I'm completely new to this so I don't know much. Do all NAS devices typically provide these supports? Are there specific devices that I need to look for iPad compatibility? Aside from transfer speeds and the number of drive bays, what are the differences among NAS devices? Can anyone give me a recommendation of an NAS storage that provides me the features above? I was browsing some on newegg, but I just don't know what I'm to be looking for.

I am not an expert but this is area but I have done some experimenting and have made some progress.

The easy part is to buy any NAS and use Apps such as FileBrowser and GoodReader to access it. This will meet quite a few of your requirements but not all, notably some file management features on the NAS.

You will be able to access files copied to the, NAS using a PC. I have 80 GB of photos on my NAS that I can readily view in FileBrowser. GoodReader can access files on the NAS via FTP.

My Western Digtial My World Book NAS has a web browser based Copy Manager with limited capabilities. Basically you can copy files to and from an HDD plugged into a USB port on the NAS, via the NAS CPU/OS. It also allows the Linux shell to be exposed on the NAS so that Linux file commands can be issued from the iPad using the iSSH App. There is also a Download Manager.

[EDIT] The WD Copy Manager would allow large file copies from a USB drive, or SD card plugged into a USB card reader, to the NAS direct, rather than via WiFi.

I haven't tried it yet but Western Digital WD 2go might supply some additional onboard file management.

QNAP NAS devices are more expensive than average but, from what I have seen, have a web browser based file manager that uses the onboard CPU/OS to manage shares, folders, files etc.

I think that tablet devices and low power NAS devices (that can be left on 24/7) in concert with a tablet or web browser app that makes use of the NAS CPU as a host, have a future in home computing.