Direct Attached

A direct-attached storage (DAS) is a digital storage directly attached to the computer accessing it. It may come in the form of larger desktop design to the smaller portable ones like the thumbdrives.

Desktop-class drives with 3.5-inch mechanisms inside, require a power adapter. They are designed to stay in one place, usually on your work surface at home or at the office. Desktop-class drives currently top out at 12TB, though there are setups with two drives into a chassis for more storage. A desktop-class drive with a built-in fan for extra cooling will extend the drive's life expectancy.

Notebook-class (a.k.a. pocket or portable) hard drives are usually 2.5-inch or 1.8-inch mechanisms powered through the connector cable (so no power adapter needed). These drives come in capacities up to 4TB, but capacities from 1TB to 2TB are more common.

Thumbdrives (a.k.a. USB flash drives) is extremely light-weight, portable and can store all your music, presentations, documents and photos. With thumbdrives, there is no need to lug around your cumbersome external hard drive.