So was ist denn DAS?

Germans will laugh at my punch line there, as DAS means THAT in English. So to understand the concept and basics of what DAS really is, let's first explain it.

The key aspect of DAS is that it is storing data directly attached to a server or PC in some shape or form, your PC is in fact acting as the server. It's however realized directly through an I/O port like USB. eSATA or FireWire to your PC.

A DAS storage device is not networked. In other words, it's not using a storage area network (SAN), network-attached storage (NAS), Ethernet or Fibre Channel switches. The storage has a direct connect to a server/PC.

DAS can be either internal to a server or it can be external. In the case of the external, it's dedicated and not SAN or NAS attached.

Can you share your data over the Ethernet then? Sure, networked workstations can access the data through the host. Just make Network shares like you are used to.

Capiche?

So here's where Promise comes in. Recently they launched their all new, and quite cute looking DAS unit labeled the Promise SmartStor DS4600. The SmartStor DS4600 can house up to no less than four hard drives and as such, if you decide to insert them, can provide up to 8TB of storage (minus parity bits), we'll explain later.

The (up-to) four HDDs can (and will be) set up in RAID arrays with hot-swap (remove/insert) capability on the hard drives.

Once you have installed your hardware, you'll need to bond the DAS towards your PC by some form of connection, as such you can make use of eSATA, USB 2.0 or FireWire 400 ports or one of the two FireWire 800 ports. All cables are included in the kit by the way, very nice to see not 'just' an USB cable.

Once you have your HDDs installed, and the device connected through your PC you'll need to startup a software suite to bind and setup your configuration. Promise delivers SmartNAVI software to manage the SmartStor DS4600 DAS device. This software is compatible for both Mac and PC.

With the SmartNAVI software you can setup your RAID volumes, monitor hard drive health and upgrade firmware. Media Centre and Photo Album functions are also available, but without proper network functionality ... that's a no-go really.

A nice and useful feature is that the SmartNAVI software provides backup and restore functions for any of the drives on the connected computer, backups are one of the stronger selling points of the DS4600 as it's just downright good to have backups of your precious data stored somewhere else rather than on your PC.

But let's dive into a more detailed photo shoot.