SAN Versus NAS: What's the difference? First, let's define what they are. SAN (Storage Area Networks) and NAS (Network Attached Storage) are both network storage solutions, and may seem very similar at first glance. In many cases, either will work about as well as the other. Both usually utilize RAID, and both typically offer a variety of storage management and data protection features. In a cloud-based solution like Zadara's, SAN and NAS are both supported, so that users can choose the architecture that makes the most sense for them.