Personal Cloud vs. NAS

[ykgoh]

As per title, what are the differences?

Seagate and WD seem to distinguish them as 2 different product categories.

I am

 

[jedi5diah]

they call it cloud to make it sound good that you "own" it - Marketing

the proper term cloud is using third party online storage subscriptions services...

 

[ykgoh]

they call it cloud to make it sound good that you "own" it - Marketing

the proper term cloud is using third party online storage subscriptions services...

I understand that comparing things like DropBox, Google Drive and Windows SkyDrive to local storage like WD or Seagate quite clear cut.

But I went to WD web site, it has different category for Personal Cloud and NAS products.

And Seagate has Personal Cloud and Media Server! So Seagate NAS is able to stream media files direct to TV or speakers?

 

[poohsee]

I believe they are both the same unless you are comparing NAS vs Private cloud. Im guessing a personal cloud is a diskless NAS compare to a NAS with bays;

 

[alifffresto]

Once you own a physical storage isn't it considered as personal like nas owncloud freenas etc...

Those dropbox drive or aws I don't really consider them as "personal"...

Sent from cyanogenmod 12.1 using GAGT

 

[kandinsky]

As per title, what are the differences?

Seagate and WD seem to distinguish them as 2 different product categories.

I am

My guess:

"Personal cloud" refers to the type of usage
"NAS" refers to the equipment used to achieve it.

So your question is a bit like 'Backup vs. HDD'.

The general definition of 'personal cloud' seems to be quite wide, but it can mean different things to different people since it's a relatively newish term.

Going by this wikipedia writeup:

Personal cloud is a collection of digital content and services which are accessible from any device. The personal cloud is not a tangible entity. It is a place which gives users the ability to store, synchronize, stream and share content on a relative core, moving from one platform, screen and location to another. Created on connected services and applications, it reflects and sets consumers’ expectations for how next-generation computing services will work.

The four primary types of personal cloud in use today are: Online cloud, NAS device cloud, server device cloud, and home-made clouds.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_cloud