Which storage technology has the worst expansion capabilities?

• A. NAS
• B. SAN
• C. DAS
• D. Distributed storage

Answer: (C)

Expansion capability depends on how the storage is organized. Direct Attached Storage is tied directly to a single server, so scaling relies on upgrading that server’s drives or replacing the server itself. There’s no shared pool to grow from or easy way to add capacity across multiple hosts, making growth vertical and often limited by the server’s bays and controller bandwidth.

In contrast, NAS, SAN, and distributed storage are designed for growth: NAS and SAN can add more capacity or additional appliances into the network, while distributed (scale-out) storage adds more nodes to the cluster, increasing both capacity and performance in a more linear fashion. Because of this, DAS has the weakest expansion capabilities among the options.