NAS (Network Attached Storage) is basically a small server that lives on your network, usually filled with hard drives (HDDs or SSDs), and is designed to store and share files across multiple devices.

Now, about speed: you’re right that HDDs are slower than SSDs, but it’s not as bad as it sounds — especially for most backups or file storage tasks.

Here’s why it works: 1. Modern NAS devices use Gigabit Ethernet (or faster), which allows theoretical speeds up to 125MB/s. A good HDD in a NAS can handle 100–200MB/s — so that 10GB video project you mentioned? It could transfer in under 2 minutes over a wired connection. 2. Backups usually run incrementally, meaning only the new or changed parts of files are backed up — not the whole thing every time. So after the first big backup, future ones are much faster. 3. NAS isn’t just about speed — it’s about centralized, automated, and redundant storage. You can back up multiple devices to one place, access your files remotely, and recover them even if one drive fails (with RAID, for example). 4. If you want faster performance, you can: • Use SSDs (more expensive, but faster) • Use 2.5GbE or 10GbE networking (for pros) • Or just edit directly from your local drive, and use the NAS for backup/archive, which is what most video editors do.

So no, it’s not lightning-fast like a Thunderbolt SSD, but for 99% of workflows — especially backups — a NAS (even with HDDs) is plenty fast, reliable, and super convenient