When storing data and backups outside of devices, you have a few options. First is a singular external drive, which is fantastic for quickly moving data between devices. But should you require more storage space and don’t wish to rely on a compact portable drive, direct-attached storage (DAS) is an external enclosure that can be filled with drives. Then there’s network-attached storage (NAS), which is essentially DAS but with more ports, network connections, an OS, and other internal components. Finally, we have a storage area network (SAN) that’s more advanced and designed for serious data work. Here’s what separates these three methods of storing data.